Review: Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

This sequel was the game everybody was waiting for. With Marvel vs Capcom 2 turning 10 years old, people wondered if Capcom was ever going to make one. But they finally unveiled Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of two worlds and amazed us with the new look and amazing but yet familiar gameplay. The game has its issues but when you start playing your first match in Marvel vs Capcom 3, you start to remember why you loved this franchise so much. The game is just as crazy as the second and any casual or hardcore fans of the series would love what the 3^rd has in store for them. It’s mahvel baby! its mahvel!!

Marvel vs Capcom 3 Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform: Playstation 3 and Xbox 360

Story…….wait what?

Capcom promised an actual story this time around that would make you understand why Wolverine is fighting Ryu or why the world or rather worlds are in danger. Well I have no idea what they were thinking making that kind of promise because there’s no story whatsoever. The story is pretty much all the villains from the Marvel and Capcom universe teaming up to conquer both worlds. Then all of a sudden a terrifying force reveals itself and is planning to destroy both worlds. Now it’s up to all the heroes from both worlds to stop this huge threat before it destroys everything. Spoiler……actually not really since they revealed a trailer for the boss anyway.

That terrifying force is Galactus! Pretty awesome I guess. Do arcade mode and fight Galactus in the end, beat him and you saved earth. That's it. The endings are pretty sad since you don't get any cool ending sequence but rather two pages like it's coming from a comic book. A short dialogue of the characters ending which aren't good at all is all we get for saving the world. It’s not much of a story but this isn’t the reason why we play it anyway.

Gameplay

Marvel v Capcom 2 was a chaotic fighting game that had a deep fighting mechanic. With characters flying everywhere, character assists and flashy ultra-moves that can cover almost half the screen, it can get real messy but can be loads of fun. In this sequel, Marvel vs Capcom 3 brings the same to the table with changes that doesn’t hurt but rather improves game play.  It’s a much slower game now compared to the second but can still get a bit crazy. It may be not as fast as Marvel vs Capcom 2 but it’s certainly not as slow as Street Fighter 4. The speed actually comments the gameplay and the graphics.

Capcom wanted to keep the fighting mechanic deep but at the same time accessible to the casual crowd and user-friendly to first time players to the series. With that in mind, Capcom created simple mode. Simple mode is easy mode that makes you pull off crazy combos with ease. Light, Medium and Hard buttons are combined into one button so pressing that button repeatedly will perform the characters basic combos leading to launches.

Special moves like the Hadouken of Ryu or the Plasma Beam of Doctor Doom is now only one button and all hyper moves for each character are executed by pressing only one button. It’s a great way to get casual players and first timers into the game but if you want to get better you have to play the game in normal mode to pull off some crazy combinations.

If you want to play how it's suppose to be played, The button layout is no longer Marvel vs Capcom 2 style. They have adapted the Tatsunoko vs Capcom button layout of Light Medium Heavy and Special. The Special button is the launch button which is a good change. Combos are easy to pull off with this new layout and most combos lead to a launch just like the old game. Everything you can do back in Marvel vs Capcom 2 is still around but with changes to makes things more interesting.

One of the changes that affect how you play your matches is the X-Factor which is a game breaker. Oh this can be your life saver or your worst enemy. X-Factor is performed by pressing Light, Medium, Heavy and Special at the same time. When it’s active, the current character gets a boost in strength and mobility. It can only be used one per match and has three levels. The duration and how much strength and mobility are given to the character depends on how many characters they have left in the match. So if he activates it with all three characters alive, it will be X- Factor level one, short but painful. But if you activate it when you’re down to your last man, that's level 3. the damage and speed given and how long X- Factor lasts can give you a good chance of winning even if you’re in a three against one situation. So planning when to execute your X-Factor is the key in any match.

The game has 36 playable characters with 2 characters as DLC. So that’s 19 for Marvel and 19 for Capcom. People love the return of some of their famous Marvel or Capcom characters but some wonder why certain characters were considered a good choice to begin with. Like I never thought M.O.D.O.K had a huge fan base, even Viewtiful Joe in fact. But first timers to the series like X-23 or Dante from Devil May Cry were great additions.

