Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics Review

I’m a huge fan of turn-based games. It makes me feel as if I’m playing something similar to chess, but with characters that have superpowers. I started playing the Facebook game ‘Marvel: Avengers Alliance’ back in 2013, and since then I’ve been able to recruit an impressive team. Now, Disney Interactive Studio just released ‘Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics’ which takes things to the next level.

I know there are some people that don’t take anything on Facebook seriously. I get it. Some of the games look as if they were made for toddlers, and they require players to spend a lot of money in order to fully unlock all the features. Not to mention the annoyance that comes with waiting for your energy bar, etc. to refill. Marvel: Avengers Alliance, though a Facebook game, was greatly enjoyable for me and I didn’t have to spend a single dime. I still had to go slow in the beginning, but after a while it didn’t matter and I was able to play with all my favorite characters from the Marvel Universe. Now, with Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics, the game takes everything enjoyable about MAA and drops it in a fully 3D environment.

This time around, the player is given the role of Commander, and you get to send your team on various missions. The story is still similar to MAA; the world is facing an Iso threat. The stakes are so high that even villains, such as Loki, are willing to help you out. The team starts with Iron Man, and then adds Black Panther along with some S.H.I.E.L.D agents. You can also recruit more characters if you are willing to spend some of your own cash. It doesn’t really matter; because having Iron Man, Black Panther, and any other character once you attain by level 3, are enough to keep the game progressing. So, you won’t have to stop playing if you don’t pay up. There are 20 characters for you to recruit and you can also ‘preview’ their stats and powers. Some of the characters include: Wolverine, Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, Taskmaster, Loki, and Cyclops. The customization is greater than MAA, which gave every character a pre-determined set of powers. In MAAT you can select the powers you want your character to have, and also change them according to the requirements of the mission. The S.H.I.E.L.D agents are fun to play with as well. Their powers include a huge arsenal of weapons along with healing capabilities. They are weaker than superheroes, but provide good support. Getting game credits is a bit tougher compared to MAA though and you have to replay missions in order to get more.

The graphics are impressive and I didn’t experience any lag during the game. It’s a fun experience watching your foe walking towards you, and deciding on the attack it wants to hit you with. The battle system is almost the same. Bruisers are still strong against Scrappers but weak against Blasters, etc. This allows players to think of the perfect strategy to defeat their opponents depending on their class. One of the few things that annoyed me was the time the Quinjet took in order to get to a certain location. You can wait 6-20 seconds or spend one gold bar to reach your destination sooner. I will wait, thank you very much!

Just like MAA, I am certain MAAT will also get more updates in the coming days, and include more Marvel characters for players to recruit or unlock, as well as newer locations. I’m still waiting for Storm to make an appearance. I want her on my team! I’m hoping the Young Avengers also make their game debuts soon. MAA already got Nico from the Runaways. It’s time the world got Hulking and Wiccan to play with.

Don’t hesitate just because it’s on Facebook. I’m a fan of Marvel superhero characters, though I might argue DC characters are better than a lot of them, but that’s another issue (Raven/Rachel Roth for the win!). I like playing games that do justice to comic book characters, and MAAT does just that.

Have you played Marvel: Avengers Alliance Tactics yet? Please feel free to share in the comments section below.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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