Marvel Vs Capcom 3 Review

One of the greatest game mash-ups ever conceived gets its third outing today. Yes, Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds has officially been released here in Europe. Never one to shy away from kicking some ass, Pop Culture Monster was first in line this morning to pick up his copy.

At first glance, it’s easy to see why anyone would be intimidated by the playing style of MVC3. A tag team of 3 characters all mercilessly kicking the bejaysus out of one another in a hyper fast, hyper combo, fire and lightning, tag-team fury kind of way. It’s like your average 2D fighter that’s been living on a diet of Powerthirst. Despite its frantic gameplay, it’s actually very accessible no matter what level you play at. Combo attacks are easy to land and with such a large number of characters, you’ll find a way to enjoy it.

There’s a grand total of 38 playable characters, once you unlock a few and download the two DLC characters. They range from the slow but massive damagers like Hulk through the quick combo-based like Zero to the projectile heavy such as Arthur. The all-rounders are few and far between, with the best of them being Dante. For those of you who are fans of the bizarre, you should try Amaterasu who surprised Pop Culture Monster by being very easy to combo with. The roster itself suffers from a bit of a heavy weighting on the projectile characters, and overall is a bit of a let down. There are some great characters and everyone will find their favourite combination, however, it would have been nice to see some less gimmicky characters that are more substantial. Sadly missing are Marvel alumn like Emma Frost, Rogue, Cannonball, Psylocke, Cable and Ms Marvel and from the Capcom corner Claire Redfield, Sakura, Juri and Tyrant. But we’re hoping Capcom will see this and get to work on them pronto. There’s also no original characters in this title but who misses Ruby Heart, really?

Capcom have raised the stakes in the fighting style with this game, particularly with combos and guarding. Team Aerial Combos allow you to call other members of your team to continue combos for more damage. Furthermore, they can only be broken by the opponent if they successfully guess the direction you’ve chosen to come from. The Hyper Combos are like the Ultra Combos from the Street Fighter series, dealing massive amounts of damage with just a quick button combo. However, in MVC3, the Hyper Combos are the eyecandy here as they are rendered with more pizzaz and lighting effects. The Hyper Combos themselves can be cancelled by using your X-Factor enabling you to combo even Hyper attacks from different characters, dealing massive damage without letting your opponent recover. Never fear taking too much damage though as Capcom have introduced Advancing Guard, which basically means you can cut down on chip damage by mashing two attack buttons whilst guarding.

Unlike in SSFIV, the game is fluid throughout with the battles transitioning almost seamlessly. Pop Culture Monster would like Capcom to cop on to a quick continue where you don’t have to return to character select, but in this title it does move a lot quicker in that respect.

Although it isn’t without some flaws, overall it’s a highly impressive game. Every gamer will find a lot of enjoyment with this title and that’s just what the fighting genre is all about. Whether you’re a button masher newbie or a seasoned pro, MVC3 has a bit of everything and makes for some extremely fun gaming.

Don’t forget to enter to win a limited edition MVC3 T-shirt on our Facebook.

Edit: Scandal just in. Jill Valentine DLC actually already on the disk. The story is over on Game Rant.

[xrr rating=3.5/5]

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