| Avengers Army: Crisis | |
| Developer(s) | Sonny Daye |
| Publisher(s) | 
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| Platform(s) |   
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| Genre(s) | Fighting |
| Series | Avengers Army |
| Predecessor | None (first game in series) |
| Release Date(s) | WW May 2017 |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer, campaign, online |
| Age Rating(s) |  
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| Cost | USD $59.99 |
Avengers Army: Crisis is a 2.5D platformer fighting game, similar to the Super Smash Bros. series. Some critics panned the game for being so similar to Smash, while others praised it. This game stars a multitude of characters from the various franchises of the Marvel Universe, including (but definitely not limited to) The Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Uncanny X-Men, Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, Deadpool, The Invincible Iron Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The game was released in Summer 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The game was created to fulfill Marvel's wishes to return to console gaming. A couple genres Marvel had considered were open-world sandbox and RPG. With the existence of the Spider-Man games and the Ultimate Alliance games, Marvel made the decision to go the fighting game route, with plans to release an open-world sandbox and RPG at a later date. Crisis is the first game in the Avengers Army series, with both a sequel and a spinoff planned for 2018. The developer confirmed in November 2016 that the spinoff would be an open-world sandbox game, similar to the Spider-Man 2 and Ultimate Spider-Man games.
Development[]
Marvel had been desiring to return to consoles, and wanted the release of a fighting game, a role-playing game, or an open-world sandbox game. While deciding the genre, a group of writers was hired to pen a draft of the plot. After reviewing it, Marvel decided the plot would be best-suited for a fighting game. They studied the Super Smash Bros. series and and opted to go for something similar to that series' style. It was chosen mostly for its noticeable differences from Marvel: Contest of Champions's format. The "Nintendo NX" was in development at this time, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One offered huge markets. The Nintendo 3DS was considered, but the game that was planned was eventually decided to be too big for handhelds.
The game was originally planned for a February 2018 release, but, in December 2016, it was pulled to an earlier date of May 2017. This news worried video game websites and publications, as Avengers Army: Crisis had only been announced in October 2015 (with zero gameplay footage to go along with the announcement). A few months later, the game's very first official image was shown, featuring Captain Marvel, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and fan-favorite Venom.
The first trailer was received with generally positive feedback. Praise was aimed towards the selection of characters shown, the graphics that were displayed, the editing, and focus on gameplay. However, reviewers noted its striking similarity to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. This criticism was brought further with the second trailer, with those same people saying the game bore a an overwhelming resemblance to the Smash Bros. games. The game's boxart was revealed. It featured the characters Spider-Man, Wolverine, Hulk, Captain Marvel, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Storm, Black Widow, Deadpool, Magneto, Green Goblin, Venom, and Red Skull.
A few characters got their own exclusive trailers:
(in order of release)
- Captain America
- Spider-Man and Venom
- Iron Man, War Machine, and Rescue
- Rocket and Groot
- Thor and Storm
A sixth trailer covered most of the general cast of the game.
People immediately took note of how much coverage Venom was receiving. Many began to wonder if Carnage would be in the game as well. Shortly after the release of the trailer that showcased Spider-Man and Venom, the developer released an official statement saying that Carnage was not slated to appear in the game. Soon, a blurry image of a red figure resembling Carnage made its way to the Internet, and speculation ran wild. The developer released another statement clarifying that the image was only an early version of Deadpool's character model. The next day, the developer revealed on their Twitter account that Carnage was under official consideration for DLC, along with "a few other characters we [the developers] think Marvel fans would love to see".
Avengers Army: Crisis was released in May 2017 as planned, with minimal glitches (although there was an infamous game-breaking bug involving Doctor Strange, which was patched the following month). The game saw incredible sales, thanks to its marketing, as well as the hype surrounding the game. Reviews were mostly positive, with praise towards the use of the Marvel license, story mode, voice acting, design, fanservice, and addictive gameplay, but was criticized heavily for its similarities to Smash Bros.
In September 2017, the first DLC trailer was released on YouTube and the developer's website, showcasing none other than...
...Carnage. The trailer quickly took the #1 spot on YouTube's trending section, and #CarnageCrisis started trending on Twitter. The trailer also showcased two more characters, but were easily overshadowed by Carnage. The DLC was released in October, and another DLC pack was released in February 2018, when the game was originally slated for release.
