Fighting games have the weirdest release times: it took Capcom ten years to release Street Fighter IV, SNK nine years to release King of Fighters XII and don't get me started on Namco and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 which is 11 years in the making. Here's the thing though, these games are expected to come out sooner or later, so even if these games take years to finally come to home consoles, they will get release. One game though has been on the mind o
f gamers since the very first time they saw it in the arcades and on the home consoles back in 2000 — Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.
A huge roster of 56 heroes and villains from both the Marvel Universe and Capcom's games populated the games. Flashy combos and nail-biting come-from-behind wins using hyper-special moves were common place in MVC2, and the fans loved it. It quickly gardened a close knit community of pros and birthed some of the most famous one liners from a player know as Yipes.
But as soon as they asked when was the next game was coming out, Capcom disappointed fans when it was made know that they had lost the license with Marvel. Meaning that all hope was lost for a sequel, making both the arcade cabinet and console versions of the game rare. Fast forward past the announcement and reveal at E3 2010 to last week, February 15, 2011. After 10 years of waiting and demanding, of dreaming of the possible rosters, and watching any news that would be released, Capcom has given fans what they want — Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. But has the game lived up to the hype that started 10 years ago? To quote Yipes: "It's MAHVEL BAYBEE!"
Now in no way am I a pro at these games, I'm really bad at them. But the way that MVC3 was designed, it will make the greenest of players feel like a pro. Layout modes come in two configurations, Normal and Simple, with Normal the default setting. Simple mode sets up the configuration so that a series of button inputs can unleash a furry of combos. This can be both a good and bad thing. Of course the good thing is that it allows for new comers to the game to be able to play and have fun. The bad thing is that those same newcomers will spam projectile moves and cheat to win.
Story-wise the game does come up a bit short. While the game manual (and Wikipedia for that matter) say that Dr. Doom and Albert Wesker teamed up to conquer the two worlds, I see it as this: Galactus, Devourer of worlds, hungers once more and has his eyes set on two different Earths, Marvel's Earth and Capcom's Earth. He calls on the villains of both worlds to act as heralds and prepare the two Earths for his consumption. Being that this is a video game written by comic book writers, the heroes of each of the Earths team up to decide the Fate of Two Worlds (see what I did there?) As per requirement of any fighting game, each individual character has their own ending. Note that I said each individual has their own ending. So if you want to see a different ending, make sure that the last hit goes to a character that doesn't have their ending unlocked. If story isn't your thing and you're feeling brave then online mode is waiting for you. Thousands of other players are waiting to give you a beat down.
Speaking of characters, MVC3 comes with a starting roster of 32 characters plus 4 that need to be unlocked by playing the game over and over. This may seem a bit small compared to MVC2's large roster of 56 character, and I've been hearing complaints about the game having a "small" roster. But consider this: in MVC2 only about 5 to 10 of the characters were being used in teams, which makes the other 41 utterly useless. Here in MVC3 having new characters mixed in with returning ones forces players to mix and match fighters, see who works well with each other, and varies the teams players have instead of having clones of each other.
Making the jump from 2D sprites to 3D polygons is a big change for the series, as the last few games had an anime inspired look to them. This time around a comic book feel is given and it shows. From the fluid motions of the fighters to the tears and rips that form in the background when a hyper special is unleashed, everything feels and looks like a living comic book. Combined that with a pulse-pounding soundtrack and remixes of past fighters' theme songs, and you're in for a treat for eye and ear.
With all these great things going for it, there's bound to be some flaws right? Well yes, and depending who you ask they might be deal breakers. One of the most visible flaws in the game right now is online multiplayer. There have been complaints that when trying to connect to matches through match making, it fails to connect and kicks you back to the main menu. Another complaint I've been hearing is that looking for players to fight against is randomized. In Super Street Fighter IV, players are able to see on a list whose online, their connection level, rank and other information. In MVC3 there's none of that, unless you enter or create a lobby. Lobby areas were also a major compliant, with players stating that you couldn't view the fight and had to wait a while to even have a chance to fight. Another flaw of the game is more on the business side of things. Capcom will be releasing DLC for the game, which doesn't sound that bad. A new mode or two, a couple of costumes and two new characters for about $5 each sounds reasonable. What's not reasonable is the fact that the characters are on disk already. Its been found out by data miners that one of the two characters that is to be a part of a DLC pack is already on disk and Capcom is making you pay to unlock her.
Other than those two big flaws, Marvel Vs Capcom 3:Fate of Two Worlds is a really solid game with its easy to pick up gameplay, vibrant graphics and characters to suit various play styles. It does need improvement but its off to a great start and hopefully satisfy us for the next ten years. So if you're ever online on the PS3 and want to throw down, send an invite to Thunderstriker09. I'll be happy to take you on a ride to defeat, so "WHERE YO CURLY MUSTACHE AT?"
See you in the Next level,
Mike V.
---
Write me and Grayson at [email protected].
