It’s safe to say that MARVEL Future Revolution’s App Store page sets expectations high: “Epic campaigns […] high fidelity 3D AAA graphics never before seen in mobile gaming […] cinematic action & fluid combat […] endless high quality costumes.” Here at MobileGames.com, we’re used to seeing game pages that exaggerate but after spotting a spell of equally effusive reviews coming through, well you can call us Captain Marvel, and colour us intrigued.
As a regular writer for MMOGames.com, I’ve played my share of open-world action multiplayer RPGs, but the experience of playing a fully-fledged high-budget mobile iteration was a new and intriguing prospect. Throw in the Marvel multiverse and you could consider me sold on the whole experience. There was one problem, I’d heard it all before…
Having played and reviewed Marvel’s other mobile titles such as MARVEL Realm of Champions, a game I’d scored a frankly generous 6/10, my expectations were not high. And yet for every Thor: The Dark World, there is a Civil War. And Marvel Future Revolution is the mobile gaming equivalent in more ways than one.
The Gangs All Here
As far as first impressions go, MARVEL Future Revolution blew me away at every turn. After clearing up enough free space on my phone (the game is Hulk-sized) I was met with an introductory animation showing off the Guardians of the Galaxy in stunning high-definition. As the (equally Hulkish) patches are downloading, waiting players are treated to a great side-scrolling pixel-art minigame to while away the time.
The real action begins with a series of awesome cinematics, interactive cutscenes that require you to dodge dangers, and fast-paced battles racing against multi-planetary destruction. These opening scenes are a gripping, flawless, 10/10 mobile gaming experience.
During this time, players are treated to quick transitions between Spidey, Ironman, Captain America, Black Widow, Star-Lord and Storm. Yep, you read that right – the X-Men’s Storm – right next to Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, and the rest of the gang. At this stage, the characters have all of their skills and ultimates temporarily unlocked for this epic introduction jampacked with tension, boss fights, and Marvel’s classic one-liners.
As you dodge passed obstacles, zip your way through the crumbling city, witness noble sacrifices, and combine your skills with other characters in a constantly changing squad, you cannot help but see the game’s potential.
A Meeting of Worlds
As fans of Marvel comics will know, the idea of the multiverse is far from new. And yet as all the latest and upcoming blockbusters have promised us (as well as other brilliant Marvel media like Spiderman: Into the Spider-verse), multidimensional shenanigans are very much the dish of the day. And that’s good news because multiverses make a great setting for an RPG with MMO elements. Providing the perfect excuse for a whole Silicon Valley’s worth of Iron Men, a platoon of Captains America, and a veritable meteorological cluster of Storms trapesing about.
Marvel Future Revolution is based around the concept of The Convergence wherein Earths from different dimensions are joined together to create a multi-Earth mashup that is in equal parts fascinating, harmonious, and hellish. The plot may not be entirely airtight, but hey we can forgive that when it means we get to see a dozen different awesome variations of Groot.
The opening pre-Convergence scenes feature fights against the evil forces of M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. While we have to question the editorial decision to position the masked people shouting “Science will Save Us” as the villains during a pandemic, we’re happy to put that down to an oversight. The enemies post-Convergence are a veritable smorgasbord of villains and antiheroes from the modern movies and comics. And we enjoyed blasting every one of them.
Choose Your Hero
Before the main game truly kicks off, players get to design their Hero Squad – their own unique unalterable assembly of Avengers. From there, players select one of their heroes and are met with character-unique introductory meetings explaining the hero’s journey into the Omega Flight command hub.
These introductory missions, while short, each have their own unique feel, setting, great dialogue, hero-specific soundtracks, and voice acting which could very easily pass for the real deal. I’ll admit I had to resort to Google to make sure that it wasn’t the real Ian McKellen voicing Magneto (the impression was that good). Many of the cast, such as Yuri Lowenthal’s Spiderman, are reprised roles from previous games.
