marvel war of heroes

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

Format: iPad, iPhone, iPad Touch

Developer: Mobage Inc

When it comes to video games Marvel is a license that has been around since I was a kid. In theory it should be a match made in heaven, but there have been a few stinkers over the years. Hopefully War Of Heroes will be one of the better ones. It actually is not a action game. What we have here is a collectable card game. There have been Marvel card games in the past. There have been numerous physical card games over the years. But there was also a really fun one released a few years back on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. And going into this I had real high hopes it was going to be like those games were.

Graphically this game if you are a Marvel fan is decent enough without ever being great. The cards that you will be collecting feature great artwork featuring many of your favourite Marvel super heroes. As well as the cards there are missions where you get to see the heroes and villains in action. This looks ok, but there are far better looking games on the iOS.

There are two game modes in War Of Heroes first of all lets talk about the single player mode. This is called Single Player Mission. The idea is that you are working for Nick Fury and that you are a S.H.I.E.L.D Agent. He will give you a missions that will revolve around specific marvel villains. First up is Doctor Octopus and you will be using Spider-Woman to defeat him. You get a little bit story before each battle with the characters having some small dialogue. It is not much, but it does move things along. You will need to tap the screen to take down these bad guys. This is such a let down and it really is not exciting at all.

The other game mode is player vs player and this mode is much more fun and requires way more strategy. This is where your deck making skills come into play. You can earn new cards in the game, but if you really want to put together a strong deck in a short period of time then you are going to have to spend money in the in app store. The game is never shy about letting you know about how you can buy great cards in the store.

I will say that playing against other people is actually really fun. However if you are not into collectable card games then you probably will not be sucked in by this. For those of us though who do like this sort of thing. There is a fun game hidden in here and if you stick with it and try and ignore the single player part of the game it can be fun. But be warned if you really do want to get into this then you simply have to buy packs of cards in the store. While I enjoy the game this is a bit of a deal breaker for me as I would much rather own a physical card if I am spending real money on it. Rather than a digital one.

Overall this is not a bad game by any means. I know some reviews have been unkind. But there is some fun to be had here. If you like card games then I am sure you will enjoy it. But for me personally I would rather play the old Marvel Trading Card game that is on the Nintendo DS.

US iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store