Marvel Cosmic Invasion: Shitomatic Universe Review
▼ Summary
– The reviewer finds Marvel Cosmic Invasion to be a poor beat ’em up, criticizing its core combat for making superheroes feel weak and ineffective.
– A major flaw is the enemy and combat design, which relies heavily on irritating projectile attackers and lacks standard grab moves or versatile defensive options.
– Despite a sizable roster of characters, combat feels repetitive and limited due to shallow move sets, lack of enemy variety, and unimpressive partner assists.
– The game is heavily balanced for co-op, making the single-player experience frustrating due to overwhelming enemy encounters and tanky bosses.
– The game is criticized as being short, lacking content and replay value, featuring underwhelming graphics, and being severely overpriced at $29.99.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion arrives as a retro-style beat ’em up that promises superhero spectacle but delivers a frustratingly shallow and repetitive experience. Released on December 1st, 2025, this title from Tribute Games and DotEmu struggles to justify its existence, let alone its price tag. The core issue is a fundamental misunderstanding of the genre: the superheroes simply do not feel super. Combat is undermined by a baffling over-reliance on projectile-based enemies, turning many encounters into a tedious exercise in dodging cheap shots from the most basic foes. An early stage filled with AIM agents perfectly illustrates the problem, where iconic characters like She-Hulk are reduced to helplessly weathering constant potshots from generic grunts.
This poor enemy design is compounded by a restrictive combat system. Grab attacks are not standard moves, reserved instead for a select few heroes, a bewildering design choice that strips away a fundamental brawler tool. Characters are further limited by being able to either dodge or block, but never both, making defensive play feel clumsy and ineffective. While the roster is sizable, featuring both mainstream heroes and deeper cuts like Beta Ray Bill, their move sets feel homogenized and limited. Each hero shares too many traits with others, and the promised tag-team mechanics are disappointingly shallow. Your partner can be called in for a brief assist using their standard attacks, but there’s no meaningful synergy or unique combination moves that reflect your chosen duo.
Perhaps the most glaring letdown is the implementation of ultimate abilities, known here as Focus attacks. Every single Focus attack is underwhelming, plagued by tiny hitboxes, poor range, and awkward animations that often miss entirely. Spider-Man’s ultimate, for instance, sees him launch a few pathetic web balls that travel a short, useless arc. These moves lack the power and visual flair one expects from a superhero’s finishing blow, feeling more like a whimper than a bang. The game’s structure offers little incentive to endure these mechanics. Levels are exceedingly short, often under ten minutes, and there are few of them. Character progression through leveling up provides negligible stat boosts that do nothing to alter the repetitive, one-note gameplay.
The experience is clearly balanced for cooperative play, to the severe detriment of solo players. The enemy swarms and spongy bosses feel overwhelmingly unfair without allies, making single-player a chore. This reliance on multiplayer is a significant risk, as the online player base is likely to evaporate quickly given the game’s lack of depth. Visually, the retro pixel art fails to impress, with stiff character animations and flat, uninspired environments that pale in comparison to genre standouts like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. All these shortcomings make the $29.99 price point feel obscene for the scant, unsatisfying content on offer.
In the end, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a flimsy and overpriced brawler that coasts on Marvel’s brand recognition. It becomes tiresome remarkably fast, and its brief campaign feels overlong despite its short runtime. The game barely makes an entrance before it has worn out its welcome, leaving players with a hollow, forgettable experience that fails to capture the excitement of its iconic characters or the fun of a well-crafted beat ’em up.
(Source: Jimquisition)
