Introduction:Marvel and EA have teamed up to gives us an adventure into the Marvel universe with a smorgasbord of old and new characters. From the Spider-Man to Iron Man you get to play through this unique story driven fighter that features some classic confrontations. Marvel Nemesis is an action game and you get plenty of that, but can it come close to matching the excellent batch of Comic Book games that have been released recently? Read our extensive review to find out.

The Game: Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects is a game I was personally excited for. Being a fan of almost everything Marvel, I couldn't wait to see what this Imperfects storyline was going to be, and to have a publisher besides Activision release Marvel super-hero game. Well, it might of not of measured up to my high expectations, but I still enjoyed running through the game as the iconic Marvel characters.

Speaking of characters I will run down the cast of characters in Marvel Nemesis. First... The Marvel "Good Guy" side which includes; The web slinger Spider-Man and his nemesis Venom, X-Men Wolverine & Storm, Hells Kitchen's Daredevil, The Fantastic Four's The Thing & Human Torch, Avenger Iron Man, The Brotherhoods Magneto, and last reborn assassin Electra. It's quite the diverse lineup of heroes to have in one game which is one of Marvel Nemesis strong points. It's truly a blast playing some characters that don't have their own game like Daredevil, or Electra along side a typical villain like Venom.

The cast doesn't stop with the "good guys", we now need the evil side. As you might have guessed the "bad guys" are the group called The Imperfects. The Imperfects are looking to take over this little planet and the only thing in standing in their way is Marvel's clictic group of super heroes. It's a typical comic plot which works as well as any other, and the group of The Imperfects translate well into the game. Although they are not the most original bunch they work for the purposes of the game. I know it's not as interesting as Venom or any Marvel character, but here is the list neverless. Brute Bridge, femme fatal Faultzone, chemically enhanced Hazmat, zapper John Ohm, amazon warrior Paragon, alien Rockel, firepowered diva Solara, and my personal favorite The Wink.

Wow, so after all those characters we need a game. Wondering how does it play? Well, the gameplay in Nemesis is your basic fighter, brawler experience. It doesn't get too deep, and keeps the gamer focused on doing damage. I would have to say it's like an experience like old school side scrollers in 3d with a mix of more advanced tactics. Unfortunately the whole in game mechanics feels a little too rough and thrown together. The fights can at times can be rewarding, but for the most part you just hit buttons and wait for it to end. The enemy AI is pretty low key, so you will be crushing the missions effortlessly except for the boss battles. The good part is you can go pick your hero to progress through the game which can is a nice bonus and you fight against other Marvel heroes as well as the Imperfects. It's always nice to have an off paired showdown, and Nemesis lets us play through some fantasy comic book battles. When the smoke clears you'll probably want more for Nemesis, it's unfortunate the game didn't have a more polished fighting system, and more options aren't built into the story like character development traits. Marvel Nemesis ends up playing like an average fighter and nothing more.

Marvel Nemesis does have a robust online portion of the game which can be a crooked affair if you're relaying of the typical live crazies. If you're gaming with someone you know, or a real player Marvel Nemesis can be a lot of fun online. The online portion of Nemesis gives you a chance to play through new levels and unlock new characters for online gaming which is a great idea. It gives gamers the extra push to try it out online. The multiplayer mode is a standard affair, but keeps the pace up quicker then the single player experience. The online part of Nemesis helps balance out our gameplay score and keeps you interested after you've hand enough of the single player missions.

Graphics & Sound: EA has Illustrator Jae Lee from the Marvel camp to help with the graphic design work in Nemesis along with Hollywood 's Paul Castling. Paul has worked some major movies like Spider-Man, The Punisher and other "blockbusters". These two hired guns help bring the Imperfects to life and keep some legit Marvel influence in the game. Overall the graphics are a little bit of a let down mostly in the animation and character modeling aspect of the game. I really loved the art style of Nemesis, but it boggles my mind how some characters look good and others bad. For example Spider-Man, Venom, Iron Man and The Torch all look great and then Wolverine, Daredevil, Electra and Storm look oddly different in a worse way. It's very strange and I never understand considering a comic book illustrator worked along with the team.

The Imperfects although are pretty interesting, but again they could of used more detail like the Marvel characters. The graphics really needed to be more spot on with the characters because you know them so well, other then the characters the game looks great. It's a real mixed bag with the graphics in Nemesis and I'd say the games greatest flaw.

Mojo: Marvel Nemesis has mojo running in it's code and it might be distracted by some repetitive gameplay, but it's there. The concept is great and playing the Marvel characters always is a blast. The Imperfects idea is pretty groovy and I like the different approach to the Marvel franchise. Daredevil is one of my Marvel favorites and since he doesn't have his own game, I love getting to experience these characters. Like I said early fantasy battles are fun as well like Wolverine vs. The Thing. Classic! The mojo is hard to find, but give it some time to oozes out.

Lowdown:Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects walks a fine line by having a great concept, amazing line-up of characters with a average game behind it. This could have been one amazing piece of Marvel gaming glory instead it falls a little short. So in the end I have to ask these questions: Did I expect more? Yes. Is Marvel Nemesis a bad game? No. Worth Checking Out: Yes, but I'd say a rental first.

Gameplay: 7, Graphics/Sound: 7, Innovation: 7, Mojo: 7. Final: 7 / 10