MvC 3 Revisited.

For those of you who may not have been around for the original boom of fighting games in the late 80's  and early 90's when Capcom took off with the fighting game genre. Marvel vs Caocom 3 is the latest entry in the "VS" series from Capcom, the first entry being X-men vs Street Fighter in 1998. The game was followed by many other entries to the series up until Marvel vs Capcom 2 in 2000. That means it has been over 10 years since the game last hit the shelves of your local store, although there has been several re-releases for different consoles and as arcade games. Now off the back of the very successful Street Fighter 4 and it's updates, Capcom have decided to renew a much loved series.

Although since the last release of MvC2 the fighting game community had started to dwindle. With the introduction of the aforementioned SF4 the community is growing and there is a new wave of warriors (like myself) picking up the games and getting involved in the community. This means it is the perfect time for Capcom to unleash such an anticipated sequel.

The game gathers 44 fighters 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 rather steep learning curve to reach a level of competitive play. Offline you are able to play on training mode, learn new combos in challenge mode and play your bog standard arcade mode. 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 online 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 would enable everyone to have the shot at "The Best" although after the first one or two disappointingly poor free DLCs, these unconvincingly robotic type players, Capcom started charge for this "opportunity". So I decided to stop there with it. Other disappointing aspects of the online play are the lack of spectator mode. 

Now for the Graphics, this is 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 inspired the game. It even feels like your favourite comics have come to life on screen. 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 loosing either side of the series' 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 Uncanny X-Force, 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 variation of the classic button structure by eradicating 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.

The game is fantastic, you can fun both offline and online. There is a world of combinations within teams you can lose yourself in. If you love comics, games and fighters then don’t shy away from a masterpiece. Hopefully sit on top of another 10 year reign of fighting game dominance. I'd give it a 7/10.