As you may or may not be aware, Everett isn’t the only one around here who’s a fan of Marvel Heroes. Like many of the GWW staff, I used some of my holiday vacation time catching up on video games and that meant taking two of the newest characters from Marvel Heroes out for a spin. First up, Magneto! I personally have been waiting on Magneto to be released for what feels like ages. He is one of the most iconic and quintessential villains within the Marvel Universe. This sometimes friend and sometimes foe has been antagonizing the X-Men since the very beginning so I’m sure Gazillion felt the pressure to get him just right. Well I have some good news, they knocked this one out of the park!
One of the few complaints I have about the villains coming out is that there’s very little context for why you’re able to play as them. After all, Magneto and Venom appear as bosses in the game but there’s not a shred of explanation or context why all of a sudden they are playable. Honestly though, the character is so fun to play you’ll end up not caring!
Look: Gazillion made a bit of a surprising choice when it comes to Magneto’s default costume by going with his white and black Marvel NOW costume. Don’t get me wrong, the costume texture looks great and it looks great on him but it’s not the iconic red and purple costume most of us have grown up with. That costume is available though if you’re willing to shell out some bucks. Gazillion KNOWS that this is the costume you want to play with so it’s easy money on their part to not make it the default outfit. Still, I can’t get angry with them for what amounts to a good business decision. Both outfits look excellent. There’s also a third outfit which is a variant on the default costume but with colors swapped (black with white stipes) that was only available to Mac players. More importantly, as we all know, Magneto is the master of magnetism and as you play the character bits of metal will constantly swirl around the character. It’s a wonderful touch and really goes a long way to make you feel like the rightful badass that Magneto is. Even just the idle animation is great as you can see him form and juggle metal spheres or float in the air menacingly. I expect that there will be quite a few more costumes on the way for Magneto, especially since in the 80’s he wore a drastically different costume which you can see here. 9/10
Powers: Powers and their mechanics are the single most important aspect of any character. In this regard, I think Magneto really shines. Gazillion has created a relatively simple but fun mechanic for Magneto. Using certain powers causes metal debris to appear on the ground which when picked up fills a meter. Likewise, using certain powers will cause some of this metal debris to be consumed. Essentially the idea is to create a rotation for the character to keep yourself constantly supplied with debris as all of Magneto’s higher damage abilities consume this meter. The debris itself has an easily recognizable purple color that makes it very distinct and easy to locate. If you’re feeling lazy though, there are powers at Magneto’s disposal to just pull the debris to him.
Overall, Magneto has got a good mix of both area, cone, and a few direct damage abilities. His damage is pretty high and scales nicely. Most of Magento’s attack animations look wonderful with a few exceptions like “Polarity Surge” but that’s just me being nitpicky. Probably the two biggest standouts for me is “Blunt Instrument” which literally has you hurl a car at your enemy, how awesome is that? Magneto’s signature move is also one which I’m sure will give many players some sweet sweet satisfaction. It’s called “Storm of Steel” and causes him to be float in the air while a giant magnetic storm rages around him. In other words, it’s the special move that Magneto uses when you fight him as a boss character. I’ve been caught in that death bubble more times than I care to count so it was awesome to be able to turn the tables and use it on enemies for once. 9/10
Ultimate Power: Did I mention that all of Magneto’s animations look great? Magneto’s ultimate move is called “Fall of Man” and it basically involves him grabbing three passing sentinel out of the air and tossing it at your target. To add insult to injury, you can then take the broken pieces of the sentinel lying on the ground and hurl them at the enemy if they are still standing. The power fits Magneto and his combat style perfectly. 10/10
Voice Acting: The voice acting is pretty solid. There’s been a lot of different interpretations of Magneto over the years and no single voice actor that strongly associated with the role despite the character appearing in numerous cartoons and quite a number of movies. In the game Magneto can come off a little more condescending than I’d like (his attitude would fit Dr.Doom pretty well though) and some of the lines can sound a bit cheesy but overall Gazillion did a good job with the character but I didn’t hear any lines that particularly blew me away. 7/10
Overall, Magneto is a great character and fun to play. While the essence of his mechanic isn’t that new (juggle a resource that you’re constantly generating/spending), his abilities are well thought out and his damage potential is pretty high. Magneto is also easily one of the better looking characters in the game and I can’t wait to see the other costumes they’ll create for him. If you’re even remotely a fan, you should absolutely pick him up. Of course Magneto isn’t the only new villain to become available in the game, check back in a few days to read my Venom review to see if you should get just one or both!