Andrew talks money and mindlessness
The Marvel skin wrapped around this Diablo-lite MMO will certainly draw in plenty of fans to the house that Stan built. It's easily accessible and full of familiar faces. The problem is these faces quickly become a little too familiar. As I backed up DJ's sure-shooting Hawkeye with my clobbering Thing I began to notice a heck of a lot of other Things and Hawkeyes in the common areas.
At one point I had accidentally been following the wrong player for a while. DJ finally realized it when he entered a small instance and I didn't come with him. We had been talking the whole time about some other games and life in general, absent-mindedly wandering around thumping bad guys and we both had no idea where the other one was. I eventually tracked him down and joined him in a large building. The two of us ventured forth, clicking away at the faces of muggers and small-time thugs. Once again the conversation drifted off to some other game. That's when he told me we were in a boss battle. I had no clue. I clicked a little faster and harder. The big bad died and we grabbed our individualized loot without looking at it and moved on.
The Thing wasn't doing it for me, so I decided to drop a few bucks on a new character. How much could it be? Turns out it costs about five to fifteen bucks per character, and each outfit costs a similar amount. You heard that right. The Hulk is priced at 1100 "Gs," --that's the in-game currency. The Gray Hulk skin will run you 450 Gs. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse costume and the awesome Mr. Fix-It costumes will cost 950 a pop. Planet Hulk and Avengers movie Hulk are 1250 each. What's the exchange rate of Gs to USD? $4.99 will get you 500 Gs. (There's a slightly better rate at the $20, $50, and $100 buy-ins.)
If you're not feeling mathy, that's $59.50 for just Hulk and all of his outfits. I should note the store has a Hulk Smash character pack on special right now for $49.99, as well as several other deals. I understand developer/publisher Gazillion Entertainment needs to make money, but that's a little pricey for me. I could grind for a new character or costume, but I don't have that much time, and there's no way to get a specific character to drop. (Gazillion is currently testing a new way to earn specific characters for free, but it hasn't been implemented.)
Marvel Heroes is a mindless distraction, but I can think of a few friends who would gladly spend dozens, if not hundreds of hours and dollars grinding away in this version of the Marvel Universe. It's not bad, but it's not good. I'd rather play the old Marvel Ultimate Alliance games.
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There you have it folks. Our down an dirty take on Marvel Heroes. DJ recommends passing on this one. I suggest trying it, because hey, it's free.