“It’s a shame that it had to get to that point for us to open our eyes to the community and how to empathize with them. We were making changes that was a little tone-deaf and blind to the perspectives of players,” Ajami admits. “A lot of that community sentiment was deserved on our part. It was a crisis moment, but executive producer Amer Ajami tells us that the heat was deserved. Players felt like they were getting fewer free rewards for interacting with the mobile game, and the developers expected them to pay more. There wasn’t any one change that led to the uproar over Marvel Strike Force, and hence, there was no single magic fix. Players nearly derailed the game over these criticisms this summer the largest content creators were vocally quitting, and the community was right behind them in outrage.įoxNext has proactively addressed the concerns, and Polygon sat down with FoxNext Games to address the controversy, how the developers addressed it, and the next steps that this mobile title plans to take throughout the holidays and into 2019.

But when the rewards or currencies feel overly restrictive, Marvel Strike Force feels like a series of unforgiving brick walls, with cash transactions tempting players with a way through. Players can raid with friends, climb the Blitz or Arena combat ladders against other players’ teams, or work through the campaign or challenge events.

When these pieces work well, the game always has some kind of challenge to offer and work toward.

The gameplay is fun, and even the story is a light-hearted, fun romp that takes jabs at past Marvel decisions like Secret Empire or the naming conventions of SHIELD. Strike Force is built around short, RPG combat sessions against a wide variety of enemies, and players recruit new heroes, level up and gear their existing roster, and take part in campaigns, events, and challenges to earn rewards and advance the story. As a commander of STRIKE (Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies), we have to play through a variety of role-playing missions with a team of uniquely powered heroes from Marvel canon, in order to stop the Eternal Ultimus from claiming our world: the Nexus of all Realities. Strike Force takes place in a branch of Marvel continuity that acknowledges that there are many, many worlds out there. Marvel Strike Force has all of the tools a game needs for success: a fun, engaging core combat mechanic a series of characters from all across the Marvel universe, regardless of intellectual property rights and enough systems and goals that players always have something to focus on.

Marvel strike force game