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Marvel Powers United: Reviews and Impressions

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Feel free to use this thread to post your thoughts on the game, as well as discuss different strategies, tips, tricks, etc.

A quick overview of my initial thoughts & impressions:
  • At release, I would give MPU a rating of 8/10. I remove 2 points only because the game really needs a strong Campaign.
  • The intro has a Prologue experience that is very much "epic campaign" style. This prologue leaves you craving more. There's little doubt that we'll see future updates for this epic campaign style coming to MPU (much like we've seen with The Unspoken), but for now... after the prologue you are essentially playing a multiplayer battle royale.
  • MPU is not just another wave Shooter. I would best describe this as, The Unspoken meets Robo Recall.
  • Playing as different characters does yield different "physical" strategies. If you want to be Spider Man, then get your "ring finger" ready, because you'll be spraying webs using the Grip button. If you want to play as Thor, then get not just your Arm ready for lots of swinging (think "hammer smashed faces") but also your pointer finger ready for lots of trigger lightning blasts. If you want to play as the Hulk, get your shoulders and legs ready for constant action.
  • Characters have a unique list of Powers, each of which are executed and activated differently. There's a progression system in place to reward you for mastering your Powers. There's a wide variety of achievements and unlocks available; from "character poses," to unique Outfits, to decorations for your space station (the entire game has you and your friends running around a 2-story space station above the Earth).
  • You can fly! When I first loaded the game I played as Spider Man. I ended up jumping atop a high pedestal and shooting webs down at the enemies. I thought I was so cool... until Star Lord and Dr. Strange literally "flew" by my head. In my next game I loaded up Thor, and sure enough... I was able to flying overhead and send my hammer and lightning down upon foes.
  • Teamwork is required. The objectives in each map involve more than just blasting enemies away until the end. You have to coordinate your attacks in order to achieve victory (defending multiple silo's at once). You also have to retrieve various objects and return them to a location in order to succeed. Something that can't be done easily without teamwork. The same goes for boss battles. While in their current form they are not overly complex, it is really easy for your entire group to get destroyed. You have to pay attention to your environment as well as help Revive fallen comrades.
I've seen 2 unique strategies so far, and there are certainly plenty more to be found:
  • When defending silo's, you can use Thor and spin your hammer rapidly, using it to deflect projectiles. Captain America's shield works well for defense too.
  • When fighting a boss,  you can have Spiderman focus on 'web binding' which makes it easier to hit the villains. I was playing as Hulk and I pounded Loki's spine for several seconds without taking damage because we had a Spiderman that knew his way with a web!

So that's the quick review. Here's a lengthier breakdown of the experience:

Note that my machine is not very high-end. I have a 980 GPU and for most of these initial screenshots, the game settings were at "low" graphic detail and low resolution. I ended up increasing the settings to "medium" with 70% resolution. Things began to look much crisper without sacrificing performance. However, if you have a beefy VR GPU then you can enjoy this game at its highest graphic detail and res.

The entire experience begins with a fantastic single-player prologue (a campaign). You start off choosing either Captain America or Black Widow. As you progress throughout the campaign you will encounter other heroes and all of the villains. It's a wonderful introduction to bringing the Marvel Universe in to Virtual Reality.

My absolute favorite part is when Captain Marvel asked me to take her hand,

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Once I gripped her hand, there was a stunning sequence where I was holding her shoulder as she flew me to cruiser in the sky. That experience is EXACTLY what I was wanting out of a Superhero-based VR game,


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I tried to take a screenshot of me looking "down" during this flight, but the visuals are hard to capture properly because you are engulfed in Captain Marvel's flame. But when you try it, I'm sure you'll fully appreciate this experience.

Next... you're greeted by Thanos and his crew. I have to say that the entire sequence really did remind me of how lucky it is to experience this stage of Virtual Reality.


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If you're a fan of games like "From Other Suns" then you'll also appreciate the fact that you can run around a space station with a nice view of Earth.

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This is where you'll spend most of your time as you progress through several aspects of the game.  You even get to hang out with baby Groot!

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One of your goals is to collect shards of the Cosmic Cube, while also unlocking collectibles and various custom attire for your favorite heroes. In the prologue you are limited to 2 characters, but once you enter this aspect of the game you can pick from the full list of Super Heroes. I'll update this thread at a later time with that list.

