In today's Game Hopper, we take a look at family-friendly Marvel Super Hero Squad Online. Based on the popular comics and cartoon series, MSHSO seeks to bring out the hero in all of us. Keep reading!

What makes MSHSO so much fun is that you can jump right into the game and get started playing a super hero. Yeah, a SUPER HERO! Now how cool is that? All of the Marvel heroes we know and love are there along with the bad guys too. These heroes of legend come with attacks that are familiar and eye catching as well. I played Phoenix during most of my time prepping for this preview and her Phoenix Force “Hero Up” attack was simply awesome and when she took off across the skies after interacting with a jump pad, she was gorgeous to behold.

Read more of Suzie Ford's Marvel Super Hero Squad Online: HERO UP with Game Hopper.

Well it's about damm time this game got some sort of recognition on this site! I was in the beta for this game over a year ago, before they I.P blocked users. The game is, like the article says, alot of fun! It's since been 'released' in the EU, but not for my country yet! (which is part of the EU) When they finally release it here, i'll play it alot & would even pay for some of the store items.

Before the haters roll in, the theme "kid-friendly" nature of the game & the fact that it's based on the Marvel Super Hero Squad Show isn't as terrible as it seems. I've bought the 1st season of that show on dvd (and i'm in my 20's) & it's not as kiddie as you think. If you're a long time Marvel fan there are things in that show & this game that only adults would get. Lots of 'easter-eggs" as they say. And the over-hyped caricatures of every marvel character is quite entertaining too.

Best advice I could give anyone about this game is to try it out. Right now. Do a mission & you'll see it's alot of fun!

Amen, theniffrig! One of the metagames that would really appeal to adults is the card playing "PvP" battles. Building decks with the right combo of cards is an elegant and complex work. :)

Originally posted by Suzie_Ford

Amen, theniffrig! One of the metagames that would really appeal to adults is the card playing "PvP" battles. Building decks with the right combo of cards is an elegant and complex work. :)

Hiya question,  I am not sure if I am reading this correctly but is this game TCG based?  I thought it was more of a hack/slash, dungeon crawler.  Thanks in advance ;)

Hmm, odd not sure if my question came up on my last post.  Is this game based on TCG PVP?  I thought the game was kinda a hack/slash dungeon crawler.  Thanks in advance ;)

I've been trying to get people to give this a shot for a while. I NEVER thought I would like this game. I can't stand the show, and I think I was actually offended that my favorite Marvel heroes were 'kidified' at one point. But in a moment of boredom, I gave in, and damn if my whole day didn't just fly out the window. It's a fun game, and I bet if more people realized that, there would be a lot less nerd rage about their upcoming MMO Marvel Heroes being in the same format.

The game has a TCG PvP mode in it and is also an instanced event (read: Dungeon) mode.

Haven't spent extensive time with this one myself, but I did enjoy what I got to see at E3 2010. The game had a lot of personality.

Tried it twice. The first time didn't hold my attention because there was no reason for a free player to keep coming back to play the game, and the theme is not family friendly (which would suggest there's something here to hold the average adult's attention over the long run) but specifically kid focused. There's nothing wrong with that, the game's intended demographic is in the 8-year-old range and Marvel is ensuring future fans by getting kids to enjoy these characters.

The second time I tried it, the player retention aspects improved greatly. You can actually get new Heroes for your squad through grinding and completion of challenges, and you get daily log-in rewards which get progressively better as you log in over several days. The gameplay itself remains ultra-casual and 100% kid-focused, though. There just isn't much to do, but for a "My First MMO" it's probably the perfect introduction to the genre for kids, and those adults who find collecting Heroes (with not much to do with them) to be satisfying enough to justify some ultra-casual play time.

I tried this game out with my 4 year-old and had a blast running the short instances with him.  Soon thereafter I subbed :)  It's a great casual MMO and I've had a lot of fun trying out all the different heroes.  I wouldn't mind it if some of the big boy MMOs could shorten up their instances, get rid of the holy trinity and streamline grouping up like SHSO has.  I'm not sure if that will happen, but it would be great for the more casual crowd and somethiing I'd be happy to pay for.