Simple yet enjoyable
I enjoyed this game in the arcades and I have really enjoyed this game for the play station. While not all that deep, which is to be expected from the port of an arcade game, it provides an incredibly entertaining experience playing again and again with friends or against the computer.
This is a strange sort of game where its almost meant to be played for short intervals over a long period of time, very arcadish. This is a game that I still play and enjoy with friends and family. Its such an easy game to pick up, that you can get someone who has never played a video game and some one who has played for quite some time and after a couple of hours, you will see incredibly close and action packed matches. Its a very enjoyable game that looks great and feels even better. Its fun right off the bat, and you can master it in no time.
But that is also one of its basic problems, its too easy to get too good. It's not a deep game and it's not a hard game. The bad part about it being pretty easy is that not only is it not very fulfilling, but you can reach a limit pretty early on where you can't actually get any better. And I said better, not cheaper. You can get pretty cheap in this game. Luckily the real joy is not its single player, but its multiplayer. Where it is easy to copy what cheap moves the other person is doing and put it back on a level playing field.
One of the best parts of an arcade game is playing with a good friend for a little while and going on and doing something else. This is the same sort of enjoyment that you don't have to shell over cash after the first purchase. While its single player easily warrants a purchase, its multiplayer can become fun enough to the point of addiction. Well not really but it feels like that way for about an hour.
Although this may sound odd, the game does have a fair amount of replay value, and the reason is simple. It's so easy to pick up and play, that you will find yourself picking it up after a couple of weeks, months, or even years and enjoying just as much as the day you first picked it up.
The graphics are flashy and the sound is great, it looks very good for a 2d fighter.
The single player is good, with training a well done feature and the story mode good. With a few un-lockable characters that are a real treat to play with.
Oh and by the way, the characters are some of the most diverse and enjoyable that I have ever played with in any of my gaming experiences. Plus you get to play as your favorite marvel heroes, which is very very nice. Each character has the usual weak and strong punch and kick with long range combos and such, but what really separates this game is the two massive power attacks that each character has. And they are MASSIVE, they look cool and do lots and lots of damage. The block system is good but can be used cheaply sometimes.
This unfortunately leads me to my last problem, broken characters. Basically every character starts out the same and remains equal to each other for a few hours. Passed that though, some really come up as the strongest of the bunch, but that’s not to say that you can't keep with your favorite hero and compete. It's just that some characters have some really cheap attacks, which you can block with a little bit of skill and quickly even it out. So it really works out ok.
If you've stuck through this review and are still interested in looking for it to purchase, i have one last statement. If you enjoy arcade fighting games, pick it up, enjoy it, love it, and play for the years ahead because it is one great game.