MARVEL Cosmic Invasion - Part 3 - Helicarrier Guide

Welcome to the third stage guide for the MARVEL Cosmic Invasion; this retro-influenced beat-‘em-up game has a variety of heroes to play as and many stages to complete to reach the end. In this series, I’m going through stage by stage to describe what heroes the game recommends using, the challenges that are set, and what foes and dangers await you, along with info about the boss and some tips to defeat them.

CHALLENGES: Hit three enemies with a single electro-charge attack using Iron Man. Toss five enemies in pits using Captain America. Defeat 15 enemies using the helicarrier's turret guns.

HELICARRIER — Operation Jailbreak

The Helicarrier level is pretty challenging, compared to what we have faced so far. The game recommends taking Captain America and Iron Man. Both are really good options for the foes you will be facing, as they both have projectile attacks. I found Captain America’s shield worked great for taking out the enemies you face on this stage.

The carrier is full of A.I.M. Agents armed with guns, laser blades, and flamethrowers, all of which deal a lot of damage. This can be frustrating when you are attacked by multiple enemies with strong weapons at once; it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Captain America's shield is very useful to take them out from a distance, and by moving after you throw it, you can help control where the shield will go to maximise the number of enemies to hit. If you happen to get outnumbered and die, your characters will still level up, and you earn cubes during your run that can be spent unlocking things on the Cosmic Matrix. Don’t forget that if you are trying to complete the challenges, you are restricted to only using Iron Man and Captain America for the Helicarrier stage.

There is one thing that you can take advantage of to make your run easier. The helicarrier is being repaired as there are many holes in the ground. Take advantage of this and hit your enemy into one of these gaps and the agent will fall, getting them out of your hair. It is so satisfying to push them right off the craft, but make sure you are careful and don’t fall in yourself; it is a fast way to lose a life! Make sure you destroy any metal crates you find as some have food to replenish some health, the one you find first has a donut; later on, a large submarine sandwich located on the carrier pad.

You will take a large cargo elevator to get up to the platform of the carrier. It is not closed in, so you can hit enemies off, but that means they can also knock you off too… This is a good area to use your big attacks or projectiles to give them a "friendly” push off the edge. It can get quite tricky once the platform is full of A.I.M. agents, but your large attacks will help clear it out. Once you finally get to the surface, the stage gets a lot easier.

Up on the carrier's deck, as soon as you start, to the left of the door is a hidden cube; grab this and head to the right. Destroy the metal box to get a large submarine sandwich. We find more A.I.M. agents with their electricity guns and flamethrowers, along with insects, but we find Shield agents shooting at the enemy. Conveniently, there are turrets here that you can take control of and take down a huge number of enemies. To take control of one, attack the gun to make it shoot. When there are two turrets beside each other, the game shows you red icons on the ground so you know which gun to use. Using this weapon to defeat five enemies will get you the reward completion bonus; this will give you extra HP added to your total or an upgrade to your hero's passive move.

Taskmaster is a pretty easy boss to defeat; he can swing around the stage like Spider-Man, and he has a shield. Jump behind him to inflict damage when he is guarding himself with the shield. To attack, Taskmaster will throw his shield, leaving him open to being hit when it is suspended in the air or drops to the ground once it hits something. Take advantage of this, making it the perfect time to use the right shoulder button for your large attack to deal a ton of damage and keep jumping behind him to attack. When Taskmaster drops the shield, it won’t stay on the ground for the whole fight; he will get it back and continue attacking you with it once more.

Once the insect-possessed Taskmaster is defeated, Cap tries to recruit him to fight alongside them in the battle against the Annihilus. He flat out says "No thanks” but he warns you of the dangers that your friends will face in the Savage Land. Here the path branches off and you get to choose which stage you challenge first: do you head to the Savage Land or will you go to Wakanda, Black Panther's home?