Easy to pick up, difficult to master; beautifully designed and lovingly produced
Imagine the sheer, wide-eyed wonder as I first gazed upon the Marvel vs Capcom arcade machine as a teenager. The colours, the sounds and the most ridiculous, oversized Hadouken I'd ever seen. I think my joy was doubled when I bought MvC2 for PS2 and when I saw the first video for MvC3 I nearly wet myself with excitement!
The premise is simple; you've got a selection of Marvel characters and a selection of Capcom character to duke it out with. Rather than Street Fighter's 1vs1 affair, this is 3vs3. This allows you to mix and match characters, swap in and out mid-fighter and join together for the most over the top, epilepsy inducing finishers you're eyes will ever hate you for watching.
This 3vs3 style actually makes for interesting match-ups. Timing when to change character, when to use the assist and which characters to use is key. Now, I'm sure there's some really deep story behind this battle and I know it's something to do with saving the Earth from Galactus, but aside from that I've not really seen much of a story.
So onto the game itself. The first thing I noticed is the chain of control scheme. Instead of your usually light, medium and heavy punch and kicks you've now got light, medium and heavy attacks. I was initially sceptical of this change, mainly because I don't like change, but also because I'd grown up with this 6 button system and I couldn't see the reason for changing it. However, given all the different buttons and combinations of buttons needed for this game, it makes perfect sense. There's also a 'Simple' control scheme that a professional reviewer person would have tried out, but you're getting this for free and I know if I try it out I'll end up using it all the time and feel like a fraud.
Once I'd got my head round the controls I went straight into the arcade mode. You'll fight through six stages, then you'll fight the boss, Galactus. Whoever in your team lands the final blow on the boss will get the ending. Do this 30+ times (plus failing once and not continuing to see Galactus' ending) and you'll have seen all the endings. You've got numerous difficulties from 'Very Easy' to 'Very Hard' as well as timer and damage settings.
Outside of this you've got Training (explains itself), Versus (player vs player) and Missions (perform specific combos with characters) and that's it for your offline modes. The online mode is a standard affair too. Ranked and Player matches are your main choice; with lobby options and leaderboards in this section too. Lets face it, there's only so much you can have online with Fighting games, and this doesn't try and push the envelope.
MvsC3 really just sticks to what it does well with gameplay: a short, sharp, adrenaline fuelled massacre. If you don't like Fighters in general, you won't like this. If you do like Fighters, particularly the fast-paced, quick-fix kind then you've probably got a short attention span like me and you'll love this!
However, it's not just about what you do, it's about what you see when you're doing it. Now I've ever so subtly alluded to the big, bright, over-the-top style of this game; but seeing is believing. It is pure comic book bliss. Characters not only look good, but the move good. Spiderman is probably the most obvious example, as everything from his stance, his movement and his physique is spot on. This sort of detail is across the board; not just in characters, but in stages, menus, opening sequences and end scenes too. I cannot praise this highly enough, check YouTube to see for yourself!
Compared to the visual feast, I feel a little let down by the sound. There's a certain amount of tacky cheesiness to it that at times feels great, but at others just feels a little bit dated. The character sounds are all fine, but some of the backing music just feels a bit lazy. There's nothing particularly dynamic here and while it doesn't detract from the fun of the game, it does nothing to enhance it and really it's just a shame.
You can't really review a game like this without talking about the roster. Now they can't please everyone, and sacrifices have to be made and he's essentially a copy of Ryu, but where's Ken?! Seriously though, this is a very robust line-up with classic characters as well as cult favourites so most will find people they like. Unfortunately there are only four characters to unlock, and although this is quite an easy task I would have liked the game to ship with maybe another 4 hidden characters rather than the inevitable DLC download fest that will cost us a pretty penny.
On the plus side the other extras are fantastic, if you're a bit of geek anyway. There's a wealth of unlockables including plenty of artwork, character models, opening movies and end scenes. This for me really sells it as it gives me more reason to come back and is much more enticing than achievements. It all really involves completing different tasks with different characters or just playing the game and earning more credits; meaning it's challenging but rarely frustrating.
This game is never going to appeal to everyone, but is worth a rent if you have any interest in Fighting games. Easy to pick up, difficult to master; beautifully designed and lovingly produced I'd say this is one of the best Fighters for the current consoles. I personally feel that Fighting games will always have a limited appeal and will never have the longevity of games like Halo Reach (unless you're determined to rank up online of course), but as far as Fighting games go, you'd be hard pressed to find a better example.