I really can’t do this! It’s like a girlfriend that keeps getting back into an abusive relationship. Here we are, with yet another Marvel mobile game: Marvel Strike Force. It looks cool. It sounds cool. It's got a cool story behind it: Dimension hopping, world conquering, Kree warlord Ultimus challenging Earth's Mightiest Heroes! Everything about it makes me want to play it. But I’m apprehensive because Marvel and their new mobile games are… finicky to say the least. Let’s actually dive into several reasons that I, and you, should proceed with caution.

#1: Marvel Heroes, Avengers Alliance, and Tsum Tsum

About 4 years. Countless hours. Hundreds of dollars. Prestige level 60 Spider-Man with level 60 Captain America and Cyclops in tow. So many cool costumes, from Jim Lee Jean Grey to Netflix Daredevil. Awesome sidekicks like Quake, Falcon, and Firestar. A Marvel game where I could be whoever I wanted, fight whoever I wanted, and live the dream in the Marvel Universe. Gone. In the blink of an eye. Marvel Heroes, and more recently Marvel Heroes Omega, without very much warning, shut down, taking years of fun and joy with it. The console version of the game didn’t even get a chance. This hurt me, deep. I’m still distraught. In the last day, I got my Spider-Man, Miles right by his side, walked out to the Helicarrier window, and looked out into the sky, knowing he’d soon be gone forever.

That’s the most recent example of the rug being pulled from under us. But then, we look back at Marvel Tsum Tsum. That came out earlier this year, and now it’s gone. It was a fun, simple time passing puzzle game, but if anything, the simplicity of it should have kept it around longer! But the game’s now unplayable, abandoned by the developers.

And let’s not forget the big fiasco that was Avengers Alliance and Avengers Alliance 2, the Facebook followed by mobile game that drew in so many. I played the first one on Facebook for a long time, and then the sequel on my tablet. Let me tell you, Avengers Alliance 2 was great. The cell-shaded art style, the roster, Spider-Man’s classic Spider-Sense sound effect. All good stuff, they got a good $10 out of me. Gone, both at the same time.

What I’m saying is, that’s four games, two long time stays and two that didn’t even last a full year. So where’s the incentive to leap into a brand new mobile game?

#2: There’s already so many!

I actively play Marvel Future Fight, Marvel Contest of Champions, Avengers Academy, and Spider-Man Unlimited. And there’s Puzzle Quest out there too! These games alone (especially freaking Avengers Academy and Contest of Champions!) require an insane amount of dedication and time, time that someone living a life doesn’t have to give. So now they’re asking us to add Strike Force into the mix? I’ve come too far and invested too much in these games to drop any of them, and now there’s gonna be another one with timed events, and limited gear, and special missions, I can’t handle it!

#3: Still no X-Men, still no Fantastic 4

So in light of today’s news about Disney finally buying Fox (more on that soon), this might change, but we all know that for the past few years, Marvel’s been pretending that the X-Men and Fantastic 4 don’t exist (see my other article, Fate of the Fantastic 4). Heck, in its last days they took the Fantastic 4 out of Marvel Heroes Omega. And I believe that the only reason Future Fight got X-Men is because Netmarble bought Kabam, who already had X-Men from the start. So, in the trailer, images, and interview for Strike Force, we see not one iota of the classic Marvel teams. Why am I going to play yet another game where I can’t be my second favorite superhero of all time, Cyclops? What if I want to Flame On or think it’s Clobbering Time? Seriously, at this point, the exclusion of these characters is simply annoying. Again, this Disney/Fox deal could turn the tides (and the fact that the game is being made by developer FoxNet), but I’ll believe it when I see it.

So those are my thoughts. Again, the game looks really fun, and really cool, but I just don’t know if I can go through it again with another mobile game from Marvel. What are your thoughts True Believers? What games do you play and are you ready to jump into this one? Comment below, and I’ll see you in the Multiverse!