Marvel Contest of Champions looks as if a comic book guide nerd’s dream come true. An open-ended story premise brings collectively each Marvel character identified to man in a sequence of match bouts for supremacy. At first look, it looks as if Marvel’s reply to DC’s Injustice: Gods Amongst Us; a fast-paced all-star brawler, with slick graphics and a great deal of content material. However whereas there could also be heaps to unlock, there aren’t many different causes to maintain coming again.
Contest of Champions represents a brand new route for Kabam, lengthy identified for his or her many social technique titles reduce from the identical template. Their latest brawler shares none of that heritage, as an alternative specializing in flashy preventing sport motion. The intensely advanced actions, positioning, and timing can typically be a problem to translate to the touch screens, however Kabam has opted for a faucet and swipe scheme that’s easy and stylish. You’ll be able to dodge left and proper, block, assault heavy or medium, guard break, and cost up a single-use “tremendous” assault.
All of this goes off with no hitch, nevertheless it leaves the sport feeling a bit like a center level between a fighter and Infinity Blade. There are combos, however they don’t require a lot in the way in which of timing and execution, and many of the problem comes from studying the opponent’s animations and understanding when to dam and when to assault.
There’s a fully large roster of characters to unlock and, as you’d anticipate from a free-to-play sport, you unlock them by buying “crystals” with in-game forex that randomly drop characters. This mechanic is fairly much like the one popularized by Puzzle & Dragons, and it means you’ll be taking plenty of spins to win these hotly desired high tier characters.
In fact, you’ll spend time upgrading the characters you have already got too. Finishing quests provides you expertise factors to distribute to your numerous champions to spice up their stats, and assist take the sting off of tougher fights. It’s the fundamental grinding mechanics you’d anticipate in a sport of this kind, and the pacing of rewards doesn’t appear too punishing.
The true killer right here is the utter lack of depth and selection. Whereas every character animates in another way and has its personal distinctive particular use, in observe, there’s little or no to distinguish one character from the subsequent. The identical primary rhythm and method applies no matter in the event you’re Juggernaut or Spider-Man. Some characters are extra highly effective than others, and a few character sorts have a bonus over others, however these statistical increase don’t make any distinction within the warmth of battle.
This leaves little for Contest of Champions to face on exterior of the energy of its license, and right here too, it falls brief. The story right here is much too skinny to be of a lot curiosity to anybody, and the characters don’t get to point out off a lot persona. Not solely is there no character-specific chatter, there’s little or no voice in any respect. It’s particularly placing, watching the victory animations the place you’re feeling like there ought to be voice and there’s none.
If there’s any excellent news, it’s that the freemium mechanics don’t have a lot alternative to be intrusive right here, for the reason that simplistic, repetitive gameplay often wears out its welcome lengthy earlier than obnoxious timers and a gradual, grinding tempo have an opportunity to rear their ugly heads. Contest of Champions is most irritating as a result of it may have been a lot extra, if solely somebody cared to place some meat on its bones.
What’s new in 2026:
The sport has been persistently up to date since its preliminary Android launch, and stays one of many high video games on Android for good motive. Updates embrace:
- Act 9 Chapter 1 Enlargement: Launched a brand-new endgame story marketing campaign block that includes distinctive path mechanics and unique improve rewards.
- 7-Star Champion Roster Progress: Considerably expanded the pool of accessible 7-Star characters, including top-tier meta heroes and villains to the highest rank.
- Battlegrounds Aggressive Overhaul: Carried out refreshed seasonal pacing, stricter anti-cheat protections, and streamlined drafting layouts for the first PvP mode.
- Legacy Character Package Redesigns: Delivered complete balancing reworks to older, underperforming heroes to make them aggressive within the trendy meta.
- Saga-Particular Fight Occasions: Launched long-running, multi-month development occasions that provide main stat boosts and focused rewards for particular character tags.
- Engine & Load Time Changes: Rolled out specialised software program patches to cut back frame-rate stuttering throughout heavy visible impact triggers on trendy Android {hardware}.
*Editor’s Word: This assessment was initially revealed in January third of 2015.
Hardcore?
No.
Contest of Champions appears and feels nice, however earlier than lengthy, it turns into obvious that there’s actually nothing there.
