Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review—A Cosmic Blast

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Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a new beat ‘em up game, similar in style to recent hits like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge and the upcoming Scott Pilgrim EX. It retells a classic Marvel story from the mid-2000s.

Annihilus is attacking the galaxy, and it’s your mission to battle across Earth and other worlds to halt the Annihilation Wave before it destroys everything.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion captures the fun, fast-paced feel of classic Saturday morning cartoons while delivering the stylish pixel art Tribute Games is known for. The game is packed with vibrant visuals, intricate level design, a fantastic soundtrack, and plenty of references for fans of the original Annihilation comic series.

One of the best parts of the game is its fast pace. Battles are snappy, feel good to control, and are easy to follow, even with lots of action happening on screen and players switching characters.

It’s delightfully chaotic, striking a great balance. The game has enough complexity to be interesting, but it doesn’t get in the way of offering a simple, enjoyable, old-school beat ‘em up experience.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review

Marvel Cosmic Invasion’s core mechanic is the “Cosmic Swap,” which lets you instantly switch to your second chosen character during a run. You can play the game alone or with up to three friends, and you’ll pick two characters to use for each level.

The game features 15 playable heroes, each with a unique set of abilities. While some heroes have slightly more moves than others, all of them, including those with fewer options like Storm and Black Panther, are enjoyable to play.

Okay, so once you’ve picked your two heroes, you can switch between them whenever you want as long as they’re both still standing! Honestly, you can just swap whenever, or even not swap at all if you prefer. But I’ve found that timing your swaps strategically during a fight can really give you an edge – it’s definitely something to think about!

Some characters let you switch in mid-battle to create powerful combos. For example, you can use Beta Ray Bill’s “Soaring Hammer” to lift enemies, then follow up with a Spider-Man kick to send them flying off the edge of the arena. You can also call in Cosmic Assists – special attacks that deal extra damage and help clear out crowds of enemies.

You can also use the swap feature to escape dangerous situations. Imagine being caught by a tentacle – swapping lets another hero immediately come in and rescue the captured character.

A Quick Campaign

You can play the game’s story mode in two ways: a modern style where you save your progress, or an old-school arcade style with limited lives and no saving. We recommend playing with progress enabled on your first playthrough, as it lets you unlock all the game has to offer.

Throughout the game, each level offers unique challenges tailored to each hero, letting you earn Cosmic Cubes. These Cubes unlock customization options in the Cosmic Matrix, including new colors, music, character bios, and arcade-mode tweaks like increased difficulty or the ability to replay with any character. You’ll also strengthen your heroes as you progress, improving their health, focus abilities, and adding passive skills.

You’re free to tackle each level with any characters you choose, but the story cutscenes will always show the characters the level was originally created for. For example, if you’re playing the Savage Land level, you’ll see She-Hulk and Storm in the cutscenes. The game will also point these preferred characters out on the character selection screen to help you remember.

The game’s campaign seems to offer choices that let you take different paths, but this is a bit deceptive. You might think finishing one section will unlock the next, only to discover you actually need to complete all sections to continue. This makes those branching options feel unnecessary.

Man, this game had a couple of frustrating bugs. Twice I had to completely restart a level because of them. The worst was during the second boss fight – Wolverine went down, but instead of switching to Storm like it should have, the fight just… kept going, and I couldn’t control anyone. Wolverine just stayed flopped on the ground! I had to restart the whole level. And then, get this, it happened again at the exact same spot. Super annoying!

Honestly, it only happened a couple of times, and it was really confusing trying to figure out what went wrong. The developers said it’ll be patched in the next update, which is good, but it’s a shame it slipped through testing initially. I’m confident they’ll get it sorted though!

The game will likely take between three and seven hours to complete on your first try. But with all the collectibles and unlockables, you’ll probably want to play through it again!

Marvel Cosmic Invasion Review Verdict

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a really fun game that successfully blends classic arcade action with modern gaming features. The unique Cosmic Swap mechanic adds a surprising level of strategy to the fights, and every character is enjoyable to play. It’s easy to get hooked and keep playing, thanks to its engaging progression system. While there are a few minor bugs, they don’t significantly detract from the overall experience. If you’re looking for a great co-op brawler to play with friends, this game is a fantastic choice.

4 – Great

We received a PC copy of Marvel Cosmic Invasion (via Steam) for this review. (You can find our review policy here.) Want to discuss the game with others? Join the TopMob Discord! Plus, be sure to subscribe to the TopMob weekly newsletter for more updates.

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2025-12-01 19:19