As a diehard comic book fan since my tiny hands could turn the pages of Spider-Man's adventures, I couldn't have been more hyped about Marvel Cosmic Invasion. That is, until I found out I'll get it on Xbox Game Pass at launch on December 1.
This beat-em-up comes from Tribute Games, the same team that brought us the excellent Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge. Evil ol' Annihilus is up to his dirty tricks again and has invaded Earth. The team of heroes rising to the occasion includes obvious ones such as Captain America and Wolverine, but also many lesser-knowns such as Nova and Beta Ray Bill. Take to the fight to the invading army from the streets of Marvel Manhattan all the way to the Negative Zone.
Players will control a team of two characters that you can swap mid-fight, creating all kinds of devastating combos. This is giving me vivid memories of brawlers such as Spider-Man: Maximum Carnage and its "blood red" SNES cartridge. Each level will allow you to choose two heroes, so you can unleash Avengers movie rosters on the Annihilation Wave.
Everything about this game evokes the classic era of arcade beat-em-ups, with flashy, cool combos and beautiful pixel art in comic-book style. Marvel Comics is even doing special covers based on some of the 15 heroes that will appear in Cosmic Invasion at launch.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is part of what looks like an excellent Xbox Game Pass lineup to close out the year, also including The Crew: Motorfest and Revenge of the Savage Planet.