Hi guys, and welcome to Game Box; a new series where I look at some of the games I’ve been playing recently since I finally have a console again. First up, I’m coming to be talking about the recent Open Beta for Gazillion Entertainment’s Marvel Heroes Omega.

Marvel Heroes Omega assembles one of the largest gatherings of iconic Super Heroes, Super Villains, and locations from the Marvel Universe in gaming history for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac.

Set in the iconic Marvel Universe, Marvel Heroes Omega combines the core game-play style of Action RPGs and MMOs with the expansive library of heroes from the Marvel Universe. In the game, players can collect and play as their favorite Marvel Super Heroes (including Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America and many others).

Team up with friends and try to stop Doctor Doom from devastating the world with the power of the Cosmic Cube in a story written by Marvel comic super-scribe Brian Michael Bendis.

From moment one, you’re given a gorgeous introduction sequence featuring some pretty good 3D models and 2D animated sections retelling the origins of the more famous Marvel Heroes. A fair few of the cut scenes in-game follow a more motion comic style and while the blend of styles is a little jarring at first, I give the creators credit for trying something different.

The tutorial drops you in the middle of a mission with Captain America and allows you the time to figure out your buttons before setting you against Ultron and his minions. Each of your attacks is assigned to one of the four face buttons and you can bring up a secondary menu by holding L2. It’s an intuitive system to help console players easily access their full range of abilities that’s a staple of MMOs on consoles.

Throughout the tutorial, you’re given the ability to play as Cap, Black Widow and Hulk before they allow you to access the launch roster of heroes. It’s a right Who’s Who of MCU characters alongside more established characters. You get all the ones you know and then you get the likes of Wiccan, Squirrel Girl and Angela, which is cool. Given this is a Free-To-Play game, you’re given the opportunity to try before you buy any of these characters before Level 10 when you have to pick your starter character.

I eventually chose She-Hulk and upon entering the game proper, I noticed a cute quirk this game has. Depending on the characters in the vicinity, there are unique snippets of dialogue from both your character and those of other players. This gives the world a little more connectivity and hearing Shulkie interact with Gambit in the moments in the mission worlds or at the HQ is pretty fun. The voice cast for this game is exhaustive too, bringing in all the voices you’d associate with these characters from various animated shows as well as bringing in actors such as Clark Gregg and Keith David, voicing Agent Coulson and Nick Fury, respectively.

Being a FTP game, more heroes are unlocked through Founder’s Packs of various price points, by using Eternity Splinters or by accumulating the specfic in-game currency to buy them or unlock additional costumes. You can get an additional hero for nothing though, by downloading Daredevil for free and the additional Man Without Fear costume for free if you are a PS Plus member.

You can customise your heroes with character-specific loot drops for defeating enemies and augment their abilities through levelling or attaching Medallions from defeated super villains.

Given the amount of FTP MMO games on consoles at the moment, you could be forgiven for thinking this is just another but the game plays like the X-Men Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance games, taking an isometric view of the action but adds the MMO component and the whole package feels a little like that Avengers Alliance game for its breadth of characters and customisation potential.

If you’re looking for a quick and fun MMO to get into or are jonesing for a Marvel game that isn’t on mobile (that’s me) then I recommend giving this game a shot. Marvel Heroes Omega is currently available for Open Beta on Playstation 4 and will be officially released on June 4 2017. For more details and updates, head over to the official website and be sure to follow the game’s Twitter.

Eh? Eh?

Don’t judge me.

I’m back with more Minecraft 3-Inch Action Figures, one each from Series 1 and 2! Although I’ve covered Steve? in my previous review, I’ve still got some stuff to say about him.

Steve? is the main protagonist/default skin for Minecraft so unless you’re venturing into Skin Packs, this will be the face of your character and these figures go to extreme lengths to replicate every last detail of his pixeled proportions.

He even comes with a (slightly too large?) gravel block and an iconic iron pick axe! There’s a minor niggle with this particular figure, however, as there was some extreme QC issues with his arms. They were stiff and barely moved so I had to remove his arms and legs off their respective ball-joints to remove moulding flash that was hindering his articulation. Given my previous experience with this figure, I can only assume this is a rare occurrence since the first one was perfect.

The Iron Golem is from the second series of figures and, in-game, is a utility mob designed to defend villages from wandering zombie hordes or aggressive players. They are hulking powerhouses and that’s reflected in this figures huge frame.

The Iron Golem is articulated in much the same way as Steve? But on a larger scale. His detailing is exquisite, looking exactly how this ancient defender looks in-game, all old, cracked and covered in vines. He comes with an iron block that he can carry and a red poppy, the symbol of friendship with the villagers.

As I’ve said previously, the Minecraft 3-Inch Action Figures make for perfect desk toys, especially for Minecraft players and would make for a perfect stuffer this Christmas. Steve? is an iconic video game character and the Iron Golem is a lumbering brute with lots of inherent charm, especially for me. The Minecraft 3-Inch Action Figures retail for around £7.99 and are available at most major retailers.

With the Doctor Who Season 8 finale coming this week, I figured it was about time I took a look at the Doctor’s signature tool, the Sonic Screwdriver!

Also be sure to go read my coverage of this season of Doctor Who in our weekly column, No, YOU’RE a TARDIS!

Minecraft is a video game phenomenon and it’s only right that there’s merchandise to accompany it so Jazwares, producers of other video game action figures, have teamed up with Character to bring Minecraft to the UK and I have a selection of toys to show you!

First up is the hero/villain/everyman of Minecraft, Steve? Yes, I’m including the question mark because Steve? earned it in the Nether fighting Ghasts. His ambiguity is his strength.

This is one of the 3-inch figures and I love it. He’s got the right amount of articulation and his tampographed pixel details are perfect. The whole figure has a lovely matte feel and it’s not often I comment on a toy’s texture, especially in a positive way. I also like that you can disassemble Steve? in much the same way you can with a LEGO minifigure so hopefully down the line there will be some mix and match options. I also dig the grooves in the hand that accomodate the iconic weapons and tools. It’s a clever way to bypass an otherwise awkward design choice. He also comes with a plastic coal ore block to scale with Steve?

Next up is the 18cm Creeper plush. He’s an adorable little death dealer, isn’t he? Sure, he’s lost some of his harsh edges in the plushification process but he’s also gained the cutest little feetsies. Don’t squeeze him too tight or he may explode! (Shame there’s no sound chip in this version)

And finally we have the 30-Piece Hostile Mobs Papercraft pack. This appears to be the bread and butter of the Minecraft range as there are 8 different packs of these paper craft sets to collect and the range allows for you to build a more complete world than the little plastic blocks included with the 3-inch figures. It’s just a shame that the two ranges are not compatible as the Papercraft sets are about twice the size.

The Hostile Mobs pack includes 3 constructable models for each of the five included creatures, as well as ten constructable gravel blocks and some stickers.

I’ve constructed one of each of the mobs as well as a gravel block and while the Cave Spider’s legs are a messy affair, the rest of the models come together quite well, my favourite being the iconic Creeper. This is also the first time I’ve ever seen the Witch mob.

The Minecraft line from Jazwares (and imported to the UK by Character) is a fun little jaunt into a larger video game world that I highly recommend. The 3-Inch figures are great desk toys and anyone looking for a creative activity for the kids could do a lot worse than the fun Papercraft range and who doesn’t like a plushie explosive? You can find all these products at most good toy stockists.

I am truly out of my depths with this review. It’s a toy that doesn’t appeal to my core audience and is, essentially, one of those keyrings that makes fart noises.

That’s not to say the children that it’s designed for won’t love it, it’s just really not to my taste.