Graphically Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects isn’t lacking. Each of the 18 characters come off looking great on the PSP’s small screen. From the classics that we know and love like Iron Man and Captain America to the newly introduced Imperfects, each fighter is easily identifiable and artfully rendered.

The arenas are also nice to look at. Each area is large and filled with a wide variety of destructible props that can also double as weapons. Settings range from subways to city streets to hotel lobbies giving you a wide variety of scenes to use in your super hero brawl.

As for the game’s music, the scores get the job done and keep your ears busy but are easily forgettable by the time you turn off your PSP and put the game aside. The various crashes, booms, and other sound effects that can be heard throughout a battle on the other hand come off nicely and fit their visual companions quite well.

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects has several modes of play that will let you either control a character through a series of melee battles or play head-to-head against another PSP Nemesis gamer.

Campaign mode is the single-player story mode of this game. Here you will choose a fighter and progress through a series of battles earning cards and unlocking other locations and characters. The cards are what make Rise of the Imperfects a bit more than just your average street-brawl game. As you win battles, you get to choose your spoils. After defeating an enemy, you will see four face down cards and choose one to add it to your Card Album. These cards are used to power up your character or give him/her special attacks.

Cards come in three varieties: Persistent, Charge, and Character Specific. Persistent cards do things like add health or strength to the character they are applied to and do not need to be activated. Charge cards are powerful attacks that after activated need time to recharge before you can use the move again. And Character Specific cards are fighting moves that only a certain fighter can use. There are a total of four Character Specific cards for each person in the roster.

Using these cards is really simple. When going through your Card Album you simply select the card you wish to use and the direction on the D-pad you want to assign it to. During battle, if the card isn’t a Persistent type, you simply tap that direction on the D-pad to activate the move. This is an interesting feature that helps to keep the game from blending in with all the other fighters on the market.

There are a total of 18 fighters to be unlocked in this game and they fall in two categories: your standard Marvel characters and the new Imperfects. But who or what are these Imperfects? These are a group of mutants (either since birth or by one accident or another) that have been technologically augmented to enhance their powers. These new characters include Johnny Ohm (basically Electro), Brigade (a Frankenstein’s Monster made from a hundred soldiers), the toxic Hazmat, a fire-starting girl named Solaa, and three other characters each with interesting powers to bring to the table. Where did they come from? What do they want? Well, the story isn’t that deep and really is just an excuse to lead to the fighting, but I figure I should leave something for while you are playing the game.

The Marvel characters that you will be able to play as include Spider-Man, Iron Man, Dr. Doom, The Thing, Venom, Captain America, Storm, Elektra, and Magneto.

Cards, locations, and characters unlocked in Campaign mode can be used in the 2-player Vs. mode. Here you can meet up with a friend in Ad Hoc mode (no Internet support as far as I could tell) and battle it out to see who has the best combination of cards and skills.

Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects’s difficulty is pretty much non-existent. Because of the game’s context sensitive attack feature, all you really have to do is constantly tap the attack button to perform whatever powerful attack is available to you at the time. Though not every character can use all the props on the field, if you choose a heavy hitter like Venom or The Thing you can dominate the arena easily by picking up pretty much anything and tossing it at your opponents. This attack system, though diverse and full of options, makes the game too easy and removes any real strategy that might come from a melee fighter like this game.

There are two control scheme options for Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. Both schemes use the analog stick to move your character around the arena, the D-pad to activate Power Cards, Triangle to block, R button for your super power, and the L button for your “Super Mobility” or super-powered movement (jumping, flying, etc). The controls differ in the use of three of the face buttons. In configuration A, Square, X, and Circle pick up/throw objects, attack, and jump respectively, while B’s scheme seems to be a bit more standard and something that I felt more comfortable using. In configuration B, the X button lets you jump while the Square is the attack and Circle is how you pick up and throw objects. Either way, most of the times you just need to know what your attack button is and just keep hitting it.

In EA’s attempt to make their games more accessible to everyone, they have made Marvel Nemesis a bit too easy and will probably turn off the more advanced older gamers. Rise of the Imperfects is great for gamers who might not be the best at fighting games, but if you are a hardcore gamer looking for a challenging fighter, this isn’t for you.