By Odin's Burnt Burrito...This Game's OK!

Remember when you where little and you'd pull all your action figures together for an all-out brawl to prove their plastic mettle in a war to end all wars? That's Marvel Super Hero Squad. It needs to be played with a grain of salt; there is no such thing as continuity here and the deepest the plot gets is "Dr. Doom wants to create a super sword, the end." It's just an excuse to get a random bunch of Marvel's superheroes and villains together and brawl.

The wannabe reviewer in me wants to knock the game for it's simplicity and shallowness; but I think that's missing the point. As hard as it is to wrap around one's head, sometimes it's just enough to be entertaining. I disregarded it's flaws because it's something I could play with my oldest son and not have him get overwhelmed. As awesome as he thinks something like Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is, he doesn't have the patience to comprehend the mechanics and strategies involved in playing it. I'm not saying he's dumb and can't do it, mind you; just that he doesn't have the desire (or the play time alloted by his mother) to really dig his heels in and figure it out. That time will come someday; but for now he's content with punching Doombots around.

Beyond the cathartic joy of ripping apart armies of enemies with superheroic powers, I can't give enough praise to the sense of humor that Marvel Super Hero Squad has. It's all stemmed from the fact that the characters are stereotypes of the Punch-Out!! kind; enough for you to notice and get a laugh out of, but they don't go so far as to come off as offensive. The Silver Surfer talks like a beach bum with a desire to be a zen master and Captain America carries himself like a war hero, regaling the other Squaddies (the games term, not mine) with old stories to the point that he bores them. By far the best is Thor, who talks in 'thines' and 'thous' and uses exclamatory remarks involving taking his own father's name in vein. Robin would be proud.

Overlooking it's puddle-deep complexity, both my son and I found issues that we just couldn't look past. For me, it was the failed attempt at adding platforming in the hopes that it would break up the occasional monotony. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how hard it is to get a 10-year-old to coordinate leaps with you; but Blue Tongue put the co-op on the wayside, readily apparent by the fact that the camera doesn't care where the second player is nor does it bother to split when you're apart. While it made for some frustrating moments, it also induced a lot of laughs, too. My son didn't care for the fact that the 'coolest' heroes where locked away and took more work than we were willing to put in to have. With Captain America and Spider-Man being as big as they are in the elementary school community; it's a shame. What's insulting is that they are both on the cover prominently to boot.

I'm slowly learning to forget about what the online community deems "cool" and instead focus on what I like to call "fun". It's easier to do when playing with my son; I can disregard my preconceived notions then. Besides, it's hard to hate on a game that actually has the chutzpah to include Modok and mock the infamous "fastball" so openly.