GameLight Review - Marvel vs. Capcom 3

So I bought “Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds” two days ago for $53.99 (amazingly) and got to spend some time playing it and looking through all the features.  I knew I wanted to play it, but I wasn’t dead set on buying it right away.  Seeing how it was slightly cheaper than everywhere else, I couldn’t help but purchase it.  I’m really glad I did.

Official Site: http://marvelvscapcom3.com/us

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Capcom

Platforms: Playstation 3 & Xbox 360

Release Date: February 15, 2011

Genre: 2D Fighting (with 3D graphics)

Pros:

-Visually appealing with slick art style and smooth animations

-New innovations with same old school fun

-Amazing soundtrack that captures the spirit and personality of the characters

-Fast and exciting gameplay that’s balanced and feels polished

-Online gameplay is smooth and integrated into offline mode to have that arcade challenger feel

-Controls are much easier to learn and it is more adaptable for console players

-Player License with records of play style and character usage is convenient (for some)

Cons:

-A lot of characters from previous installments have been excluded

-Two characters are out as DLCs already when the game released with each one costing $5

-Arcade and professional MvC2 players may not like the simpler controls

-The combat is slightly slower than its predecessors like SFIV was to SFIII

-Not enough time in the day to play

Much has happened within Capcom and Marvel in the past ten years.  So when Marvel vs. Capcom 3 went into development, it’s no surprise that new characters were added and old ones were reinvented.  But with the decisions to take out numerous amounts of characters, simplifying the controls to the game, and focusing solely on consoles rather than arcade is this game still worth it?  Heck yeah, it is!  Get ready, for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 will “take you for a ride!”

Graphics

When videos of the gameplay started making appearances over the internet, the most striking new feature was the art style that the developers went for.  After ten long years between MvC2 and MvC3, the 2D pixel art is traded for a sleek, heavy ink, comic-book style 3D models and environment.  With the transition to 3D graphics, there was a concern about the animation and gameplay being slower and more realistic.  Despite the higher detail in the art style, the same crazy special effects, lightning fast movements, and exaggerated actions still exist.  The camera angle still makes it difficult for one player or both when one is high in the sky and the other is on the floor, but players quickly adapt to the proximity as we all (hopefully) did for MvC2.  I can’t praise the models of the characters and the animation done for them enough.  A lot of the movements, actions, and personality of each character are faithfully represented within the game with all the attacks, special abilities, and projectiles having close ties to their respective games.  Anyone remember the awkward way Arthur of Ghost ‘n Goblins (or Ghouls ‘n Ghosts) would jump and double jump?  Well, that’s how he jumps in MvC3!

Source: Youtube Channel machinima

Along with his motions is a whole arsenal of weapons from the original game such as lances, daggers, crossbows, etc.  The art team took a lot of time to study and interpret each character of both realms to fit them into the same theme while still retaining the unique qualities of those characters and the series they came out of.  The same goes for the stages too.  Each stage captures a scene from a series with familiar music and cameos of characters from the series.  The layout of the user interface is clean and simple in the form of a comic book which makes it easy to navigate around the game.  I also have to give high praise to the amazing introduction to the game where all the characters are in a universal bout transitioning from one fight to the other.  It's a good first impression of the game and its characters.  Graphics: 10/10

Audio

The music is truly a work of wonder.  With over three hours worth of music packed into one game, it’s no wonder they have a soundtrack up for sale.  The songs are remixed versions of the character’s signature theme and/or original songs (mainly for characters for Marvel).  It has that upbeat theme that the music from the MvC series is known for.

Source: Youtube Channel DatMangoSentinel

Along with the music is the amazing voice acting and sound effects.  The voices of older characters such as Iron Man and Dr. Doom sound different but newer characters like C.Viper are the same voices from the original (as far as I know).  It’s not mainly the voices that are great, but the dialogue and the amount of detail put into each encounter with one character fighting another.  It’s like there’s something for each character to say to each other.  That, to me, really adds to the idea of the crossover between the two universes.  Deadpool has some of the funniest lines in the game.  The sound effects are current and what’d you expect in modern day quality games.  It’s not to say that it is very realistic, but rather believable within its own world.  Overall, I am very satisfied with the audio recording, programming, and arrangement/composition they did for the game.  The music exceeded my expectations which grants the score extra points.  Audio: 10/10

Characters/Computer AI

I’m not going to lie, I’m very sad to see a lot of previous characters absent from the roster and I can’t help but feel as if the game could have more characters in it without having to charge and extra game for it (yes, it’s possible to buy a game with $5 nowadays).  Despite the exclusion of lots of possible new characters and memorable old characters, it was still exciting to see familiar characters all rugged with an edgy look as well as new additional quirky characters like Deadpool, Taskmaster, Viewtiful Joe, Amaterasu, and Arthur in the game.  The mix of characters within the roster truly brings a diverse crowd to the stage and changes the play-style a lot.  Still, I miss silly characters like Megaman and Servbot.  I heard Frank West was almost part of the game but was taken out late in the development.  I would’ve liked to play as him.  I guess I just need to play Tatsunoko vs. Capcom for that.