These introductory missions are inevitably ended by meeting a version of your character from a different dimension, “The time has come for you to guard more than one galaxy.” The heroes seem all too happy to ditch their current goals and loved ones to zip off on a dimension hopping adventure. And we’re pretty happy about it too.
These short introductory missions are a nice way of giving your squad some origin story as opposed to alternative games’ approach of “Click” -> “Now Spidey is here.” Our personal favourite of these introductory missions was Star-Lord’s flirtatious guitar-backed adventure through a dinosaur-infested planet, a “Jurassic World” if you will.
The Beautiful Game
Have you ever played a mobile game that made you wish you had a better phone? I have now.
There are plenty of beautiful mobile games that cleverly use the mobile format to produce easy-on-the-eye visuals. Heck, that link above goes to an article I wrote about the best of them. And yet I can say with total confidence that I have never played a mobile game as graphically impressive as Marvel Future Revolution.
Even set on low-graphics the game is attractive, when set on high-graphics the game is nothing short of breath-taking. Frankly, I didn’t know my phone had it in him. Although to be fair, he did struggle after a while – playing on max graphics on an iPhone 6S eventually gave me phone-overheating warnings and the game automatically reduced in quality.
Marvel Future Revolution Main Gameplay
Once these introductory missions are over, the game struggles to maintain the same 10/10 quality. The missions themselves stagnate a bit, and it’s the first time I’ve been grateful for an auto-play button. Frankly, there isn’t much incentive not to use auto-play for the standard go-here, talk-to-him, slay-mob quests. Once you come face-to-face with the bosses however, you will certainly need to take over to fight and dodge the old-fashioned way.
While Marvel Future Revolution is open world, just “going exploring” is not particularly rewarding or fun. There are few hidden secrets and plenty of invisible barriers. Player time would be better spent engaging in the Raids, Blitzes and other events that keep gameplay fresh.
In addition to these quests there are additional PvP modes. The one-vs-one Dimensional Duels are smooth, balanced, and re-playable experiences. Stunning players as Spidey was endlessly satisfying. Equally enjoyable were the team-battle Omega Wars that see groups of your favourite heroes clashing in larger arenas.
Is Marvel Future Revolution Pay to Win?
Sadly, we live in an era of pay-to-win games. As much as players and video game journalists call foul, our cries are lost under the gigantic stacks of cash being hoovered up by game publishers. There are undoubtedly some pay-to-win elements in Marvel Future Revolution. However, compared to similar games and indeed other Marvel mobile games, Marvel Future Revolution deserves a lot of credit for making their game playable and enjoyable for players who detest microtransactions.
There are generous amounts of freebies and loot boxes allowing you to get your characters looking awesome just by completing quests and side quests. Truly there are few times when you really need to pay until the late game wherein you might want to pay to upgrade your Hero Squad Level.
Rather than limiting your enjoyment as a casual player, the developers instead try to lure you in with an excellent selection of skins and outfits that you never knew you needed until you saw them. Steampunk Star-Lord? Yes, please.
Unlike other big-name F2P mobile games, Marvel Future Revolution is pretty generous with its non-paying players. This is an intelligent long-term strategy that should be praised, and one that will hopefully help them achieve the mass audience they need to continue to build, expand, and improve.
With a level cap of 100, it’s safe to say there are areas of the late-game I have not yet experienced. Marvel promise mass-scale PvP and they have the foundations for very enjoyable warfare modes. While the game is not quite perfect and feels a little shallow at times, it’s still pretty darn close. If you’re a Marvel lover, a comic-book fan, or someone with an appreciation for high-quality graphics – you’re going to want to give Marvel Future Revolution a go.
We give it a solid 9/10 with the potential to become both MobileGames’ and Marvel’s first 10/10 mobile game after further development. Truly a mobile gaming marvel.
9/10
MARVEL Future Revolution is available for free on iOS and Android. If you’re a Marvel superfan, check out our ultimate Marvel phone customisation guide.
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