Each hero plays differently. Some of those differences are slight, others are drastic. For example, playing the Hulk is absolutely nothing like playing Spiderman. The Hulk is incredibly unique because your entire view changes.  You are a giant and everything will scale down for you, including the other super heroes. It's pretty badass, I have to admit.

There's a screen for each character that shows exactly how to use your Touch Controllers in order to utilize a character's full range of abilities,

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There are also screens that show your level progression with each ability, and what it will take for you to progress to the next level.

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Fighting the villains isn't overly complex, however, with some strategy and coordinated teamwork, the experience can be very rewarding. It's easy to stay away from the villains and just projectile attack them to death. However, getting up-close-and-personal is pretty damn fun.

Venom, for example, looks great up close. And his attacks are very well implemented.

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Overall, this game has a worthy addiction factor if you're looking for fast-paced battle royale combat. Getting a good group of players together creates a highly rewarding experience. Especially once you start using combo attacks, where certain Superhero abilities compliment each other nicely.

I am still going through the list of Heroes, but so far the Hulk is the only one who can grab enemies with his bare hands and have some real fun with their bodies!

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My favorite thing about MPU is that it has set a new "baseline standard" for VR experiences in terms of "context" and "content." For example, now it is going to be commonplace to have Spiderman randomly run in front of you blasting his webs...

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This is the "new normal." And I like it!

Not to mention that "superhero selfies" (which happen at the end of every mission) are also a new normal; which often leads to lots of laughing between Players.

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MPU is well-worth the price of admission. It's made not only for VR from the ground up, but it's made for those Touch Controllers. Solo play is possible for every aspect of the game (so far). However, it is not as rewarding as playing with others. If you're looking for Player's to join, feel free to use this thread to coordinate playtimes.

Happy hunting!
78 REPLIES 78

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Just got to try the game - I must admit I was worried due to the many bad reviews. I gave the game the worst start-up condition I could - that is, I locked super-sampling to 2.0 and loaded the game. The loading time was long, but being a son of Mage's Tale now I laugh at loading times  😉 (ok, bad joke, I know)

In the game at least the first logos ran at 90 fps SS 2.0. Then I had to go through some tutorial of how to move in-game, still 90 fps (but not much going on in these scenes).

Then I chose the Prologue, I went for Cap  ❤️

Starting the Prologue, I entered a part of a city (NY I guess) - actually an intense scene with lots of stuff happening - fps were still 90 - and I checked, my settings were set to "Ultra" (auto-detected, I did not touch anything). In short, performance-wise the Prologue played much like Robo Recall, thus performance was simply awesome. 
It took some training to throw Cap's shield, but it was great fun. Textures were top-notch, ok probably not tesselated like I believe is the case with Seeking Dawn, but the Marvel Powers United (MPU) textures had great detail (MPU uses the UE4 like Robo Recall). Especially the fur on Rocket Raccoon looked incredibly real. 

I really felt like being Cap, arms were awesome - again, great textures on the Cap suit! 🙂

I've only played though the Prologue, but these minutes contained some of the greatest fun - and some of the most impressive scenery - I've so far seen in a VR game. Loved it when the Hulk came and threw the bus, and more. Can't wait to go back in!

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Glad you're enjoying it, Rune!

I got all 5 stars on my Thunder Clap ability (Hulk), and I woke up today with shoulders blades that are sore as hell. I love it!

RuneSR2
Grand Champion

Zenbane said:

Glad you're enjoying it, Rune!

I got all 5 stars on my Thunder Clap ability (Hulk), and I woke up today with shoulders blades that are sore as hell. I love it!


For now it's a 10/10 - at least for the Prologue.

A bit embarrassing to tell the wife and friends, but I think I injured my knee slightly a week ago. I thought I could crouch through a small hole in Robinson, and I may have sat down too hard on the floor - I think that caused a bruised knee. Of course that didn't keep me from playing Seeking Dawn - probably making it all worse. Just borrowed a knee sleeve - and I didn't sleep that well due to the heat least night and woke up with a slightly stiff neck. And now you're writing you've got shoulder blades that are sore as hell, sigh...

