''Marvel Avengers Academy'' was a
freemium
Freemium, a portmanteau of the words "free" and "premium," is a pricing strategy by which a basic product or service is provided free of charge, but money (a premium) is charged for additional features, services, or virtual (online) or physical (o ...
mobile game for
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
and
Android
Android may refer to:
Science and technology
* Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human
* Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system
** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...
, based on the characters featured in
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
. It was released on February 4, 2016.
[ The game was shut down three years later. Despite the name, the game was not related to the comic series '' Avengers Academy''.
]
Gameplay
''Marvel Avengers Academy'' tasked the player with building their own academic campus and populating it with superheroes who have been reimagined as students who are developing their superpowers.[ Many of the initial characters are voiced by well known celebrities, for example ]Iron Man
Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...
voiced by Dave Franco
David John Franco (born June 12, 1985) is an American actor. He began his career with small roles in films such as '' Superbad'' (2007) and '' Charlie St. Cloud'' (2010). Following a starring role in the ninth season of the comedy series '' Scr ...
, Wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...
voiced by Alexandra Daddario
Alexandra Anna Daddario (born March 16, 1986) is an American actress who had her breakthrough portraying Annabeth Chase in the ''Percy Jackson'' film series (2010–2013). In 2021, she starred in the first season of the HBO series ''The White L ...
and Alison Brie voicing Black Widow. The game presented the player with a portion of the campus, with more areas being unlocked as they progressed through the game. Characters wandered through the map with more characters able to be recruited by the completion of missions. Others could only be recruited via the use of Infinity Gems. Infinity Gems were a premium currency that were rare in day to day gameplay, but could be bought via microtransactions. The other type of currency generated in the game was coins, gathered by the completion of quests. Completing missions, quests, unlocking characters and building up the campus allowed the player to accrue XP, allowing them to level up. Doing so enabled the player to unlock further buildings and characters, as well as improving their existing characters and buildings.
Periodically, themed events were released which occasionally tied in with releases in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by ...
. Themed events typically involved an enemy faction decamping upon the Academy with the aim of taking over. The player had to defend the Academy while also recruiting new characters to help save the Academy.
To coincide with the game's 2nd anniversary, a new update was released which fundamentally changed the gameplay. Instead of collecting coins from missions, the player now collected stamina, which was used to battle adversaries on a range of permanent battle maps. In addition to characters being leveled up, they could now also be ranked up which permanently raises their HP and combat battle stats.[
The game was shut down on February 4, 2019.
]
Reception
''Marvel Avengers Academy'' received mixed reviews on launch. Polygon
In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed ''polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two toge ...
stated that the game was "more fun than it has any right to be", while also praising the character design and story lines. Pocket Gamer
''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...
was more critical, rating the game at 4/10 and stating that ''Avengers Academy'' was "free to play at its very worst". While they also praised the character design, they said the game was geared heavily toward players who will pay in order to progress.
References
External links
Official website
{{Avengers
2016 video games
Android (operating system) games
Delisted digital-only games
IOS games
Products and services discontinued in 2019
Single-player video games
TinyCo games
Video games based on Avengers (comics)
Video games developed in the United States
Video games set in New York City