Marvel Nemesis, the game in which Marvel Comics’ greatest superheroes face off against Electronic Arts’ newly created Imperfects, comes to the PSP as a pure fighting game with its modes, an array of characters, and a unique card collecting element, rather than the console version’s story mode. The Campaign mode is the game’s primary mode. Two campaigns are available: one for Marvel heroes and one for Imperfects. Each consists of ten fights that must be completed in order. Only two characters can be chosen at the start of the game: The Thing and Johnny Ohm. Completing a campaign unlocks another character, opening another, and so on. Fighting your way through the campaign also opens new arenas. There are seven arenas, ten Marvel characters, and eight Imperfects. Daredevil and the Human Torch are absent from the roster, but Dr. Doom and Captain America are added.
Fights are best-of-three matches, with movement controlled primarily by an analog stick and the PSP’s four buttons for attacks, jumps, grabs/throws, and locking on to the enemy/blocking. Characters with the appropriate superpower can use the left shoulder button to fly or teleport. In contrast, the right shoulder button is a context-sensitive superpower enhancer, enabling extra-powerful attacks and blocks, the details of which vary by character. Superpowers necessitate charging the power meter, and both power and health are automatically recharged. Landing a series of hits on the enemy raises the Rage Meter, which, when complete, allows for the temporary use of unlimited superpowers. There is a lot of destructible terrain and objects to pick up and throw in the arenas.
After winning a campaign fight, the player receives a medal (gold, silver, or bronze, depending on the length of the battle) and then chooses a collectible card from a deck of five, all face down. These are available in every day, uncommon, and rare varieties, like in a collectible card game. Rarer cards with better medals are more likely to be obtained. They are classified into four categories: health, defense, power, and strength. During a fight, the cards can provide bonuses such as increased health or attack strength, faster recharge times, increased rage length, etc. There are also character-specific cards that can only be used with that character. The cards in the game’s book can be grouped into decks, from which one can be chosen before a fight. The D-Pad is used to activate the cards in-game. Only two card slots are available immediately; the other two must be unlocked later in the campaign. Combining certain sets of cards (such as all character-specific cards) grants additional bonuses. In total, 173 cards are included in the game (the count includes unlocked characters and arenas). Unwanted or duplicate cards can be recycled for other random cards, with the rarity value taken into account. The game features a Quickplay mode and an ad-hoc multiplayer mode that allows you to use unlocked characters, arenas, and collected cards.