But I don't care I'm ready to become Cap again! Hell, even if I end up like this dude tomorrow!  😄  (I know, bad joke - again)

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Nausea isn't really an important VR problem - it's all the other muscular consequences of moving in strange ways - or bumping into things... Luckily, after throwing Cap's shield many times, I've still got all lamps and wall-hung paintings in the room, including the ceiling lamp! 😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

RuneSR2
Grand Champion
Been having fun with Oculus Tray Tool HUD. In-game there are just low, medium, high and ultra settings. After staring quite a lot at ground textures, Cap's gloves and more I can't see any difference between High and Ultra other than anti-aliasing being enabled on Ultra. Super-sampling (SS) provides anti-aliasing, so there's little need to use Ultra combined with high levels of SS. 

Also using Ultra + SS 2.0 the game will run at 45 fps when the action heats up - this may not be a great problem, 45 fps works really well (I'm sure my mom would never notice any difference between 45 fps and 90 fps in the game). But using High + SS 2.0 the game will much more often - at least on my system - run at 90 fps. So for now I'm using High + SS 2.0. This may also result in sharper image quality than using Ultra settings, because the anti-aliasing on Ultra increase blurriness (at least combined with SS 2.0). 

Back to SS. SS can be set in-game for a max of 120% - I guess that's equal to SS 1.2 (but I've not tested it). Setting a global SS 2.0 in Oculus Tray Tool forces SS 2.0 in the game (verified using the pixel density HUD)  - thus making it possible to go much higher than 120% (SS 2.0 = 200%). I'd advice to use Oculus Tray Tool to set the optimal SS - of course that's only relevant for persons who want more than 120%. On my system I'm confident that SS 1.5 + High would let me get extremely close to a constant 90 fps, but I don't mind getting some 45 fps dips - and SS 2.0 provides a great level of anti-aliasing without making image quality blurry. 

It's still a great game - I'd really have enjoyed a story-driven singleplayer campaign, but I had a lot of fun blasting and smashing enemies. I played singleplayer with the AI; maybe one day I'll try to leave my antisocial comfort zone and play with other humans 😉 So far I'd still rate this game 5/5 (9/10) - and Lone Echo 8/5 😉

The greatest problem with this game is that I miss Reed so much - and Sue - and Johnny - man, I'd love to yell:

IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!

Maybe next time  😉

Oculus Rift CV1, Valve Index & PSVR2, Asus Strix OC RTX™ 3090, i9-10900K (5.3Ghz), 32GB 3200MHz, 16TB SSD
"Ask not what VR can do for you, but what you can do for VR"

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
I need to give the Hulk a break. My body has been registering more aches and pains today, including my legs (probably due to the Ground Slams lol).

Time to head back to Thor and maybe give Deadpool a spin!

MowTin
Expert Trustee
I haven't made up my mind about this game yet because I've only played it for about 3 or 4 hours so far. 

One thing I really don't like is this hunting for batteries thing. Why couldn't it be rescue the hostages? 

You rescue hostages then have to defend them as you lead them to an escape zone. That's better than defending some node, right?

Also, why can't I grab and throw bad guys like in Robo Recall? I can't even punch them. 
i7 9700k 3090 rtx   CV1, Rift-S, Index, G2

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
You can grab and throw bad guys as the Hulk. You can also grab them as Captain America.

And you can punch bad guys with just about every hero. You can grab real world objects and melee enemies too. I was Spiderman holding a huge pole and smashing skulls just fine.

MowTin
Expert Trustee

Zenbane said:

You can grab and throw bad guys as the Hulk. You can also grab them as Captain America.

And you can punch bad guys with just about every hero. You can grab real world objects and melee enemies too. I was Spiderman holding a huge pole and smashing skulls just fine.

A pole? I'll see if I can find that. I've only thrown barrels at enemies. 

I'll try punching again. I think I was Captain America when I tried to punch some bad guys and nothing seemed to happen. I'll try some more. 
i7 9700k 3090 rtx   CV1, Rift-S, Index, G2

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
There's a pole in one of the downtown maps. The one that has buses (I'll try to get a screenshot of that later as well).

I'm loading the game now, I'll try to punch people as Captain America as well lol

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
btw, I just finished collecting all the Shards, and can now track down Thanos for the final battle. woohoo!


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