oh uh... this game doesn't exist anymore lol

Man, how times have changed. The game received a "massive" systems update that changed the gameplay from exciting to very boring. Limitations on movement spells, reworked systems, and barely any fresh content have made the game feel and play considerably worse than it did way back when I wrote my review and put nearly 850 hours into the game. The systems updates completely trashed the original game, the gear grind hasn't changed at all but the feel of the heroes has been completely off.

To top it off, the past 6 months have seen incredibly few updates compared to the MH2015 patch release schedule that saw hero and item changes that kept the game fresh while feeling great to play. These days aren't available anymore - the game is an MMO and cannot be downgraded to old versions. The current development team is working on a PS4 version named Marvel Heroes Omega. I've tried this out in its current closed beta form and it's got the same dull slow gameplay as the PC version of the game, now with worse performance, new bugs, and a completely revamped item/crafting system that has its own set of pros and cons.

I just can't recommend the game anymore in this current state. Consider using time travel to go back to Marvel Heroes 2015 and play that version instead.

---------------------Old Review---------------------

Do you like ARPGs like Diablo and Path of Exile? Do you like Marvel? If you answered yes to both, you really need to install Marvel Heroes right now.

Strong, solid combat. Very high quality voiceovers. A classic Marvel storyline in the main quests, and all sorts of Marvel villians, tropes, and references abound. The graphics are great, both in effects and tunability. Animations are fun to look at, fun to execute with.

In the current state of the game, it thrives on repetition just like other ARPGs. Marvel Heroes throws enough uniqueness into the mix to keep gameplay from going stale. At the time of this review, you have 36 superheroes (and counting!) to play. No two heroes play the exact same. There are a ton of choices and I'm sure that anyone can find a favorite or two out of the mix. Every gameplay style you'd want in an ARPG is here. You can boil the abilities down to simple types ("single target spirit spender") but they'll all have different effects, different damage, different synergies with the hero's passives and gear, etc.

The game is receiving constant updates. The developers are on top of the community at all times and have a very active presence on their forums. The game developers are making it clear that everything in the game is verified and allowed by Marvel.

To touch on the free-to-play aspects; you don't have to spend a single cent. The cash shop consists of heroes, costumes, boosts, and miscellanous items. All heroes and costumes can be obtained in-game; the cash shop just speeds up the process. The boosts are also obtainable in-game. Most of the miscellanous items have zero effect on gameplay and won't make much of a difference. In my opinion, you should only spend some money if you absolutely want to try a specific hero (like in the hero packs here on Steam) or if you don't like your starting hero. If you like the game enough, you'll be able to decide for yourself if you want to spend more money on it.

There is one con. In the current state of the game, performance is an issue. The game will run the same on just about any system, and most graphics settings will not make much of a difference on higher-end systems. There are some significant performance penalties in the largest/busiest maps of the game. The game is still very playable but it will not achieve high framerates or responsiveness in these areas, even on an exceedingly fast computer.

This review was written during Marvel Heroes 2015 patch 1.05 - Gazillion reset the patch numbers with the release of the 2015 update.