When I got to play a preview build of upcoming 2D beat-'em-up Marvel Cosmic Invasion , I was really blown away. Far from just a mindless button-masher, it's shaping up to be a colourful celebration of what makes Marvel's superheroes cool and unique.

Now you can try it for yourself—the game's first public demo is .

It's pretty much the same stuff as I got to play earlier in the year, barring a few tweaks and some updated menus. That means you can play through two levels in arcade mode—the streets of NYC and the SHIELD helicarrier—with nine playable characters, including favourites like Spider-Man, Captain [[link]] America, and Wolverine.

It's a pretty brief taste, but it gives you a great idea of what the final game is going to be like—and I recommend replaying the two levels a few times with different characters to see just how far developer Tribute Games has pushed the different movesets.

From Venom warping into different grotesque forms to Rocket Raccoon throwing grenades all over the map, they all play completely differently—and frankly it's worth playing them all just to see all the gorgeous pixelart animations.

While you're at it, you should try the demo for publisher Dotemu's . Absolum has a very different feel, with a fantasy setting and a roguelike structure, but , and it might be even prettier in motion. Retro brawler fans are going [[link]] to be seriously well served this year.

We're still waiting on a firm release date for Marvel Cosmic Invasion's launch, but it's due at some point this year—so it can't be further off than a few months now. In the meantime, if you'll excuse me I'll be practicing my sound effects. Snikt! Thwip! [[link]] Pow!