Let’s find out in our review of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a strategic game set in the world of superheroes that we ardently love
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a strategy video game developed by Firaxis Games in collaboration with Marvel’s Games available for PC and consoles. The title is clearly a dedicated to all fans of strategy and superheroes and we got to try it to express our opinion about it. In this review of Marvel’s Midnight Suns we will analyze the game in all its aspects in order to evaluate the actual quality of the title, with all its merits and defects.
A Great Threat – Marvel’s Midnight Suns Review
In our adventure we will play the role of Huntera legendary demon hunter who will have to lead a group of heroes, formed in part by heroes of the Midnight Suns and the Avengers. The purpose of our superheroes is to stop Lilith, the Mother of Demons and the prophecy of her master, Chthon. This fearsome creature is ready to conquer the earth and bring hell to the planet and it’s up to us to stop her with the help of many superheroes. We will have Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Hulk but also lesser-known heroes but already part of the Midnight Suns group such as Blade, Nico Minoru, Magik and Ghost Rider. Adding to these 12 will be Hunter, our specially created hero that you can customize however you want.
Lilith is not to be underestimated because thanks to the possibility of being able to corrupt anyone we will see all sorts of things. The game lasts about fifty hours and it turns out to be a real epic, made up of twists, fights, dialogues and events of all sorts and which flows really well. Despite being a plot focused on the events of superheroes and unbridled fights, there will be dialogues of a certain level, which underlines the depth of the events that we are going to experience full of twists and turns and dramatic moments.
Ready to fight! – Marvel’s Midnight Suns review
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a game of turn-based tactical role with some similarities to X-COM, a title also created by the guys from Firaxis. During the adventure we will have to face a powerful supernatural army of demons and very battle-hardened soldiers. The combat, despite being strategic, is very accessible even to less experienced players. We will have a deck of cards to be used to plan our actions. These cards are well made and explain their usage in detail. The actions you can carry out during your turn depend on the cards in your hand and vary from damage, effects or more standard moves that boil down to ambient ones and ai character movements.
The real difficulty is the limit of three playable cards per turn, which inserted in place of the classic movement-action move, also makes it vital to manage the order of the moves to be carried out during our turn. Specifically we have three different types of castes that is Attack, Talent and Hero. The first two are the most standard and are used to deal damage to opposing troops, for enhance/heal our heroes or inflict negative states on our enemies.
Using these two types of cards, in addition to obtaining the effect, you will load a particular indicator called Courage, useful for unleashing the powerful effects of Hero cards. These cards are similar to normal ones but with much more devastating effects. Finally, we have the most powerful cards in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, i.e. those that are unlocked after gaining a certain affinity with a hero. These cards allow you to unleash moves that are as cinematic as they are powerfulcapable of changing the tide of a battle.
There is no shortage of systems strengthening for the cards, in fact it will be enough to go to the forge where we will be able to merge double cards to obtain an enhanced card. Overall, despite being a simplified system compared to X-COM, the tactic remains and will be able to satisfy even the finest palates of the genre. You will need to think of an adequate strategy to overcome the various fights because you will not have a large amount of heroes immediately available to send into combat. The first few battles you could also pass them easily without too much strategy but going forward it will be necessary to complete the game.
Even superheroes have a weakness – Review Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Continuing our review of Marvel’s Midnight Suns, the game is not all rosy and has some flaws to point out. A big limitation of the combat system is instead the size of game maps. Each mission takes place in a very small area that is limited to a single screen, eliminating the exploration aspect altogether and also reducing the importance of positioning.
Instead of being able to move around a level freely over large areas, waves of enemy reinforcements appear always in the same area, almost giving a claustrophobic feeling to the player. Another negative aspect to take into consideration is that there is no cover system, in fact it is not possible to exploit elements of the game map to avoid being hit. This shortcoming further reduces the possible tactics, limiting himself more to attacking the opponent with ferocity.
Overall, the gameplay of the game is promoted with full marks even if it has some aspects that need to be refined. Among the latter, we felt after several hours of play a sense of repetitiveness in the fights. The latter never represent a complex challenge like the cornerstones of the genre and therefore soon end up looking a lot like each other. These smudges that we have warned are not striking but in the future in a new chapter it would be interesting if the developers focused on these aspects to perfect the already solid gameplay played with Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
A Costume for Every Hero – Marvel’s Midnight Suns Review
As for the art direction Marvel’s Midnight Suns is solid and well done, but graphically it looks slightly subdued. Whereas the game is cross-gen evidently there are graphic restrictions due to the last generation consoles which unfortunately do not allow the title to shine in its own light. The animation of fights and effects are well done and effectively staged and with each attack we will see our superhero perform scenographic moves. Spells and weapon attacks are colorful, gory and impactfulmaking fights a lot cinematic.
The soundtrack is punchy with the game, with powerful melodies similar toll’heavy metal but also more dramatic tones, just like a big budget action movie. As far as the technical sector is concerned, the game runs smoothly without major drops in fps, even if we must always take into account the cross-gen nature of the game which does not allow us to reach the maximum potential. Indeed, technically some things leave a little to be desired, such as the cutscenes which are well executed but have some animations wooden and unrealistic facial expressions. Considering the target of the game, i.e. fans of Marvel comics and films, it fails to reach the level of the latter in terms of visual quality.
Conclusion
Having reached the end of the review of Marvel’s Midnight Suns we are ready to sum up. The game has exceeded our expectations and the mix between turn-based strategy and superhero action works very well. The flaws are not lacking among the graphics and shallow and repetitive gameplay but they are not too incisive to ruin the adventure. In a new future chapter, the defects listed in the review can easily be solved by the developers with the right precautions. If you are a fan of Marvel and superheroes in general and want to see them in action in a turn-based tactical game Marvel’s Midnight Suns it’s definitely for you.
Plus points
- Tons of superheroes to use
- Scenic and strategic battles
- Compelling and deep story
Points against
- Graphically questionable
- forgettable exploratory phases
- some refinements on the combat system