Marvel First Alliance

"It took a few hero movies for them to unite against a common threat in The Avengers. So it’s with perfect timing that Brazilian developer Zvitor launches Marvel First Alliance, an indie game created with the popular OpenBor engine. The game is a beat’em up inspired by the likes of Streets of Rage and Double Dragon and features a dream team that will certainly please any Marvel fan. But best of all, it features simultaneous four-player action in one computer!

We begin the story mode, where we fight against malefic organization Hydra, by choosing our hero from the few available, such as Hulk, Captain America or Thor, among others. While these are as good as any, it’s great to find out that others will be unlocked as we defeat the enemy bosses – prepare to meet old favorites such as Wolverine, Storm, Spiderman, Colossus, Iron Man, Nightcrawler, Cyclops and many more. Each character is not just aesthetically different and faithful to the comic sources; they also have different movement types, speed and special attacks. The author mentions that he has no affiliation whatsoever with Marvel or Capcom – it’s a fan game after all – so let’s hope that the game remains available to all fans of good and free beat’em ups.

The long development period is reflected in the final game, with the large number of heroes and the attention to detail in the backgrounds. The classic side-scrolling gameplay throws large quantities of enemies at the player, most of them clones that serve as filler until we reach the final boss in each level. Although gameplay is entertaining and properly frantic, it’s also somewhat repetitive due to the nature of the concept itself. Thankfully, the large and diverse cast offers some variety to the proceedings and there’s always the will to try just another new hero to see how he/she looks and feels.

All in all, Marvel First Alliance is one of the finest examples of the freeware fighting genre, offering dozens of characters that many players are sure to appreciate. "

• DCDannyDoom23 from theisozone.com

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