Marvel Heroes

PC

The Marvel Universe is overflowing with flawed heroes and sympathetic villains, so it’s fitting that Marvel’s MMORPG is neither an unblemished success nor a catastrophic failure. Created by David Brevik (Diablo and Diablo II), the free-to-play title bears quite a few gameplay similarities to the Diablo series, but it lacks the difficulty. This is especially apparent in boss battles that are more about how long it takes to kill a supervillain than the fight’s difficulty. More often than not, you’ll simply run past dozens of enemies rather than take the time to engage them, because you’re going to do a lot of blind running looking for quest objectives. The map—the game’s biggest offender—and quest log offer little to no help. Still, it’s great fun to take control of your favorite hero—which, if you hope to play for free, better be Storm, Thing, Daredevil, Hawkeye or Scarlet Witch—and bash through supervillains and endless waves of A.I.M., The Hand and HYDRA goons throughout Hell’s Kitchen, the Savage Land and Fisk Tower. The Marvel Universe carries the game through its flaws and delivers a solid free-to-play title that could fill a summer vacation quite nicely.