ATTENTION CITIZENS: MARVEL TSUM TSUM IS HERE!!! If you’re experiencing a tingling sensation after reading that sentence, one of three possible things is happing to your body right now:
- You are Bruce Banner and you should focus on calm thoughts. Rolling ocean tides. Kittens playing in a basket of yarn. Oreo Dippin’ Dots.
- You were just bitten by a radioactive spider and your newfound spidey sense is kicking in. Sit down, breathe deep and think about your great responsibility.
- You don’t have mutant powers, but are supes excited at the thought of a whole new galaxy of Tsum Tsum rawsomeness to explore!!! So grab your newest Stark smartphone and download this game!!!!!! !! !!!!! !! ! ! (iTunes or Android)
If you fall into category 3, then you and I are basically the same person and we should hang out. The first thing you need to know if you play Disney’s Line Tsum Tsum game is that this game doesn’t use Line (Womp, womp!). That means if you have a huge network of Tsum Tsum friends to exchange hearts with, you can’t connect with them in this game. Unless you are, like, actual friends with them. Because this game uses Facebook. So to my Facebook friends out there, get ready to be asked thrice a day to play this game with me. I need more lightning bolts!!!
Oh yeah, lightning bolts are the new hearts. Also, you don’t just play the same game of connect-the-dots over and over when there aren’t events or Bingo missions. Instead, you play through levels within stages with clear objectives. Think of it as a never ending game of Bingo with little rewards at the end (I once played a seemingly never ending game of Bingo at a nursing home and it also had a little reward at the end… a grape flavored gelatin cup).
You won’t find Mickey Mouse or any of his friends in this game, but you will find some common and lesser known Marvel characters. If you frequent the local comic shop, then you not only know each and every one of them, but also their variant, alternate universe selves. It’s sort of like how I know the ins and outs of Oreo flavors, which ones are seasonal, which ones are just a rumor, and which ones are not fit for human consumption (I’m looking at you, Swedish Fish Oreos. GET OUT OF MY LIFE!!!).
The music in the game has switched from the cute Japanese DDR music to epic, heroic anthems. Your starter Tsum Tsum is Iron Man. In a direct translation form the Disney game, opening a Marvel capsule proclaims “GET!” with each Tsum Tsum you receive. GET!
GET! GET! GET!
The Disney Tsum Tsum game makes all of the characters look like plushies, but this one mirrors the look of the plastic stackable figures, which were recently made available in Marvel collections. If you’re having a hard time getting your favorite Marvel character in the game, you can just, like, buy the real one and see if you have any luck? I got Thanos and Spider-Man.
A new feature in this game is the ability to assemble a team of Tsum Tsum. You choose one Tsum Tsum to be your main hero, but can drag two more into the game as backup. As far as I can tell, the main benefit of doing this is leveling up your other Tsum Tsums faster. The same level caps still apply (pfft! pfft! pfft!) and you have to spend your hard earned coins to release them.
Another new concept is battling against other Tsum Tsums. Most of the levels have you do Bingo-like things, such as achieving a certain number chain or popping a certain number of bombs (bombs are totally the new bubbles), but you also reach boss battles where you have to fight another character. You are given a life meter and they sit in the middle of the screen. Popping adjacent Tsum Tsums, bombs, and using your skills against them weakens their life, but they can also fight back. I’ve yet to lose a battle. Take that, Ronin! In your face, Green Goblin! KaPow, Loki!
As you level up your Tsum Tsum, you also gain additional skills. This is my favorite aspect of Marvel Tsum Tsum. Your basic skill regenerates at about the same interval as it does in the classic Disney game, but you gain an additional skill which does something different and takes a little longer (you’re lucky if you activate it more than twice per game). For Iron Man, his basic skill sends a blast of energy horizontally through the screen. But his second skill puts the arc reactor in the center and it grows, blasting a circular radius of Tsum Tsums. Chilling!
One aspect of the game that I have yet to try is a new feature where you can battle with your friends or play through the game in co-op mode. Both options sound like a lot of fun and I am mega excited to try this. It may not work out, but here is my strategy to test this out:
- Make friends.
- Add them on Facebook.
- Convince my friends that they should play with me, making vague threats if they refuse my well-intentioned invitation.
The wait is finally over. Now stop wasting precious time on this beautiful planet (or whatever planet you’re on or dimension you’re in) reading my ramblings and download the game (iTunes or Android)!!! Then share it with your friends and prepare for it to take over the world…
…
… Mwahahahaha!
Sincerely,
M.O.D.O.K.