Earlier this year, test footage of a canceled Avengers game leaked out that featured elements from a first person shooter as well as action adventure games like Uncharted. When that game never saw release, fans were left wondering just what a game starring Earth's Mightiest Heroes would be like. Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, Ubisoft's motion based fighter set in the Marvel universe does its best to answer that question but ultimately falls short. That being said though, there's a good amount of fun to have with the game - -especially for the younger crowd.

The basic premise of Battle for Earth will feel incredibly similar to anyone who played Powerup Heroes -- the super powered fighter from Ubisoft released last year (though many haven't, which is why the studio was able to all but reuse the engine). Players choose their favorite marvel character and put them into battle against the rest of the Marvel U; performing their moves by enacting them out and letting Kinect do the rest.  The result, at least in theory is a motion version of Capcom's famous Marvel fighting games.

"The Kinect sensor does a decent enough job tracking movement..."

In practice though, the results are a bit more mixed. The Kinect sensor does a decent enough job tracking movement and roughly seven times out of ten will read your movement as you intended,  and its extremely satisfying to send out a pulsar beam as Iron Man or throw your shield as Cap, but when it fails...it does so miserably. When the game misreads your move, it leaves you open to your enemies and their attacks, and though the game is more or less turn based, they seem to always know what move will do the most damage at any given time. There's almost nothing worse than almost finishing off a character and then losing the match as a result of a misread move.

The game does a great job giving each character moves that make sense for them. Hulk has a lot of brutish moves for example, while Storm is all about finesse. Somehow though, each character ends up feeling almost exactly the same, Hulk will have a strong move using the same motion as a strong move for Captain America for instance. The game does its best to break up the fights by featuring Marvel VS Capcom style supermoves, but Battle for Earth gets old very quickly. The younger crowd is sure to get a bit more enjoyment out of the game, but even they are sure to look for more before long.

"...more than a few guests from throughout the Marvel Universe..."

The game does do plenty right though -- including its character list. The Avengers you'd expect like Captain America, Iron Man and Thor are here, but they also come with more than a few guests from throughout the Marvel Universe like Wolverine, Storm and Spiderman. There's even a few unexpected additions that comic book fans will appreciate like Skrull versions of some of the game's best characters. There's a bit of a progression system with unlocking some of the characters, but hey -- at least it will keep people playing for that much longer.

Visually Battle for Earth is mostly an impressive lot, which characters looking detailed and true to their form. Environments are neatly detailed and feature a slew of hidden tweaks that fans will appreciate (two words: Savage Land). The only problem is that there aren't enough stages to go around and that each character's animation repeats itself far too quickly to be memorable.

The basic premise of Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth works -- it's a motion version of Capcom's established Marvel fighting game franchise -- but it does so mainly in small doses. Younger gamers will love it, but to most it will be viewed as an enjoyable yet forgettable experience. Still, if you really need a new adventure from Earth's Mightiest Heroes (and their pals), you could do worse than Battle for Earth.