Hands on with Marvel Battle Lines for iOS, Android

Marvel?s place in pop culture has been on the rise in the last 10 years. The only place where it had found little traction is in the realm of video games. Sure there have been bright spots here and there with titles like Activision?s Ultimate Alliance series, or Kabam’s Contest of Champions, otherwise Marvel games have been a bit of a forgettable affair. Nexon looks to buck the trend with their latest title which utilizes the Marvel family of characters, Marvel Battle Lines.

Upon my first glance at the title I asked if the team at Nexon worked with any Marvel artists on the art for the title. The rep would inform me that all the art assets were actually handled by Nexon?s internal art team. It was pretty amazing how they captured the ?Marvel? style. The only other external collaboration they had besides with the license holder is working with writer Alex Irvine on the original story for the title.

The story of Marvel Battle Lines is as follows, during a skirmish between the Avengers and Hydra, the Cosmic Cube (Nexon is sticking to the Comic Continuity rather than the Cinematic Universe) shatters. In an effort to prevent the remnants of the Cube from falling into unsavory hands, it’s up to you to find and collect the shards throughout the Marvel Universe to put the Cube back together.

Battle Lines is a 1v1 experience which takes place on a 3×4 grid. Each player has a deck of 12 cards which can consist of hero/villian characters and effects. Cards have a cost that range from free to 3 pieces of Cosmic Cube shards.  Cube shards will randomly generate on the playing field, waiting for characters to collect them. Players take turns to placing cards on the field, hoping to connect 3 character cards horizontally or diagonally or 4 cards vertically to initiate an attack on the opposing player. A match is over when one player?s life is depleted to zero.

With over 100 cards currently and room to grow, the number of deck possibilities are nearly endless. Characters broken up into several ?family? of characters. These families included Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. What was conspicuously missing were the X-Men and Fantastic Four, properties whose film rights only recently returned to the Marvel fold. When asked whether or not the characters from these franchises would make an appearance in this title, the rep assured us that they are in talks to see if these characters can be used.

Card acquisition was also brought up during our session. Since it is a mobile title one would expect that card distribution would be a random affair, utilizing both earned currency as well as a premium currency. That assumption isn?t quite far off, as the game does feature several currencies which are issued by playing the different modes the game has to offer (Story, Challenge) as well as a premium currency. The store offers a random assortment of cards that one can buy and there is an option to refresh the store?s selection.

Marvel Battle Lines is definitely a title I can see myself playing during my daily commute. It?s a play session that can be completed in a rather short span of time and there are plenty of modes to keep me busy. The game is set for a wide launch on October 24, 2018. Players who pre-register on their website to be notified of the launch will received an incentive of 5000 Gold and a Doctor Strange card to add to their roster.