The computer AI is very important as part of introducing the game to the player and to prepare them for real competition against other players online or locally if not providing a solid experience for single-player.  In a lot of fighting games I’ve played, the AI would be standstill dumb in the beginning and merciless monsters after stage 4 or 5.  If not that, then there’s a ridiculous final boss the player has to overcome that usually requires some sort of cheap move to finish (Tekken 6, Street Fighter IV, Virtua Fighter 5, BlazBlue Continuum Shift, etc.).  So far, there have been a few occasions where the computer AI was really easy and then suddenly on stage 5 he becomes a caffeinated, steroid crack-head with advanced blocks, full team roster change in a mid-air combo, and chained specials (specifically a match I had on normal difficulty going up against Captain America.  I don’t remember the other two since they were easy.  My team – Arthur, Amaterasu, and Zero).  To make matters worse, the final boss to the game is Galactus.

Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment

Galactus, from the Marvel universe, is known to eat whole planets as sustenance to keep him alive.  When the battle starts, he creates two metal-like versions of characters within the game’s roster to fight the player at the same time (totally reminded me of Super Smash Bros. Melee when fighting the metal versions of the characters).  If the player finishes them off, they start fighting Galactus.  He’s so large that only the head and body is shown.  His attacks can take anywhere from 25%-50% of the players health in one hit.  I never find any of these battles exciting since doing complex moves never work.  I ended up beating him each time by shooting projectiles at him on the edge of the screen.  Aside from that, it’s a decent experience fighting against the computer AI in Arcade and getting the ending scene of whichever character the player finishes Galactus off with.  Characters/CPU AI: 8/10

Gameplay

I had an idea of what the game was going to be like from trying out the game at E3 2010 last year; however, I didn’t know nearly enough about the changes they made between MvC2 and this one.  Once I started playing the actual game enough and understood how the game mechnanics worked, I was blown away.  Sure, it’s possible to pull off something amazing when randomly button mashing, but it’s more amazing to actually execute something you meant to do.  I picked up on how to play the game fairly quickly (if 2 hours is fast enough) and started whipping out entire team specials, crazy air combos, and chaining attacks I didn’t think were possible.  Even then, I lost exceedingly bad to my friend who’s an incredible fighting game player who isn’t even a tournament player.  This was exciting, because it meant that there was still a lot more I could learn and much more the game had to offer.  Although the number of buttons has been reduced by half, the game has much more depth than just mashing buttons.  The controls a concise and easy to handle, the combat is slightly slower than MvC2 but still really fast-paced (meaning the animation is slower, but there’s still a lot going on), the assist/tag switch-out system is still just as good as before, and the advanced guarding and offensive attacks presents a lot of strategies for players to experiment with.  Like all fighting games, multiplayer is where the fun begins.  38 characters is already a lot to choose from, but the game changes a lot when forming a team of three with each character having three unique assist move.  When there isn’t anyone at the immediate moment to play with, an online mode allows the player to connect to players from across the world to go head-to-head.  Online gameplay is just as smooth as local gameplay (so far for me) and is a great way to find some new challenge and play against players of different play styles (I’m an aggressive combo player, so my defense sucks).  If the player wants a more arcade-like feel to their online challenges, they can play offline mode on Arcade or Training and have fight requests from other players.  I can’t find anything critical that could downgrade the score for the gameplay other than the fact that there are characters more useful or powerful than others which will affect character choices for tournament players.  I can’t really complain about that since any character can become useful in some sort of way when teamed up with characters that benefit from each other.  Gameplay: 10/10

Overall

I haven’t played a game that felt as polished and welcoming as Marvel vs. Capcom in the longest time.  It’s a great fighter for any skill level and a fun game to play casually as well as competitively.  I’m mostly a casual fighting game player but like to play competitively once in a while when I’m in the mood for a serious challenge.  I highly recommend Marvel vs. Capcom 3 to anyone since its crazy nature makes for a fun game to play at parties, gatherings, and hanging out (much like Super Smash Bros. Brawl is like a party game).  With intuitive game mechanics and an accessible combat system, the game is great for both the casual and the hardcore.  Besides a desire for more characters, this phenomenal game is near perfect and a must-buy for any gamer who's looking for a solid game to play for the next few years (or decade like MvC2 did).  Overall: 9.5/10