Marvel vs Capcom 3 reviewed

A new mechanic is X-Factor. Press all four main attack buttons and your character will glow red, and temporarily receive serious boosts to damage, speed, health and armour. The amount of time X-Factor lasts depends on how many of your team members are knocked out; activating it with your last character grants a 30 second bonus, allowing for an interesting comeback dynamic.

Don’t be fooled in to thinking that the game’s been “dumbed down” or that the easier entry-level forces a sacrifice of depth though, it’s still a deep and technical fighter, and there’s incentive to develop a high level of play unless, of course, you like getting your arse served to you on a platter.

The game’s roster, this time around has been whittled down from 56 playable characters down to a relatively paltry 36 – 4 of whom need to be unlocked. The forfeit of varying faces is at the cost of balance; no single character seems to be more capable or powerful…Yet. Of course, many of you will be left wondering why your favourite was given the axe – and I’m particularly saddened by the removal of Strider. Roughly half the cast makes a return from the previous game, stalwarts like Ryu, Spiderman and Wolverine. This opens up slots for some interesting and quirky additions to the roster; like Okami’s fiery wolf-god Amateratsu, the fourth-wall breaking Deadpool and Final Fight’s Mayor Mike Haggar. Some, like Spencer from Capcom’s recent Bionic commando misfire seems out of place and unnecessary – and his spot on the list could have been better utilised by a more familiar character.

As far as ways of playing go, the game offers exactly what you’d expect. Offline, there’s the single player arcade mode, versus, dojo-styled training and mission mode, which isn’t as exciting as it sounds. It’s essentially Street Fighter IV’s challenge mode, where you’re tasked with performing a specific combo on a stagnant AI.

Online, you can play ranked and unranked games, and create 8 player lobbies, much like Super Street Fighter IV’s Endless Battle. Curiously, there’s no spectator mode – making the lobbies much less fun than they ought to be. Instead of watching others fight while you wait your turn, you’re treated to a display of their life-bars draining. It’s a sticking point in an otherwise solid online component, and one I hope gets fixed – and fast.
For locals, we have the option of filtering games by region, removing the inherent latency that often makes games with international players unplayable.

Last Updated: February 18, 2011