Marvel KAPOW! Review

Dr. Doom is up to his old tricks again. He's built an army of cute little flying saucers that bear a striking resemblance to several powerful villains from the Marvel universe. Luckily Tony Stark, A.K.A. Iron Man, has developed a way for anyone to take control of mutant powers via their mobile device to help fight off the eminent threat of flying villain caricatures.

No, this isn't a leaked preview of the Avenger's movie script. It's the premise for a new Marvel licensed touch, tap, and slice game, Marvel KAPOW!, featuring a few of Marvel's most popular villains and heros. Players will unleash the powers of Wolverine, Captain America, Spider-Man, and Thor against slightly silly looking little flying saucers called cyber-bots with the heads of Magneto, Red Skull, Venom, and Loki stuck on top.

The game plays very similarly to many slice and dice games on iOS (think Fruit Ninja with adamantium claws) with some differences to accommodate several different hero types. Players will slice with Wolverine's claws, deflect laser beams with Captain America's shield, trap enemies with Spider-Man's webs, and smash them with Thor's hammer. However, each of the four cyber-bot villain types are only susceptible to one of the hero attacks. The game's early levels start with one enemy type, but that soon changes and players must change to the correct power before tapping or slicing to attack the enemies flying towards them on screen. Every once and a while a vile of health or one of the Green Goblin's signature pumpkin bomb will fly across the screen. Hitting the prior will extend the player's health while hitting the later will end the level in failure.

There are also a few boss levels scattered through out the games 26 total levels. These use the same basic tap and slice mechanics as the rest of the game in some new ways, and they help to vary the gameplay a bit.

There is no way around the fact that this game is fan service, plain and simple. But when has that ever been a problem for Marvel fans? The game includes some clever comic references. With level ratings like "Excelsior" and level select screens that mimic comic book layouts, any Marvel fan will feel at home in this app and they'll find plenty of familiar faces to welcome them.