Marvel Snap preview - "Fancy visuals and fast-paced card battling fun"
The exhilaration of slamming a card down the table to best your opponent can rarely be replicated when it comes to digital games, but with Marvel Snap, you can throw a Hulk at your enemy and start showboating as soon as you hear the iconic "Smash". The game pulls tons of fan-fave characters from the franchise's epic roster and lays them all out for you in gorgeous card fashion, but if you're not a fan of typical trading card games, will this fast-paced card battler still keep things interesting for you?
Table of contents:THE VISUALS OF MARVEL SNAP
At the risk of judging a game by its cover, I went into this title already pretty pumped because the artwork for each character just looks so darn good. How each character is designed reminded me so much of why I love comic books, and why trading card games - the physical ones - have always been a blast.Marvel Snap does its best to replicate that same feeling even when it's all digital. In fact, these virtual cards look so awesome that you really will feel that irresistible urge to collect them just to have them in your deck and ogle at them later.
Pretty cosmetics aside, the sound effects in the game are also top-notch, as you'll hear the characters' one-liners and witty banter throughout the whole match. Playing cards from your deck also trigger specific animations unique to each character - for instance, seemingly simple things like Hawkeye firing an arrow across your space can really spice things up during a match.
MARVEL SNAP GAMEPLAY
Essentially, you'll engage in quick matches where you and your opponent will play your cards at the same time, keeping things snappy and eliminating any pesky waiting times. Apart from the character abilities on your cards, you'll also have to strategise how to take advantage of each random field effect. For instance, a field may reduce the power of all cards placed in that location, or may lock itself up after five turns and prevent all players from placing any more cards on that field.
These things add an extra layer of strategy you can use to your advantage (or not) as you try and bluff your way toward victory. You'll also have to pay attention to the energy cost of each card, and when you've got the most power accumulated in each location at the end of the match, you win.
WHAT'S THE APPEAL?
The game sneakily downloads data in the background as you're playing. So, in many instances, things might not load up properly, leaving you with chunky visuals and incomplete UI elements. But even with these missing bits (at least, for the beta), each match still feels exhilarating and totally engaging.I also really appreciated how simple the mechanics are, keeping things beginner-friendly for those who are new to the genre. Matches are quick and perfect for short breaks on your mobile phone, and you don't have to labour over collecting those cards as you can steadily earn them as you play more and more games.
Of course, the cards you might get can be pretty random, so there's no way for you to aim for a certain card and work toward achieving that, which is a bit of a shame. While I didn't feel like there was any kind of paywall to scale here, it does feel a little disappointing that acquiring cards is purely based on whether or not the RNG gods are in your favour.
Still, Marvel Snap is an incredibly enjoyable game that embellishes its regular card mechanics with awesome visuals and SFX. Each match is an absolute blast, and I honestly can't wait for the official launch.
