Marvel at this.
For those of you who aren’t aware of the versus franchise it has been almost 10 going on 11 years since MvC2 graced our consoles(not including it’s brief appearance on marketplaces). It’s not only one of the most anticipated games of this decade with regards to fighters but also a brilliant time to get back in t the genre in general.
Within the past couple of year the dwindling fighting game community has fluxed greatly with the return of what some might say the best 2D fighter ever(Street Fighter 4), which in turn has spurred on other companies to chip in their effort in hopes of claiming a prestigious place in the podium of fighting games.
But as well all know that Capcom is a Behemoth that transcends most gaming companies to the point that it’s not just a case of the bigger they are the harder they fall but more of a dynasty that many will fight to preserve unless you’re mega man. And because of this they still have their titles being played all around the world in many competitions such as EVO 2011 and the vast majority of tournaments everywhere else.
Now for the actual bit about MvC3.
If you can't tell it's the 3rd Game in the Marvel vs Capcom series. The game gathers 44 fighter from across both companies most famed series and includes several X-men and a good few familiar faces from Street Fighter and other notorious Capcom games. Like many other fighters there is a a rather lenient skill curve until it comes to competitive play. Offline you are able to play on training mode, learn new combos in challenge mode and play your bog standard arcade type play. But as most you know Fighting games aren't based around how many times you can complete the story but whether or not you can play with your friends. As expected the offline works just fine and is a great load of fun but at times the only can be laggy and very hard to find a match. A while after the game was release a new game mode was also added, called shadow mode which Capcom claimed enable everyone to have the shot at "The Best" although after the first one or two disappointingly unconvincing players they started to charge for this "opportunity" so I decided to stop there with it. As for online hosting the game works fine if you can invite a friend to your lobby although with no spectator mode everyone else in the lobby is left with a rather unimpressive video of two profile cards rubbing against each other until one concedes depicting the victor bouncing ever so gloriously in his neat little portion of screen.Now for the Graphics, which are definitely my favourite part of the game.The visuals are fantastic, nothing short of what you would dream of. They stay true to the very comic book fashion that sometimes appears that the design quite literally jumped straight off the page in to your console. And what keeps me even more in awe is the fact that it still manages to capture the 2D element of street fighter without the loss of either side of the art style. Even all the alternate colours to the Marvel side has generations of back story to them alone, it’s not just all mango sentinels and oddly coloured magnetos. It’s X-Force Wolverine and Deadpools costume from when he wanted to be part of the X-Men there’s even CaptainAmerica/Punisher. It’s a work of genius and I love every tiny little detail from Deadpools taunt to Wesker lobbing missiles in his level 3.
Now in terms of gameplay the series has taken a new varition of the classic button structure by eradication the much loved punch and kick buttons for a far more simple Special, Light, Medium, Heavy 4 button set up with 2 buttons for assists. What this does for the game is make the entry level for players lower than that of a usual “experienced player” yes there are still the greats of the community lording it over others but it is far more friendly to give it a bash with friends. There is even a simple mode in which the computer pretty much plays the games while you mash away at buttons, although you lose a major amount of capability it allows for a younger generation to get a basic understanding of the game and work their way up to playing the “normal” mode.
If you love comics, games and fighters then don’t shy away from a masterpiece that will hopefully sit on top of another 10 year reign of fighting game dominance.
