Marvel Strike Force mobile fighting game now set for a 2018 release

Raise your hand if you remember the video game Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. Available on consoles and select handheld systems, Nemesis is an arena-style fighting game featuring characters from the Marvel Comics universe. In the game, heroes and villains alike would perform a series of their signature moves in an attempt to take out their opponent all while avoiding environmental pitfalls. A pale imitation of Capcom's Powerstone it might have been, but it was the best we had, back in the day.

The reason I'm even bringing this up is because, earlier today, 21st Century Fox’s FoxNext Games and Marvel Entertainment released a series of announcements regarding Marvel Strike Force, a new squad-based role-playing mobile game set in the Marvel Universe. Now set for a 2018 release, Marvel Strike Force will allow players to recruit five-member teams comprised of Marvel's greatest superheroes and super-villains to do battle in a series of familiar Marvel locales.

In the game, players will join forces with S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury as they select their fighting squads, choosing from characters such as: Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Spider-Man, Venom, Star-Lord, Gamora, Daredevil, Groot, the Hulk, Thor and Doctor Strange. Like other mobile games, players will have the ability to team-up with others from around the world, as a means to create alliances, collect unique power-ups, acquire new gear and more. With every alliance forged, players will become stronger, allowing them access to more abilities and bonuses hidden throughout the game.

Set to become the first game published by FoxNext Games, Marvel Strike Force has been in development for the past two years, with an estimated 200,000 hours spent fine-tuning the fighter. In regard to the game's engine, Marvel Strike Force will use a modified version of Unity Technologies’ 3D rendering engine, with a proprietary server-side engine from Kabam. The game will be released in 2018 and will be free-to-play game (with in-app purchase options).

You can check out the official trailer for the game below:

Pre-registration for Marvel Strike Force is now open for Android and iOS devices at marvelstrikeforce.com.