Marvel Heroes Omega

Cosmic Greetings, all! Your Raccoonatic Commander Leo Wyld here. It's been a while and I know the site isn't doing much these days but I feel I had to spread the word about something flarkin' awesome. Marvel Heroes, a PC game I have long played and both reviewed and covered for this site (and probably the best/most complete/awesome representation of Rocket Raccoon in any game) is now coming to consoles as Marvel Heroes Omega! As of this writing, Closed Beta for the game has begun for PlayStation 4, with an Xbox One Closed Beta expected to begin at a yet undetermined date later this season.

One of the Founders Packs includes Rocket

& Star-Lord and costumes from both GotG

movies for both.

Much like its PC counterpart, Marvel Heroes Omega will be free to play! That said, to get guaranteed Closed Beta access you will have to purchase a Founders Pack. Here are the ones available on PlayStation Store (ignore the G bundles, though, those are currency for in game store, and not related to Beta access). Presumably, Xbox should have the same packs when its Closed Beta begins. After Closed Beta, data will be wiped and Open Beta will begin. This will be, like the later full live version, open for anyone to download and play without any purchase - and Open Beta will not be followed by a data wipe, so it will be essentially a "soft launch". In the meantime, however, if you wish to play Closed Beta on PS4 and do not want to purchase a Founders Pack, there are various Beta access giveaways across the net. Follow Marvel Heroes on Twitter or keep an eye on its official forums to watch for such opportunities.

With the subject of access out of the way, let's talk about the game itself. Marvel Heroes Omega differs from its PC counterpart in a number of ways. Virtually all User Interface is completely different and rebuilt from the ground up for a console experience, as are accompanying systems such as inventory and crafting. Omega will also not be as complete, so to speak, as PC at launch. There will not be team-ups or pets or the newest story Chapter and only 38 of the PC's 62 heroes will be present (these are examples, there are a number of other differences). Naturally, this gap will narrow. More of PC's heroes will make the transfer to console and features such as team-ups will be added, in time.

Rocket's new default on Omega

which recently received a Visual Update

on PC (pictured), including a new Groot

On the subject of Rocket, he plays like his PC self, but there are a couple differences a die-hard Raccoonatic will notice. His default costume, rather than being the DnA era blue & red, will be the Bendis era black and metal costume from Guardians of the Galaxy volume 3. Also, most of his PC costumes, including his aforementioned PC default costume, will not be present on Omega at launch (and this is true of all heroes) but some may make the transfer over after visual improvement and the like. There is also one small detail that was somewhat disappointing to this writer. Rocket's longstanding, since 2013, price point of 400 splinters (the in-game currency you earn for unlocking heroes) has been raised to 600 splinters. New players are only given 400 splinters to uncap their first hero, so, if you want to play Rocket you will have to put down cash or grind 200 extra splinters on him while he is locked at level 10. It's unfortunate but we Raccoonatics are nothing if not resourceful, I do hope no one will allow that change to be a deterrence from playing our favorite space raccoon.

So, if you haven't had the opportunity to play Marvel Heroes because you do not have a good enough PC  - or you just haven't ever tried it - or you just want a fresh new way to play - and you have an PS4 or XB1, consider trying out Marvel Heroes Omega in the near future (and read some of the PC-related articles I've written for this site about it). I'd said before, Marvel Heroes is like Diablo with Marvel characters and it is (having been originally created by Diablo visionary David Brevik), but Marvel Heroes Omega is a bit more like Marvel Ultimate Alliance the MMO (and that, I would say, is not a bad thing at all). And note here, related to the MUA comparison, Omega has local co-op!

To summarize, Marvel Heroes finally comes to console and that is awesome. Visit marvelheroes.com for all kinds of info (and there will be a console-specific forum for Omega coming soon). And, until next time, See Ya 'Round the Raccooniverse!

P.S.: One note, and this will be a point of contention for some, nothing you purchased or have done on PC will transfer to Omega. I am totally ok with the fresh start but I thought it fair to give everyone a heads up about that, just in case.