Kabam and Netmarble are coming together once again with your favorite comic book creator– Marvel. This is to create a brand new RPG meant for Android and iOS devices. The name of the game is Marvel Realm of Champions, and we’re going to scrutinize and tackle it below. We’ll also discuss what players can expect if they start playing the game.
What is Marvel Realm of Champions?
MARVEL Realm of Champions is a reimagining of the Marvel Universe. The game puts the players into Battleworld, a forbidden planet created from many different realities. The uneasy peace enjoyed by the people there is disrupted by the death of the God-King of Battleworld, Maestro. Sending the various baronies on Battleworld to disarray, it’s up to the player to find out who killed him and to bring peace to the war-torn world.
After choosing and fully kitting out their Champions with the best gears they have, players can then join up with other players for cool multiplayer games in distinct Marvel-inspired battle arenas and duke it out in real-time 3v3 team battles.
What Type of Game Is It?
The game is a 3v3 MOBA RPG. Yes, you heard right. It’s a MOBA and an RPG in one package! Players can acquire 6 characters at launch. This includes the likes of Iron Legionnaire (Iron Man character), Web Warrior (Spider-Man character), Black Panther, Hulk, Storm, and last but not the least, the Sorcerer Supreme. Each of these heroes brings their skills and abilities to the various battlefields that you will find yourself in. An example of this is Hulk being an absolute monster and tank, Iron Legionnaire having ranged attacks, Storm and the Sorcerer Supreme getting powerful AOE, et cetera.
If you’re looking for more games to try, here is the list of best MOBA games for mobile devices.
What Is It Based On?
Marvel Realm of Champions has its story on the Secret Wars Crossover from Marvel Comics, a 12-issue Comic Book Limited Edition Crossover series published from May 1984 to April 1985. The series was thought of by Marvel Comics’ then Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter. The event was announced on the 11th issue of the Marvel Age news magazine, published way back in February 1984. A news column in the magazine announced the series as the Cosmic Champions Series. After a month has passed, the 12th issue of Marvel Age contains a cover story on the new series. However, it came with the revised title of Secret Wars.
Secret Wars of 2015 also had a relatively same premise. Different dimensions convoluting into one whole. This event gave birth to the new continuity of the Marvel Comics Omniverse.
Pre-Register Bonus
If players pre-registered for Realm of Champions, there are a few pre-register bonuses that they’ll get when the game eventually launches this December. These bonuses include the Iron Legionnaire and Hulk gear, as well as 100 Units and 300 Gold.
Release Date?
The game is slated to be officially released on December 16 this year, with players that preregistered for the game in both Apple App Store and Google Play Store getting what the game calls the Battleworld Launch Day Rewards. These include the aforementioned Iron Legionnaire and Hulk Gear, the 100 Units, and 300 Gold, as well as 2 Perfect Gear Pieces that you can equip on your heroes.
Marvel Realm of Champions Gameplay
Let’s talk about how the game plays now shall we? As of right now, we have a pretty clear picture of how Marvel Realm of Champions will play on both Android and iOS, and we’re going to be telling you all about it below.
Combat
Combat-wise, the game plays similar enough to any smartphone MOBA that you’re already familiar with. You control your character’s movements using the left side of your phone’s screen, while abilities and attacks are on the right side of the screen.
As stated before, there will be 6 available heroes when the game launches, the Iron Legionnaire, Hulk, Black Panther, Storm, Web Warrior, and lastly, the Sorcerer Supreme. Each of these heroes has their roles to play in the game, with pretty distinct skills, though the way to control them is similar as well.
The game has several modes and maps, each with its specific win conditions. We don’t know what all of the game modes are yet, but the most prominent one is their 3v3 Arena mode where you and 2 other players team up against an enemy team and destroy their MODOK bot. There’s a central part of the game area where players duke it out, and getting control of it weakens the MODOK bot of the opposing team, allowing the players to deal with the damage.
Story Campaign
As stated before, story-wise, the game is based lightly on Marvel’s Comic’s Secret Wars and is set in the Battleworld. The Battleworld is a patchwork realm created by the fragments of many different realities taken by the God-King Maestro. Each land holds dominion to a specific House ruled by a Baron, all of which are in a state of uneasy and precarious alliances between each another. Years after Battleworld’s formation, this uneasy peace is disturbed by the sudden and quite suspicious death of the God-King Maestro, leading the Houses to vie for control over the planet’s resources.
Character Customization
Marvel Realm of Champions has character customization that’s reminiscent of your typical action RPG. Players gain currency when finishing a game, whether they win or lose (with losing players gaining less currency and EXP), that they can use to obtain a random character or gear.
As mentioned, there are only 6 characters available for the game’s launch on December 16th. However, with the vastness of the Marvel Universe, it’s almost a guarantee that there would be more characters and factions that will be added to the game’s lifespan eventually. So if you’re bummed out at the lack of characters to play as, cheer up, because there’s going to be more content coming out in the future.
In the case of gear, they have a system that’s incredibly reliant on the gear that you equip your character. All characters have a Weapon, Helmet, Chest Piece, Arms, Pants, and Footgear slot. All of the gear that you get will give more HP to the character that uses it, increasing their being tanky in battle. This is reflected in their Champion Rating, which highlights the character’s HP, as well as their overall power.
Long story short, better gear equals better characters. And the implications of this thing will be discussed more in another part of the article.
