Marvel Nemesis, the game in which Marvel Comics’ greatest superheroes face off against Electronic Arts’ newly created Imperfects, comes to the PSP as a pure fighting game with its modes, an array of characters, and a unique card collecting element, rather than the console version’s story mode.
The Campaign mode is the game’s primary mode. Two campaigns are available: one for Marvel heroes and one for Imperfects. Each consists of ten fights that must be completed in order. Only two characters can be chosen at the start of the game: The Thing and Johnny Ohm. Completing a campaign unlocks another character, opening another, and so on. Fighting your way through the campaign also opens new arenas. There are seven arenas, ten Marvel characters, and eight Imperfects. Daredevil and the Human Torch are absent from the lineup, but Dr. Doom and Captain America are added.
Fights are best-of-three matches, with movement handled mainly through an analog stick and the PSP’s four buttons for attacks, jumps, grabs/throws, and locking on to the enemy/blocking. Characters with the relevant superpower ability can use the left shoulder button to fly or teleport. Still, the right shoulder button is a context-sensitive superpower enhancer, enabling extra-powerful attacks and blocks, the details of which vary by character. Superpowers necessitate charging the power meter, and both power and health are automatically recharged. Landing a succession of hits on the enemy raises the Rage Meter, which, when complete, allows for the temporary usage of unlimited superpowers. There is a lot of destructible terrain and stuff to pick up and toss in the arenas.
After winning a campaign fight, the player receives a medal (gold, silver, or bronze, depending on the length of the battle) and then chooses a collectible card from a deck of five, all face down. These are available in everyday, uncommon, and rare forms, like in a collecting card game. Rarer cards with better medals are more likely to be obtained. They are classified into four categories: health, defense, power, and strength. During combat, the cards can provide bonuses such as excellent health or attack strength, faster recharge times, extended rage length, etc. There are also character-specific cards that can only be played with that character. The cards in the game’s card book can be arranged into decks, from which one can be chosen before a fight. The D-Pad is used to activate the cards in-game. Only two card slots are available immediately; the remaining two must be unlocked later in the campaign. Combining certain groups of cards (such as all character-specific cards) grants additional bonuses. The game has 173 cards (including unlocked characters and arenas). Unwanted or duplicate cards can be recycled for other random cards, with the rarity value taken into account.
The game features a Quickplay mode and an ad-hoc multiplayer option that lets you use unlocked characters, arenas, and collected cards.
