Could have been better ... well ... a lot better
Marvel Super Hero Squad is a game that tried to bring Super Smash Bros. to the DS, but failed to deliver the goods. It's not often that you'll see my review start with the negative points, but there isn't much good points to talk about this one either. Everything in this title will give you the feeling that it was rushed.
Let me start with the story mode which only contain a total of 6 missions. It starts with a brief tutorial that is so short, it even failed to mention a couple of other things that your character is capable of doing like hanging on ledges, how to break stuff, etc. It's (on the game's defence) really not that big of an issue since you'll most likely end up discovering it yourself during the mission levels.
Once you're done with the tutorial, you can start playing the other levels that is driven by a comic book style presentation. It's shallow and offers the usual "we have to go there, and destroy this to save the world" kind of story. The levels are divided into multiple short sections which will only ask you to do any of the following things: kill the bad guys, destroy the switch, get the red key card (yes it's always red), avoid the laser and mines, etc. None of which are very entertaining, nor challenging. And given that the story mode only contain a total of 6 levels, the developers did a poor job of not making any of those levels feel repetitive.
Once you're done with the story mode (which might only last you around 2 hours) you can then head over to the main focus of the game which is multiplayer or 1-on-1 against the CPU. There are 3 game types on offer: Classic, Super Weapon, and King of the Fractal. Classic mode can be best described by comparing it to Super Smash Bros' gameplay of trying to eliminate your opponent by damaging them and/or throwing them off the platform. Super Weapon is like a timed "defend" type of game wherein a player tries to attack and destroy the "super weapon" while the other tries to defend it. While the King of Fractal is trying to stay near a point on the map to earn points while at the same time trying to keep your opponent away from it to prevent him from earning points.
The game is using cel-shaded cartoony looking graphics. It's not as impressive as other well polished DS games but it will give you the impression that they could have made it look a lot better. Same goes with the 2d background levels and not to mention the repetitive bad guy models that looks like they're wearing a paper bag on their head.
Sound effects is quite flat. You'll have a few VO's when your character performs his special moves, but that's pretty much it. The background music has the super heroish feeling added to it though.
Controls is easy to master. You have the usual attack, jump, block, and grab buttons like what most beat-em-up games do. But here your special moves are accessed via the touchscreen. It's just a matter of tapping 1 (of 2) of them so it's quite easy to execute.
There are a lot of issues with this game which makes it really tough for me to recommend. The character models looks okay at best, but the comic book style cut-scenes is a jagged pixelated mess. It's also frustrating to wait for parts of a level to load every few minutes (or less than a minute worth) of gameplay which takes around 7 seconds to finish. And take note that the levels are not all that big in size, and I really don't get why it was divided into sections in the first place because it gets in the way of the action. The map creation was heavily uninspired and I even honestly think that an 8 year old could have done a better job. And it's funny how they try and add lines like "mines again? really?" or "surely you could have thought of a better way of stopping us" during the character interaction, because in effect, they were like trying to make fun of their own level creation. The bad guys are also so boring that its more fun to just jump on top of them and continue to run so that you'll be able to progress to the next part of the level.
If you're a big fan of Marvel or would be happy just to have a taste of a Super Smash Bro'ish kind of game, then you might want to give this game a shot. The rest of us should skip this mediocre game and look somewhere else instead.
.:My reviews are only as good as everyone else's. Take every single one of them with a grain of salt:.