Marvel Future Revolution for Android review: A fun, flawed, F2P game

Marvel Future Revolution is a mobile RPG set in the Marvel world after several Earths have merged together during an event called The Convergence. Now, Primary Earth is trying to hold together thanks to the people of multiple worlds now having to share a single one, along with all the villains that are now all in one place. They've created a task force called Omega Flight, of which the player is a member, whose job it is to deal with the threats to the world.

You play as a handful of Marvel's heavy hitters, including Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Widow. I spent most of my early missions playing as Doctor Strange. Each character has a separate mission chain, and players can play out all of them. I admit, my first thought was about just how much of a logistical nightmare this would have been, and how happy I am that my character is doing the punching and not the paperwork. My second thought was about how surprisingly enjoyable the game is, minus some of the usual pitfalls on mobile like microtransactions.

Marvel Future Revolution: The good stuff

First of all, the game looks amazing, especially considering the platforms for which it's made. It looks almost as good as Square Enix's Marvel's Avengers title for console and PC, and what drops there were in quality were usually small issues of texture pop-in or draw distance. The characters look great, and the pre-rendered cutscenes are well-animated.

The game also has a decent number of characters, even if all their abilities don't feel that different from each other mechanically. Each one has a basic attack, some special abilities, a crowd control ability, and an ultimate that basically flattens everyone in the room. It's not complicated, and you don't actually have to put a lot of thought into the combat if you don't want to.

The game is technically open-world, but I don't want to give the impression you're going to have a huge sandbox to play around in, like a LEGO Marvel game. Instead you have several specific areas where you can go and take on missions within a relatively small area. It sounds confining, but I honestly found it a bit of a relief that I didn't have to spend several minutes trekking from one end of the map to the other.

And, in the off-chance you should ever feel like you're tapping on the screen too much, you have the option to make your character automatically move around the map to mission objectives. I enjoyed that because I'm lazy, especially when a game asks me to grind, so I appreciated the convenience. This obviously won't work with all of the game's modes or its boss battles, but it's still useful.

One last thing I liked: The in-game cosmetics let you outfit your heroes with several different costumes. You can choose from several costume pieces, some of them comics-based and some originals, in a variety of colors. The customization was one of the things developer Netmarble touted before the game's release, and playing dress-up with Marvel superheroes doesn't sound like it should be fun or something a dignified gamer should spend a lot of time on, but it is and I did and I have no regrets.

Marvel Future Revolution: The not-so-good stuff

I like this game, but it's not without its flaws, some of which might be dealbreakers. For starters, I should note that this game really wants you to pay money for items. There are a number of in-game options for microtransactions, from cosmetic pieces of gear to boosters to currency. It's a little ridiculous even by mobile game standards, and it would be seriously off-putting if microtransactions aren't your thing.

This is going to sound like a petty complaint considering it's a mobile title, but the voice acting is not up to par, especially considering my ears detected some very good voice actors in the mix (I'm pretty sure that's Yuri Lowenthal playing Spider-Man again, and let me make it clear he's one of the exceptions). Some characters sound like they're shouting during a normal conversation, and others just don't sound very interested in what they're saying, if that makes sense.

This wouldn't be such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that the audio is messed up in general. Characters' voices cut out when they're speaking, and both the music and voiced lines drop in and out at random. I think part of the problem is that when you've got the characters' dialogue set to auto-play, their dialogue runs into the next line before the spoken line can catch up, but I have no explanation for the quietness.

There are also times when both the text and icons on screen are a little on the cramped side. For the most part the text is readable and I didn't have a problem following the story or missions, but sometimes things like the onscreen friends list or the names of other players hovering over their heads made me squint. As another example, the menu that shows you your active quests is a very small crosshair icon in the top right of the screen. I was told I couldn't take any more missions and I spent several minutes trying to access my list, finding it more or less by accident.

Finally, the game doesn't have controller support, except for basic character movement. While the touchscreen controls work just fine, an action RPG is something that can only be improved with a controller, and unfortunately even the best mobile controllers won't be very useful.

Marvel Future Revolution: Should you play it?

3 out of 5

This is not a game that's going to be everyone's cup of tea, given the F2P mechanics and how repetitive it can be. However, I found the F2P mechanics fairly harmless and I like the characters enough to keep playing. The game has a decent amount of content with the promise of more, and it's got an interesting set-up for any future stories.

If you're interested in Marvel heroes and want to play with some of your favorite characters and don't mind a bit of a grind, this is a fun game to play. But if you'd prefer something a little less about the grind and the microtransactions — or if, heaven forbid, you're not a Marvel fan — you're probably better off giving it a pass.

Marvel Future Revolution

Bottom line: This is a fun mobile title, especially if you like Marvel heroes. It's got an enjoyable combat system and character customization option, but the F2P mechanics can be hard to ignore.

• Free on Google Play Store