Hyper kinetic insanity.
Alright to get it out of the way. Shame on you Capcom for making us pay full price for what could have been accomplished in a DLC. Or better yet not released MVC3 at all and just released ultimate. Bad form Capcom bad form.
Now on to the game. Ultimate marvel vs Capcom 3 takes 2-D fighting games to insane heights. This game is one giant hyper mode from start to finish. The combat is fast, very fast and combo laden. if you don't like getting hit with 30+ hit combos routinely then MVC3 isnt for you.
A cast of 30+ marvel and Capcom favorites make up the roster. The new additions for Ultimate are Ghost rider, Hawkeye, Phoenix Wright, Nemesis, Dr Strange, Vergil, Firebrand, Strider, Frank West, Nova, Rocket Raccoon and Iron Fist. There are allot of fighters to choose from, ,making this one of the biggest rosters in fighting games. The only two feeling gimmicky and out of place are Frank West and Phoenix Wright. There are some classic teams for instance Iron Man, Captain America and either Hawkeye or Thor make a stout Avengers lineup, however some don't make sense, like for a Resident evil team you are forced to use Chris, Jill (with the DLC) and... Wesker.
On to the meat a potatoes, the fighting. It stays true to what made MVC so much fun in the first place. tag in, tag out fighting, It is just a blur of special attacks and combos. So much so that is really what the player is trying to do is just pull off mind numbing combo after combo. When you get right down to it that is the only way to be good at this game. He with the biggest combo wins. So really not so much of a party game as UMVC3 has a learning curve that makes it a little hard to pick up and play. An experienced player will outright murder a noob. Some say that is as it should be and I tend to agree for the most part. However there is something to be said about picking up the controller and at least holding your own... UMVC3 however you will get stomped flat and fast. If you are the fortunate one to do the stomping it does feel great though.
Online Multiplayer over X-box Live has strong net code and I have honestly never once been in a laggy match. Kudos to Capcom for a very very solid online experience. (borrowed from Street Fighter IV but hey if it aint broke don't fix it)
All in all Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 doesn't really stray from it's founding formula. Fans of course think that is a good thing. it is a great fast fun 2-D fighting game. Is it the pinnacle of the genre...? Not really but it is one of the standard bearers that keep fighting the good fight in the 2nd dimension. A little slow down and some more combo refinements could help it from sometimes just being a chaotic mess of attacks and characters.
