Marvel Cosmic Invasion - Shitomatic Universe (Review)
- James Stephanie Sterling
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Released: December 1st, 2025
Developer: Tribute Games
Publisher: DotEmu
Systems: PC, PS4/5, Switch (reviewed), Switch 2 (reviewed), Xbox One/X/S
I love a good brawler, and that can only mean one thing when it comes to Marvel Cosmic Invasion - I don’t love Marvel Cosmic Invasion in the bloody least.
It’s crap. Suffering from a remarkably worse version of the issue I had with Ultimate Alliance 3, the superheroes don’t feel super. A large part of the problem is that the majority of enemies are projectile attackers, aka the most irritating enemy types in the genre. One particular stage full of AIM guys is a fucking joke, with the Goombas of the Marvel world constantly potshotting the likes of She-Hulk like they’re chumps.
Populating a beat ‘em up with mostly sniper mooks is amateur level design, which is a theme throughout the whole game. Grab attacks aren’t standard moves, used instead as the special abilities of only a select few heroes. Who had that stupid idea? Characters can also either dodge or block/parry, but can’t do both, further serving to make these “superhuman” tools come off as ineffectual.
There’s a sizable roster, including some lesser saturated characters like Beta Ray Bill and Nova alongside your usual guys like Iron Man and Venom. Up to four players can get involved, and you’ll want the advantage of allies, trust me.
While heroes are plentiful and each player can bring a tag team of any two of them, combat feels samey and limited no matter the choice. Each one has a humble movepool with many traits shared among them, enemy variety is severely lacking, and the assist attacks you do with your partner are boring - you can ask them to pop in and do their usual moves for a second, that’s it. Nothing mechanically changes to reflect your choice of partners, which would have been nice.
Easily the most disappointing part is how underwhelming Focus attacks are. Each character gets an ultimate ability and every single one of them fucking sucks. They suffer from meagre hitboxes, shitty ranges, and/or awkward attack animations and are as likely to miss everything as hit anything. Spider-Man’s is especially poor, with him squirting out a few tiny web balls left and right that travel a tiny distance in a useless arc. Focus moves are not particularly powerful or flashy either, hardly befitting the alleged strength of their users.
One thing that becomes clear very quickly is that Cosmic Invasion is balanced entirely for co-op play. The annoying enemy ganks and tanky bosses don’t give a solitary shit for solitary players, and I had almost zero fun playing unless I was online with others. This is one to avoid if you’re planning to fly solo or are playing online about two weeks after launch day because, let’s face it, the lobbies will be full of nothing but tumbleweeds by then.
Longevity is not something this game cares to offer. Levels are very short, less than ten minutes apiece, and there aren’t many of them. Given how little diversity there is to the experience, I doubt anybody will clamor to replay such vapid stages. While characters can level up, their little stat boosts do nothing to alter the gameplay, which is one-note from start to finish.
Cosmic Invasion’s retro graphics aren’t even all that hot. The stiffly animated characters and flat environments aren’t a patch on similar heyday-aping brawlers. There are a few cool looking attacks, but not enough to offset how plain, uninspired, and low on detail it all is. Compared to how great Shredder’s Revenge was in almost every department, this thing is wretched.
At $29.99, the price is frigging obscene for just how little you get, and how little of that is enjoyable.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a short, flimsy, and overpriced beat ‘em up that offers so much less than its contemporaries in the genre. Skating by on brand recognition, it’s amazing how tired of it you become despite being able to finish the dire campaign in almost no time at all. The game’s barely done wiping its feet on the mat before outstaying its welcome, and it’s ready to leave soon after. Awful shite.
3/10