Playable characters[]
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 DLC |
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| Character | Unlocking Criteria |
|---|---|
| Rescue
|
Play 10 matches |
| Angel
|
Play 10 matches at the Danger Room stage |
| Black Cat
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Play 15 matches at the Daily Bugle stage |
| Toad
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Play 15 matches at the Savage Land stage |
| Mandarin
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Play 20 matches at the Stark Tower stage |
| Black Panther
|
Play 20 matches |
| Viper
|
Clear Battle Arena on easy mode |
| Scarlet Witch
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Play 40 matches (5 of them must be with Quicksilver) |
| Luke Cage
|
Clear Boss Room for the first time |
| Iron Fist
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Play 5 matches as Luke Cage |
| Ghost Rider
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Clear Battle Arena on normal mode, then clear Boss Room with 5 characters |
| Spider-Woman
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Exceed the playtime of 10 hours |
| Quicksilver
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Clear Boss Room on any difficulty in under 6 minutes |
| Venom
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Play 80 matches (10 of them must be with Spider-Man) |
| Jessica Jones
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Clear Battle Arena on hard mode with no continues |
| Elektra
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Clear every game in Stadium mode on every difficulty except intense mode |
| Vision
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Unlock Scarlet Witch, play 120 matches |
| Winter Soldier
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Clear Boss Room on hard mode as Captain America and Falcon |
| Ultron
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Clear Boss room on hard mode as Vision and Ant-Man |
| Phoenix
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Clear Battle Arena on very hard mode as Cyclops |
| Baron Zemo
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Clear Battle Arena on very hard mode as Captain America |
| Punisher
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Play 160 matches |
| Mister Sinister
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Clear Battle Arena on intense mode, defeat the Sentinel in Boss Room without taking any damage |
| Whiplash
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Play 200 matches |
| Deadpool
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Unlock all other characters |
Official tier list[]
| S tier |
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| A tier |
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| B tier |
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| C tier |
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| D tier |
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| E tier |
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| F tier |
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| G tier |
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Summons[]
| Blizzard | Frequency: Uncommon Description: Dashes around the stage firing ice spheres at opponents. Good KO power. |
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| Ms. Marvel | Frequency: Common Description: Hovers around the stage and seeks for an opponent, then unleashes a barrage of punches. Average KO power. |
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| A-Bomb | Frequency: Rare Description: Pounces the ground four times, sending shock waves that deal damage. Great KO power. |
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| Cannonball | Frequency: Uncommon Description: Zips back and forth across the stage, dealing great damage to anyone caught in his path. Average KO power. |
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| Vulture | Frequency: Rare Description: Grabs an opponent and flies upward, attempting to star KO him/her. Great KO power. |
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| Kitty Pryde | Frequency: Common Description: Touches the user and makes him/her completely invulnerable for only a few seconds. |
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| Silk | Frequency: Common Description: Catches the user with a web if (s)he flies offstage, then brings him/her back down. |
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| Psylocke | Frequency: Common Description: Throws psychic daggers around the stage, dealing damage to anyone hit by them. Poor KO power. |
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| Purple Man | Frequency: Rare Description: Takes control of an opponent, attempting to make him/her self-destruct. Great KO power. |
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| Domino | Frequency: Uncommon Description: Moves around the stage, attacking opponents with a heavy stream of gunfire. Poor KO power. |
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| Doctor Voodoo | Frequency: Common Description: Temporarily gives the user a significant boost in the power of his/her projectile(s). |
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| Baron Mordo | Frequency: Common Description: Temporarily forms a shield around the user, protecting him/her from projectiles. |
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| Giant-Man | Frequency: Common Description: Catches the user if (s)he flies offstage, then safely brings him/her back down. |
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| Mockingbird | Frequency: Common Description: If the foe gets caught by her, she pelts them with a barrage of attacks at blinding speed, dealing significant damage. Poor KO power. |
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| Taskmaster | Frequency: Uncommon Description: Runs around the stage, madly swinging his sword and shield around. Great KO power. |
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| Nightcrawler | Frequency: Rare Description: Teleports behind the foe and attempts to hit them with a powerful slash (3 times). Average KO power. |
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| Titanium Man | Frequency: Uncommon Description: Fires missiles at the opponennt. Good KO power |
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| Misty Knight | Frequency: Common Description: Attacks the foe with close-range attacks as well as gunfire. Has the same number of moves as a playable character. Average KO power. |
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| Sif | Frequency: Rare Description: Pauses, then swiftly moves in front of the foe, attacking him/her with a sword attack. Great KO power. |
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| Nova | Frequency: Uncommon Description: Similar to Cannonball, flies back and forth across the screem, dealing damage to anything in his way. Average KO power. |
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| M.O.D.O.K. | Frequency: Common Description: Fires beams at the opponent and tries to ground pound him/her. Poor KO power. |
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Boss Room bosses[]
Stages[]
| Stages | |
|---|---|
| Daily Bugle | |
| Home of New York's finest newspaper (according to J. Jonah Jameson). The paper is famous for its extensive coverage on the masked menace Spider-Man. Matches take place on the roof, underneath an orange evening sky. | |
| X-Mansion | |
| The base of the X-Men, also serving as a school for young mutants. Matches take place in the front lawn, with the school magnificently overlooking the fighters. | |
| Baxter Building | |
| Home to the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation. This skyscraper has been through quite a lot over the years. Matches take place within Reed Richards's laboratory. | |
| Asgard | |
| One of the most mystical places in the known universe, this land is where the Norse gods reside. Matches take place in front of Odin's golden castle. | |
| Stark Tower | |
| A living testament to Tony Stark's ego. I also sometime serves as headquarters for the Avengers. Matches take place on the roof, directly in front of Mister Stark's luxurious penthouse. | |
| Knowhere | |
| A hub for all sorts of beings from across the galaxy, located within the severed head of a Celestial. Players can see hundreds of people in the background, all watching the ongoing battle. | |
| Hell's Kitchen | |
| Considered to be the absolute worst place in New York. Crime and fear are the rulers here. Matches take place in front of a strip club and a conveniece store (both located directly next to each other). | |
| Savage Land | |
| A mysterious and deadly place located (unusually) near Antarctica. Matches take place within the dense jungle, where all sorts of primitive creatures reside. Not for the squeamish. | |
| Empire State University | |
| Some of the Marvel U's most prominent heroes went to school here, such as Peter Parker, Emma Frost, Reed Richards, and Matt Murdock. Matches take place on a platform overlooking the campus. | |
| The Vault | |
| Located in Colorado, U.S.A., this facility is where many of the world's most dangerous super-villains are imprisoned. Matches take place in one of the chambers, where numerous well-known villains watch the fight. | |
| Brooklyn Bridge | |
| This impressive bridge connects Manhattan and Brooklyn. It is a pride of New York City. Matches take place near one of the towers, where the NYC skyline can be seen in the distance. | |
| Danger Room | |
| A gigantic room that utilizes holographic technology to prepare and train the X-Men. The "landscape" constantly changes during the match. A Sentinel or two can always be seen. | |
Story mode[]
Reception[]
Trivia[]
Gallery[]
Characters[]
Alternate skins[]
