Avengers: Battle for Earth is a port of the Xbox Kinect game of the same name, and in it, the player controls various Marvel characters in an attempt to ward off the Skrull invasion. The game was unique on Xbox as you controlled your character by making certain movements that would be captured by the Kinect and then copied by your character on screen. Thus, you could raise and then slam down your arms, and it would make the Hulk jump up and smash your opponent. The small bit I got to play on a demo was pretty fun, so I was excited to see what they could do on the Wii U with the Gamepad. The game was incredibly hard to find, but I finally tracked one down, took it home and started playing. Or at least tried to play. Unfortunately, what made the Kinect version a fun, yet flawed, fighting game experience was completely lost in translation and makes it almost unbearable to play on the Wii U.
I’m not going to spend much time on this except to say that you should avoid this game at all costs, as it’s not even worth renting. The only decent thing it has going for it is that they tried to mimic the movement controls by having you use a Wiimote and Nunchuck together to re-enact the way you performed moves on the Kinect, but it still falls completely flat and feels completely inorganic and abstract. The worst thing, though, is that if you are playing on the Gamepad, the game ONLY shows up on the Gamepad — the tv just shows a pause screen. Sure, your attention will mainly be focused on the Gamepad since you’ll have to use the stylus to draw the attacks you want to perform (which is more difficult than it sounds when you’re trying to dodge and counter lightning bolts whilst trying to draw a squiggly line to attack), but to not even show the action on the tv is just unforgivable. Scribblenauts had the player focused on the Gamepad as well, but what you were doing was also put up on the tv, for you and anyone else to enjoy as well.
In the end, this stands out as the worst game I played in 2012. Poor graphics, horrible controls, and stupid use of the Gamepad make this a steaming pile of crap that you need to avoid at all costs. Don’t even rent it, buy it in a used pile for $5 or even think about it. I guess if you could get it for free, it would make a lovely coaster … just stay as far away as possible.