If you can’t get enough MARVEL or are a collector looking for it all, Lenovo has come out with a new AR experience. Similar to their older Jedi Challenges, the Mirage AR with MARVEL Dimension of heroes is an immersive experience that lets you dive back into the MARVEL universe and play as Thor, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Captain America or Star-Lord. Check out the video below.
Out of the Box
Included in this $250 kit is the Mirage AR headset, two controllers, tracking beacon and cables to connect to pretty much any device you could be playing from. The headset feels well built with a ton of details engineered into it. Cameras on the front track the position of controllers and the tracking beacon and then send that info to the smartphone app.
Setup
Being an AR experience, there is a bit to get setup. First off, make sure you start downloading the app since it is a hefty 2GB. While downloading, you can put the batteries in the controllers and tracking beacon.
There isn’t much info in the manual about setup, but the Dimension of Heroes app gives detailed instructions. Pair the controllers and then watch the instructions for how to install a phone into the headset. On the top of the tray, you’ll also find numbered instructions on how to install on a phone.
Lenovo Mirage AR with MARVEL Dimension of Heroes: Video
First experiences
Once everything is set up, strap on the headset and controllers (Make sure you hold them the right way, with the straps towards the back of your hand), and get into the game. The first thing I tried first was the Thor tutorial. Dr. Strange walks you through how to attack, block, dodge, and use special abilities. Of course, there is some MARVEL humor thrown into the story and character interaction as well.
After finishing the tutorial, you are sent back to a menu kind of screen where you can select “battles,” change heroes or head back to the main menu that has the survival mode and some other selections. It appears that the heroes have three different specific battles for their stories which generally relate to their storyline.
Gameplay
With everything connected and the controllers running, it’s kind of hard to believe it’s all being played from a phone. Sure, it’s not up to par with a dedicated VR headset for immersion, but the fact that the controllers and headset track that well is pretty impressive. Since it is AR, playing in a darker room is better. Lights, bright spots, and glares can make it a little harder to see the video reflected onto the lenses.
Playing as Thor, it felt like a bit like a boxing simulator at times. Enemies would get in close, and I would find myself spamming jabs (be sure to watch the video if you want to see me look like a fool swinging wildly). There are plenty of other abilities that require holding buttons for specific amounts of time, and once a power meter is charged up, each character has a unique set of skills to do some massive damage.
All of the heroes have different primary attacks and special abilities that add a nice variety of gameplay.
Pushing in the thumbstick on top of the controller recalibrates it, which you might want to do occasionally. After time it feels like the tracking can start to drift. A quick recalibration helps to alleviate that.
Beyond survival and story mode, Dimensions also has a local multiplayer mode. Of course, both players would need to have their own Mirage headsets which seems a bit overkill for a device with limited titles.
Wearing over time
Because of the nature of how this type of AR works, the headset can get a bit heavy. I felt like I needed to keep it tight so that it wouldn’t flop around too much. I was able to wear it long enough to complete the battle missions for a character, but after that, I felt like I wanted to take a break from the headset.
Final thoughts
Overall, if you’re a MARVEL fan, the Lenovo Mirage AR with MARVEL Dimension of Heroes is a great way to get another MARVEL experience. It’s the most immersive AR experience I’ve used – which is great because it’s probably the most expensive at $250. Thankfully you can also play the earlier Star Wars Jedi Experience AR game as well with this setup.
Buy the Lenovo Mirage AR MARVEL with Dimension of Heroes
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