The game feels balance compared to the second. The big problem for me back in MvC 2 is that some characters are just flat-out useless and not worth learning. In Marvel vs Capcom 3, it feel like each character has a role if played right. Some characters may seem stronger than others, but some that are considered the weaker ones prove to be really strong assists. Team synergy is more present here and it all depends if the three characters you pick complement each other. There are so many possibilities if you pick characters based on if they work well together. Experimenting what works tends to get fun and is the best asset in the game.

Graphics

The graphics are amazing. This is the first time the series is going with 3D models and they did a great job at creating this world from scratch. Each character has been well detailed and every stage in the game looks beautiful. When a character performs a hyper combo, you will get amazed on how the game looks.  Some of the marvel characters when performing a hyper combo look as if they are in a comic book page ripping the page apart as they perform their move. The game also has no lagging issues. When you first pop in the disc your required to do a game install which takes 30 minutes. It’s all good since when that’s done the transition from fight to fight is quick.

Marvel Vs Capcom has always been an entertaining game to watch and it’s no different here. Not only is it cool to watch nasty combos being executed, its great eye candy doing them with this much detail in the game.

Sounds/audio

Marvel vs Capcom 3 have great character audio and background music. So great that each character has their own background sound and is played when they are tagged into the fight. New characters have their own new background music but returning characters get remixed version of their old music back in MvC 2. Even the character select screen has a couple of background music that cycles every time you enter and they still have the famous “Take you for a ride” song that is always played when picking a character in the old game. I actually got goose bumps when I heard the remixed version for the first time. It’s weird yes but it’s because it’s been 10 years of waiting for a sequel. This has become a beloved game series to the point that even the music has to be right and thankfully it’s perfect.

Game Modes and Online

In Marvel vs Capcom 3 you have the basics in any fighting game, which are Arcade mode, training mode, versus mode and online mode. The only game mode that stood out was mission mode. It’s a mode were the game teaches you basic moves and combos for each character. Think of it as Super Street Fighter 4’s challenge mode challenging you to perform very difficult combinations.

Difference with Super Street Fighter’s challenge mode and MvC 3’s mission mode is that MvC you literally get the basic combos not like in Street Fighter were as you progress to the end they require you to perform impossible looking combinations.Even though these combinations are tough and half the time not worth doing in a real fight, you’re being taught the game mechanics and how the game works. If you want to further improve your game in MvC3 you’ll have to figure it out yourself or watch some pro matches.

Online mode in Marvel vs Capcom 3 is a step backward. Just like all fighting games now with online features, there are ranked matches and player matches. You can create a lobby for friends or strangers to come in and play but here’s where they stepped backwards. You can have over 8 players in a lobby, two fight while the others wait for their turn. Only problem is you don’t get to watch the fight. You are forced to just wait and watch their character bars go down on the right site of the lobby.

If you played the Marvel vs Capcom 2 version with online features it’s exactly the same. It’s a joke, and we know Capcom can make us watch fights because that’s a feature in Street Fighter 4. Because of the online features implemented in Street Fighter 4 and Super Street Fighter 4 you feel robbed. You know Capcom can do better. They say a patch will implement this feature but it just sounds like their saying it was planned but we just didn’t have enough time. Latency is also a problem and I honestly try hard to avoid Online as much as possible.

Overall

in the end, it's a fighting game. Even with its horrible online mode and dissapointing Arcade mode, what matters in the end is the game play. The game play alone is what made Marvel vs Capcom so famous and they nailed it. Its new look is amazing and it sounds great. Veteran players will be pleased with the changes and the whole feel of the game. Even casual players or first time players will have a blast with Marvel vs Capcom 3. It's just loads of fun when you start fighting. Any fighting game lover would love to have this in their collection. The 3 versus 3 crossover is back and we welcome its return.

Score: 88/100

Pros:

- Addicting gameplay

- Great audio and graphics

- Great character roster

Cons

- Horrible online mode

- What story?