Guilds
In terms of Guilds, the game has 8 Houses where players can join in upon starting the campaign proper. There’s a possibility that you might get more houses, or that you can change which house you align yourself to mid-game.
There might also be House exclusive items that players can avail of when the game eventually starts, so keep an eye out for those as well. Notably, the 8 houses where players can join includes:
House of Iron
Led by the billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist Tony Stark himself or more accurately, his AI version Stark Prime, the House of Iron is a shining beacon of technology and innovation. However, with the seclusion of Tony Stark, the aforementioned Stark Prime has begun to take over the daily happenings of the House of Iron, and there’s currently no telling what he would do with the tech he has at his disposal.
Kingdom of Wakanda
With the death of T’Challa, the former king of Wakanda, in the hands of Maestro, the Kingdom of Wakanda is now led by his sister, the Queen Shuri. With their kingdom in shambles after the death of their former leader, and the Banishment ripping almost all of Wakanda from Battleworld, the remaining citizens of Wakanda endured and now look to a brighter future under Queen Shuri.
Spider-Guild
The Spider-Guild was formed when various Spider-Men and Women were transported to a single reality due to a malfunctioning dimensional rift experiment on Fisk Labs. After that, they were transported to Battleworld by Maestro after a brief stint in an attempt to find their ways back home.
The Spider-People are incredibly versatile and are great scientists when it comes to poking around dimensions. However, after an incident where they opened a rift that led to a Manhattan filled with man-eating symbiotes, they decided that it’s best to keep their Alternate Dimension research on an observing basis, rather than an exploration and interaction one. With the leadership of Madame Web, they turned themselves into the protectors of the less fortunate, as well as great spies, having spun their web across the various houses in Battleworld.
Temple of Vishanti
Now for those that have a more arcane bent to them, the Temple of Vishanti opens their doors. Led by the Ancient One, formerly known as Doctor Stephen Strange, the former Sorcerer Supreme stayed neutral throughout the various fighting for Battleworld. Not because of any pacifistic reasoning mind you, but because the Temple of Vishanti is busy enough trying to ensure that the reality they’re currently on isn’t swallowed by the various extradimensional entities that are out there in the multiverse.
Now, with the Maestro dead and the dangers to Battleworld’s reality being somewhat controlled, the various sorcerers on the Temple of Vishanti decided to end their seclusion and participate in the wider politics of Battleworld. Only time will tell whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Asgardian Republic
Led by the tactical genius and accomplished warrior queen War Thor, the Asgardian Republic is the combined alliance of the 9 realms of Norse lore. From Niflheim to Nidavellir, to Jotunheim and Asgard itself, the Asgardian Republic established itself as the peak of military might and prowess on Battleworld. In the Republic, strength and ability will be your friends, as they value those above all else.
Pyramid X
Now for those that know their X-Men Lore, En Sabah Nur, or more commonly known as the Mutant Apocalypse, was born in Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs. And with his might, he forged a mighty civilization for mutants.
In Battleworld, this Apocalypse did the same thing. But the difference is the fact that Egyptia didn’t fall, nor was he ousted from his position. Ruling over the mutants that he empowered himself, he stands atop Pyramid X and Egyptia as their God-King, and with his Mutant armies and 4 Horsemen, his enemies might think that surrender is the better option.
Gamma Horde
The Gramma Horde has a simple enough motto. Hulk. Smash. And smash they did, back when the Incredible Hulk was in charge. However, with his death, the strong Fist of the Horde unclenched itself, and the various tribes that made it went their ways.
That is until a new leader rose from the ashes of the old: Skaar, the premier Worldbreaker of the Maestro. He plans to unite the scattered tribes of the Gamma Horde and reforge the unbreakable Fist once again. Bigger, meaner, and better than it ever was before. As for whether or not that can happen under his leadership? Well, we’ll have to wait and see.
Patriot Garrison
Last but not the least, we have the Patriot Garrison. Once led by the former Captain America, now known as Civil Warrior in Battleworld. They are fighting against the Maestro the moment they were transported into the new dimension. However, Maestro obliterates them, killing Civil Warrior and scattering his forces. In addition to that, he also froze the lands of the Patriot Garrison in time while he decides on their punishment.
However, with the Maestro’s death, the Garrison was liberated– with President Margaret “Peggy” Carter at the helm. Their goal is to fight in order to instill order and democracy in Battleworld.
Pros and Cons about the Game
Now, as for the consensus of the game itself, we’re going to be discussing them all below.
Pros
Marvel Realm of Champions is based on the Secret Wars crossover series. This series received quite a bit of attention from a lot of Marvel fans due to it having an original story and loads of well-known characters.
Other than the interesting story, the game also has plans of adding in more characters.
Cons
Nonetheless, with all the good things said, some bad things need to be mentioned. Specifically, the game’s various mechanics.
The game is a 3v3 MOBA type game. While MOBAs are a great game genre, there are a lot of titles vying for supremacy. Even if the game has different MOBA game modes, Marvel Realm of Champions will have to compete with quite a number of MOBAs in the market. That is indeed challenging, despite it being a Marvel game.
Lastly, the game puts importance on characters obtaining and donning various equipment that’s tailor-made for them. Thus, instead of a usual MOBA game where players get items in a match to increase their power, this equipment system gives the heroes more HP, and in general, grow stronger permanently. This is going to be pretty bad when more powerful players face newer players.
