The latest Nintendo Direct may have given the Wii U some breathing space from detractors, but as even Nintendo themselves admit January and February is almost dead in terms of new releases. There have been some already – Ninja Gaiden 3 and SiNG Party – but as minor as they may seem they’re almost must-haves compared to this.
As the comic book style artwork and costumes indicate this game is not based on The Avengers movie. There are plenty of elements that are meant to remind you of the film, including the Skrulls as cannon fodder enemies and the prominence of Loki, but there’s no official connection. Instead it’s a loose adaptation of the Secret Invasion storyline, with a plot featuring everyone from Doctor Doom and Venom to Wolverine and Spider-Man.
Although the Skrulls share comic book lineage with the Chitauri enemies from the movie their primary gimmick is that they can shape-shift, and Secret Invasion involved them passing themselves off as various superheroes. Which is a great idea for a video game, because it provides a perfect excuse to fight against the good guys as well as the bad.
Battle For Earth is essentially a fighting game, although it was originally designed for use with Kinect – in the Xbox 360 version released last year. For better or worse Ubisoft has been unwilling to just ditch the motion controls and try and make a proper game of it, so instead you get two control options: one using a Wii remote and nunchuck and the other the GamePad.
The Wii remote option tries to mimic the Kinect control system as much as possible, as you impotently waggle your controller at the screen like it’s 2006. The controls are slightly more accurate than Kinect but only just, and the actions you perform are so broad that it means that each character only has a few unique moves each.
What the Wii remote gains in accuracy though it loses in terms of voice recognition. It may have been a novelty gimmick, but shouting ‘Hulk Smash!’ during a special move in the Kinect version was easily the best bit of the whole game.
The GamePad control system is considerably more interesting not only because it’s more accurate but because it does actually make quite interesting use of the controller. All the controls are on the touchscreen and you have to press different icons to initiate attacks or trace patterns Elite Beat Agents style to perform special moves. Even dodging and swapping characters works on the touchscreen, with the face buttons almost entirely ignored.
It’s an interesting gimmick that works better than you’d imagine, even if it has no obvious benefit beyond sheer novelty. But the issues with the controls aren’t in terms of the accuracy or reliability, but more in the fact that they so obviously limit the complexity of the gameplay.
Even with 20 different playable characters very few of the moves have any special tactical applications. In any case there are only three unique ones for each character and the computer opponents rarely require you to use any of them in any very imaginative way.
There is a versus mode though, and a co-op option which furthers the game’s position as a sort of geek version of Just Dance. But despite the flaws Battle For Earth isn’t nearly as cynical as most licensed games, and although the presentation and visuals are a little basic it’s been created with an obvious amount of affection for the source material.
Compared to a ‘proper’ fighting game like Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 (which in itself is far from the most technical fighter around) this is painfully shallow stuff. But it’s clearly not aimed at anyone that wants to play a nuanced video game, or learn a new set of skills.
It’s aimed at kids that saw the movie and want to pretend to throw Thor’s hammer. In that respect it works better than you might fear, but never as well as you’d hope.
In Short: The Wii U version has slightly less control issues than the original Kinect game, but also less of the novelty – although it’s still mindless comic book fun while it lasts.
Pros: Lots of characters and decent presentation. Secret Invasion storyline makes for a good background and the GamePad controls are surprisingly experimental…
Cons: …but they’re still not very good and there are two few unique moves per character. Very simplistic combat and low difficulty.
Score: 4/10
Formats: Wii U (reviewed) and Kinect
Price: £39.99
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Quebec
Release Date: 25th January 2013
Age Rating: 12
Thoughts? Email gamecentral@ukmetro.co.uk or leave a comment below