Superhero games are fast becoming the rage in the gaming realm as companies battle it out to produce the best and most satisfying experience. In early years due to various problems and lack of expertise, games that revolved around superheroes did not garner much of attention and excitement. This changed with the evolution of gaming technology and the sudden outburst of superhero popular culture that spread like wildfire in the past years. Companies saw the potential in this growing industry and decided to capitalize on the market.

Superhero culture has taken over the gaming realm as well and studios like SEGA and ROCKSTEADY have launched their own set of games that have achieved universal praise and appreciation. Gazillion Entertainment is developing a new MMORPG called Marvel Heroes that is centred on the Marvel universe and spans across all the major superheroes involved in it. It will have its hands full as the superhero genre is not an easy one to tackle as most of the studios who have tried to dabble in the art have failed miserably. The question that needs to be asked at this time is whether Marvel Heroes will come out with flying colours or will it sink to the bottom of the ocean?

Marvel Heroes has a many pros and cons some of which may help it stand apart from the rest. Players will finally get the opportunity to pick their favourite superhero from a vast and varied list of characters provided by the game. This acts like a double edged sword as the player will be able to choose from set of pre-rendered characters which grants them the feeling of familiarity which other games don’t but also removes the option of customization. This may have a negative effect as the player will feel stifled due to not being able to personalize his character according to his wishes.

The game also has a well built loot system that allows the player to hack and slash his way through tons of enemies who ultimately drop items and equipments that can be used by the player. Though this is a wonderful system for the player to utilize it does not carry any kind of creativity and uniqueness. Gazillion’s President and CEO David Brevik understands that the game borrows heavily from Diablo but also realises that this will have a positive effect on the gameplay as the loot system has a wonderfully rewarding feeling attached to it.

Gazillion is also adding the option of changing the superhero’s costume. Players will have a chance to customize their heroes by finding elements that act as parts that can be combined to create suit patterns which have specific stats. This will partly make up for the lost customization options in relation to character creation. Players can also switch between characters during a game which provides them with a richer experience and double the fun.

The best part about Marvel Heroes is that it is absolutely free to play. This sounds great but the challenge is how Gazillion will monetize the whole system while allowing the player to play through the entire content. There are still unanswered questions such as the option related to choosing negative factions. Marvel Heroes might just break barriers when it comes to gameplay but it still has to stand up to other popular giants such as ‘City of Heroes’ and the Batman series.