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Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PS3) Review

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a fun game. It’s fast-paced, colorful and it’s got a great and varied character roster. But does it live up to all its hype? Let’s find out.

When I first fired up this game, I went through the roster and was really happy to see some of my favorite video game and comic book characters. I think Capcom did a great job with the character selection, aside from some glaringly obvious omissions (hint: rhymes with ‘Shmega Shman’). The graphics, character models and stage backgrounds look really awesome; this game looks really great. That’s all well and good, but aesthetic value alone will not hold hardcore fans’ attention for long if the gameplay is not good. Thankfully the gameplay is as good as you’d expect; the combat is very deep and combos and various other commands are quite easy to do. The core gameplay is strong. I have a blast playing this game, especially locally with friends.

In this game the majority of the characters have the same basic combo structure: you can combo from your lightest attack up to your heavy attack and go into a launcher if you want to. The air combos work in a similar way, and feature the ability to switch in one of your other characters in the middle of an air combo, thereby extending your combo. There are exceptions, of course (for example, Hulk cannot combo his medium attack into his heavy attack. You can only combo from L > H or L > M), but for the most part I feel like the combo system was designed with a “pick up and play” style in mind. I think its good that the combos are standardized in this way, it allows me to feel more comfortable picking different characters that I might not be as familiar with. This game also features a system called “advancing guard”, that can help you defend against aggressive players. I like this feature and find it quite helpful. Briefly touching upon the music – it’s really catchy and well done. Those annoyed by the quirky soundtrack of MvC2 will be pleased with the audio this time around. The remix of Zero’s theme from Mega Man X2 stands out in my mind as being particularly stellar.

Understatement of the year.

When you want to play this game single player, there is not much to do. You can play arcade mode at various difficulty levels and view the character endings. I found the endings to be disappointing for the most part, they consist of two images and several lines of text. Some of the endings are better than others and feature cameos from Marvel and Capcom characters that did not make it in the game as playable characters. When you get bored with that, you can tackle Mission Mode, which are combo challenges. There were many Missions that were challenging for me and took many tries. When I finally did them, it felt very satisfying in a way I don’t get from many games. These are fun but can get boring fast, and I’m sure there are players that have no interest in this at all. The game also features a good training mode for you to practice your combos. You have many options in this mode, including AI and block settings and the ability to record actions to the dummy character. Pretty standard stuff but necessary if you want to get good at this game. I just wish the single player modes had more to do, like time trial or survival modes. Capcom attempted to add some more single player content via “Shadow Mode” DLC, where you fight AI opponents programmed to play like Capcom employees or pro players. But it’s lame, it’s just really lame – you can hardly tell that it’s any different than the game’s default AI settings. Some more single player content would have gone a long way for me with this game.

An example of a license card.

Most players who get this game will get sick of single player very quickly and start playing online. The online play is pretty standard if not a little bare bones. You can have player lobbies with up to 8 people, but there is no spectator mode so if you are waiting to play you literally have to stare at the lobby screen until it’s your turn. This basically kept me from participating in any lobbies with more than 2 players; I hate waiting, especially if I can’t even watch the fight that’s going on. Ranked mode is a lot better. You can choose to a degree who you want to fight: people ranked higher or at the same level as you. This mode is quite fun, but like any competitive game, certain characters will be favorites and you will see them repeatedly. If you are a competitive gamer this is where you will spend the majority of your time with this game. I am disappointed to see that the replay channel feature from Super Street Fighter IV is gone. I really enjoyed that feature. In its place you have what is called a “license card”, which keeps track of all your wins/losses, player statistics, as well as a play style rating that I’ve yet to really figure out. It’s very prominent on the player card and looks like a circle with triangles emanating from the center of the circle and is supposed to represent your personal play style.

I have a couple gripes with the game. I dislike that there is no way to break a combo. Combos are easy to do compared to other fighting games and if you get caught in one, you have little choice but to sit and watch and hope your opponent drops their combo. I find that this adds an element of frustration to the game. I think the new Mortal Kombat game got this feature right with their Kombo Breaker system: you can break your opponent’s combo at the cost of super meter. While I do like many of the gameplay features like advancing guard, dial-a-combos and on the ground attacks, I do feel like this game is quite unbalanced. Certain characters are much better or worse than others, and I think that Capcom felt that since this is a “vs.” game it gives them license to have a slightly unbalanced game. As I said earlier, the best characters will always rise to the top. If you don’t mind seeing similar characters or teams repeatedly online then this will not be an issue for you. I also have to mention “X-Factor”. X-Factor basically allows you to make a comeback in a match. You can use it once per match, and it makes your characters stronger (depending on certain in-game variables) and can really swing a close match in your favor. You will either love it or hate it. Personally, I like it because I am sort of an average player and I feel like it has helped me win games I otherwise would have lost. I bring it up here because there are many MvC3 players who hate this feature with a passion. I suppose I can’t really blame them, it sort of ruins the rhythm of a match when an already powerful character gets a big x-factor boost and you’re forced to go on the defensive or see your win go out the window.

Personally, I’ve been playing this game since its release and have had a blast with it. I plan on getting the platinum trophy for it, but once I do that I will move on to Mortal Kombat and may not really play this game again. It just does not have the staying-power of other Capcom fighting games like Super Street Fighter IV. All in all, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is fun to play. If you’re a fan of fighting games you will certainly have fun with this game… at least for a little while.