"Wow, what's that game?" my Mother asked, pointing to the large, oversized box on the table. "It's a new Marvel game for the Wii" I replied, her interest obviously peaked. "That looks great for the kids" she said "I can see them loving those masks, being just like the super heroes."
And, she's right - Marvel Super Heroes 3D: Grandmasters Challenge does seem like a great game for kids. With a line-up of the biggest name Marvel stars around (Thor, Wolverine, Spiderman, Captain America, and Iron Man), an eye catching box, and not one, but two gimmicks to reel the kiddies in, it certainly ticks all the boxes.Inside the funky looking box, you'll find five masks, one for each of the super heroes, with red/blue 3D glasses built into them. They're only made of cardboard, with an elastic band to hold them on - but these are kids we're talking about. They don't need any encouragement. Mega expensive suit? Not needed. Super powers? Nah. Cardboard mask with built in 3D glasses? That's the coolest thing they've ever seen. Now, they are Iron Man.
It's a shame, then, that the game the masks have been designed for, Marvel Super Heroes 3D, can't live up to the excitement that the masks create. I mean, from the back of the box, it sounds incredibly exciting. "You are the Super Hero! A fantastic 3D action game", etc, etc. Only, it isn't a fantastic 3D action game. It's not really a 3D action game at all. What it is, is a board game, and one that's a bit tricky to understand at that.
There's the Grandmaster. Just look at those marigolds - the staple of every supervillain.
Marvel Super Heroes 3D: Grandmaster's Challenge sees your gang of Super Heroes apprehended by the Grandmaster, a big, blue super villain, who reminds us a bit of the Mekon from Dan Dare, if only down to the size of his forehead. The super heroes, it turns out, have been kidnapped from our world, and are now being held captive in space, forced to play out the Grandmaster's evil board game. The heroes are told that there's only one way to escape, and that's by destroying the dome at the centre of the board - but there's a catch. Not only can the heroes only attack the dome at the end of each turn, but they're also constantly being chased by a wall of laser, known, brilliantly as the "Wall of Fate". Should the wall touch them, they'll be imprisoned until either they, or one of their super hero buddies can bust them out.
In order to move, you'll need to spend an orb, which roll an invisible dice that lets you move forwards between one and three spaces. You can only have six orbs at a time, which you win by completing the Grandmaster's challenges, which vary depending on which square you land on. While some tiles on the board are safe, and give you a bonus of some sort (like moving the Wall of Fate backwards), most see you being propelled into a minigame, where you get to "become the superhero" as the packet suggests.
It works a bit like a Marvel take on Just Dance, with you seeing through the heroes eyes, as they come under attack from various ne'er do wells. When it's time to attack, you'll be prompted to shake a Wii Remote, wiggle the nunchuck, press a button, or move them both to the left or right in order to dodge, or attack the enemies. It's fairly straightforward, but it's sometimes a bit tricky to tell what the controls are telling you to do - after all, if there's a picture of a nunchuck with an arrow above it, do they want you to thrust the nunchuck forward, or shake it? More confusing still is the way the buttons you need to press simply glow red on a small diagram of the controller, which means they can often be missed, or, if you're wearing the game's 3D glasses, it becomes even trickier to tell what the game wants you to do, as the red glasses cancel the red out.
Thankfully, the 3D can be disabled at any time by pausing the game using the - Button, and switching it off in the menu.
While we'd appreciate a bit more freedom in these sections - the ability to chuck Captain America's shields, or fire laser as Iron Man at will would have been appreciated - what's here is fine for young children. Anyone over 7 may find it a tad on the boring side, but children below will be enthralled. At least, to begin with.
In certain sections - especially the ones you have to face the bosses in, the game doesn't give you anywhere near long enough to respond. You'll usually do the first action fine, but then you'll do the second, and the even though you've done exactly as it says, it'll put a big cross over the screen as it hasn't recognised you've done it. We lost a lot of fights that way, simply through the game failing to detect what we were doing.
You see, the game simply takes far too long to play. As you can only attack the centre dome once each turn, it takes a heck of a long time to play through each game (we spent upwards of 40 minutes - and that was with only two people playing). While each human-controlled super hero's taking their turn, the other three players simply have to sit through the minigames and watch. How much more involving would it be if the other players could shoot random targets, or bad guys that appeared, like in a light gun game, while the other player takes their turn? Instead, you just end up sitting on your hands for the majority of the time you're playing - and that's not phenomenally exciting.
And that's perhaps the biggest problem with Marvel Super Heroes 3D: Grandmaster's Challenge. It's all a bit dull. If you're playing with four people, the amount of time you'll spend doing nothing will far eclipse the time you spend playing - and, in a game aimed at kids, that could be critical. While there's every chance your little terrors will be perfectly happy keeping themselves entertained as their favourite super heroes, it's a shame the game doesn't do a better job of it. It's disappointing - and it could have been so much better!
Format Reviewed: Nintendo Wii
