During this year's D23 event hosted by Disney, which covers all things under the Disney label from games to shows to movies to comics, we learned that the big mouse has some plans for the VR market and the Marvel super hero universe. It's a new project called Marvel Powers United.
The trailer for the new VR project was posted up over on the Marvel Entertainment YouTube channel. As part of Oculus' initiative to bring more games and exclusive properties to the platform, Marvel Powers United will be available on the Oculus Rift and utilize the Oculus Touch.
Developer Sanzaru Games will be heading up the project under the Oculus Studios publishing label. The first 49 seconds of the minute and a half long trailer focuses on a group of adults getting a text message. The trio put on their Oculus Rift headset and pick up their Oculus Touch motion controllers, and begin to transform into Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy, the Incredible Hulk, and Captain Marvel, teaming up for multiplayer cooperative adventures.
The game appears to be a first-person shooter. For Captain Marvel she gets to fire off her cosmic beams from her hands, putting down baddies with ease. For Rocket, he has twin laser pistols, shooting any and everything in front of him.
The most surprising bit of gameplay involves the Hulk. I was curious how a melee character like that would fare in a first person VR game, but his gameplay segment actually looks like the most fun. His long range attacks come in the form of a ground swell from a foot stomp, as well as a Hulk smash. But his main attacks are his fists. Players will have to close the distance and pummel the bad guys, grab them and throw them, and punch them into oblivion.
It's impossible to get a gauge on what people actually think about the upcoming title due to the comment section being disabled. I can already imagine there were probably a lot of snide remarks about Facebook and the Marvel Powers United being an Oculus exclusive, which has been a hot topic of discussion within the VR community since Facebook has been using the Oculus brand to secure exclusivity over various projects that a lot of people wanted to play on the Vive or PlayStation VR.
Some people feel as if this sort of exclusivity hurts the VR market more than helps it because it creates fragmentation in an already tiny market. The only two VR headsets that have reached more than a million people are Samsung's Gear VR and Sony's PlayStation VR, but both headsets still lack any killer apps that have managed to move big numbers. Maybe that could all change with something like Marvel Powers United on the Oculus Rift?
The game will feature more than just Hulk, Captain Marvel, and Rocket Raccoon. According to the description, there will be more heroes and more powers unveiled leading up to the game's release.
