The game is fun, but I think Capcom cheaped out and made a game to cash-in on the cult following of its predecessor.
M vs C 3 starts out with a bang upon first inserting the disc. The previous entry was all about flashy hyper combo moves and pulling out some outrageous attacks, and this title does not falter. M vs C 3 graphical style and animations look great on next-gen consoles. Game-play has also been tweaked to garner to newcomers but is not easily mastered, so hardcore players will welcome the change. It takes a few bouts to get used to the controls for M vs C 2 veterans, but the transition is smooth for the most part. Capcom added a few new techniques at your disposal, such as more involved air-combos and tag transitions. All-in-all it works and the game is a lot smoother and moves are easier to pull off than before.
Sadly, The game is just, lacking. There are only 36 characters available on disc, which is very sad.Another low blow from Capcom is that they announced DLC characters 2 months prior to the game's release, which was very dis-heartening. Not too mention it costs 10 dollars for two new characters to download(ouch Capcom, stop with the low blows) Marvel vs Capcom 2 on Dreamcast managed to have 56 total fighters, even if some where clones of others, they still had enough to differentiate themselves from their counter-parts. Also characters that were in the original such as Captain America, Hulk, Sentinel and Spider-man just to name a few are exactly the same and for the most part are unchanged, which is saddening. Though the game has some great new faces such as Deadpool, Amerterasu, Zero, Dante. Some other characters that are new like Arthur,Modok, Spencer, Viewtiful Joe, Taskmaster, and She-hulk, just to name a few are just a waste of space and a complete waste of time. and Haggar is a direct rip-off of Zangief.
Not only is the roster lacking, but the game in general is as well. Aside from Arcade, there's just versus and online and a mission mode which is just a place to try and do impossible combos to a training dummy, wow. No real story mode, challenge mode, tag team battle mode(basically having two human players on the same team or three) or anything else really aside from a few unlockables like artwork and character model viewer, it just seems like a rush job and Capcom could've really made this game have some good longevity. The game has just about the same modes as Dreamcast did for M vs C 2, but it's inexcusable on a larger format and more development time.
Online is nice, if it worked more often. Too many times Have I been disconnected or kicked out of a lobby before being able to fight. Connecting isn't far-fetched , I have been able to join quite a bit of games.Games play smooth for the most part, but I have been connected to a few laggy sessions, which made pulling off any moves literally impossible. Also cheap tactics have been known to exist online(Yep Sentinel is still a favorite amongst some and is still quite cheap) but the game isn't as bad in this department like before. Online works for the most part, and any connection issues can be fixed in the long run
M vs C 3 is a fun game still and it's new mechanics and smoother gameplay are welcome additions to the franchise. As well some nice cool characters to experiment with. But I still think Capcom dropped the ball on the overall value and longevity of the game. A few characters are stinkers and should've been scrapped entirely, or more characters should have been added(not as DLC) as well fixed the online from the get-go. M vs C 3 caters mostly to newcomers and some hardcore players, but true die hards may still be looking for the more chaotic sequel that was promised.