Game review: Marvel vs. Capcom 3

The Marvel vs. Capcom series had seemingly gone down with the Dreamcast. With the Marvel comics licence having changed hands, and Capcom easing off of the development of beat 'em ups - the era of super hero and Street Fighter gangbangs had come to an end. And all we could do is caress our copies of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and dream. But it would seem that for Capcom to just make games is not enough, and they've decided to partake in the business of making beat 'em up fans' dreams come true. Not only did they deliver the sequel to Street Fighter many did not think would ever be, and get Tatsunoko vs. Capcom localized after telling us it would never happen...but they did the impossible. Dragging a sequel to Marvel vs. Capcom 2 out from 6 feet under and off the ground. Praise be to Jebus and Professor Sexavier! This is Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Back to take you on that ride. *puts on Samuel L. Jackson voice* Hold on to your butts...

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is much of what we knew and loved about the game that came before. 3-on-3 tag team action; with over the top attacks, air combo's and beat downs taking place in an array of flashy pyrotechnics, screen filling beams of death, and things of that nature. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 does not re-invent the wheels which Capcom set in motion as early as X-Men: Children of the atom. Instead, it gives 'em a bit of an MOT, a slight upgrade, makes it a tad more accessible, and then wraps it up in a nice Carbonadium bow that everybody and anybody can enjoy.

Following on from Marvel vs. Capcom 2, it was pretty clear that Capcom were never going to attempt to out-do or even match the number of characters in that game. So instead, Capcom have made it their focus to serve up a generous number of characters and balance every one of them properly. The balancing isn't perfect. Dante is stupidly overpowered due to how much protective cover his special attacks give him, and having an attack for every type of situation and every opponent. And Phoenix can be killed off in a mere couple of hits. But this is quite possibly one of the most balanced of the cross over titles since X-Men vs. Street Fighter, which despite being the first game in the series - was pretty well balanced as a whole. Although the new X-Factor feature sways the balancing all over the place (more on that later).

The character roster itself is a mixed bag. Capcom were never going to be able to please everyone with their choices. But many may overlook every individual choice and not really care as a result of Dante having finally made the cut. A character fans have been threatening to commit seppuku for if Capcom did not include him in a cross over game. Every new character deserves their moment to shine, but some of the choices made here are rather questionable. Trish is fun to play as, but Dante alone would have sufficed from the Devil may cry franchise. Hsien-Ko is a fun new addition from DarkStalkers, but Morrigan and Felicia alone would have held it down fine for the female Night warriors. Spencer is a cool nod to a re-branded franchise, but the original Bionic commando would have been gone down better. Did we really need three characters from Resident evil 5? Did we need She-Hulk and Hulk? Did we also need X-23 and Wolverine!? Too many of the new characters feel like package deals, and as a result clog up the roster in place of other more varied characters who could have rounded out the roster better.

The one good thing about this mixed bag of a roster, is that every single character is a viable pick. Marvel vs. Capcom 2's roster blew minds and rectums with its sheer number. But the reality was that half of the characters were not worth picking because of horrid balancing. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 ensures every character will get a use out of you at least once. But still...it would have been nice if Capcom were a bit more varied in their choices. I would have taken Psylocke, Gambit, Mega Man X and Alien vs. Predator's Lieutenant Lynn Kurosawa over Resident evil 5's Nina Williams look-a-like Jill, She Hulk, Hsien-Ko and Spencer any day.

Players of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom will be able to dive right into Marvel vs. Capcom 3, as the controls are pretty much the same. Those who refused to budge further than Marvel vs. Capcom 2 however, may need some time to adjust. The controls have been greatly simplified down to just weak, medium, heavy and a special attack button for starting air combo's. Whilst this is great for newbies, it unnecessarily simplifies a control scheme which wasn't that difficult to grasp in the first place. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 serves up a variety of ways for players to combo. The premise is the same as it always has been in previous cross over games - but the biggest change is that you're able to jump around between the strengths of attacks in ways you weren't able to before. So you're left with this strange mix between feeling restricted due to the lack of attack buttons, but also being given a shit load of leeway because of it.

Switching characters has also under-gone a change, with players having to hold a shoulder button down to switch instead of tapping two buttons. Switching instantly on the ground is now a thing of the past; thereby making tagging more dangerous then ever before. As with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom it is possible to switch characters mid-air combo - which is not only the safest way to tag in a character; but the best way to lengthen an air combo in the process and do all of TEH MASSIVE DAMAGE! Undoubtedly, the new hold-a-trigger-to-switch system was implemented to force players to use this new mid-air tagging mechanic. But it's still a pain, as you now cannot switch instantly on the ground when you see a window to do so, without placing yourself in danger of getting level 3 gangbanged.

The vs. Capcom series has always been an unforgiving one, with players being severely punished for fucking up against a player who knows how work the combo's, or a player just being plain rubbish at the game. But Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is the most unforgiving of them all. I've lost count of the amount of times I've witnessed characters of mine end up on the receiving end of what I can only describe as pyrotechnical rape. You'll quickly find that near enough every Hyper combo (even the dreaded level 3's) can be worked into a combo somehow. There are a great deal more windows of opportunity for you to get a can of whoop ass opened and thrown in your face with this game. Characters bounce off of the floor and the walls like they're covered in invisible trampolines, and floor recovery is non-existent. If you hit the floor, make no mistake: you won't get up off of it - you will be combo'd off of it, and then die. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom had combo breakers. I'd love to know why Capcom removed them for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and insisted that you just sit back and watch your character get beaten to death. Throw in the new X-factor feature which powers up your character in relation to how much health your party has (the lower the combined health of your party or remaining character, the more powerful you become), and those pesky infinite combo's which always find their way into these games, and you have what is quite possibly the most unforgiving game of the bunch. The combo and high damage possibilities in this game are near endless, so veterans will have a field day creating their killer combo's. But newbies may find how easy it is to just get wiped out a little off putting. Especially if they play online where veterans wait for victims to annihilate and pick off, much like Vultures with thumbs and access to joypads.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is a looker. Shots and trailers do not do this game justice. You really do have to witness this game in front of you to appreciate how great it looks. In two words: it is fucking stunning. It's pretty much a comic book brought to life. The characters all look brilliant. And even our favourite Darkstalking tramp Morrigan is kept up to date and modeled in line with her fellow cast of characters. I half expected Capcom to re-use her Darkstalkers sprite. Yevon knows it's been dragged through about every single other game. Capcom really did think of everything when it came to the presentation in this outing, right down to the smallest details. When a character performs a hyper combo, the screen transitions into that age age old blue swirly vortex crap, which then tears away like paper once the attack ends. However, if the hyper combo involves any kind of fire, projectile or energy beam, the background will instead burn itself away. It's the little things. It's a shame that despite Capcom including little touches like this that the characters mouths don't move as they speak, shout and yell up and down the screen.

Fresh from his gig in Street Fighter IV, Hideyuki returns as the lead composer for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Much like his work on Street Fighter IV, there is a strong emphasis on techno and club fused mixes. But the end result is a less consistent soundtrack than Street Fighter IV. Some character themes sound amazing (Crimson Viper and Phoenix's are EPIC! I think Hide gives his best and sexiest beats for the red haired gals) whilst others sound generically redundant (She-Hulk's theme is Para-Para paradise garbage) and crossover vets' classic themes get slaughtered (Chun-Li's classic theme sounds fucking awful). Tatsunoko vs. Capcom's original Japanese soundtrack wipes the floor with Marvel vs. Capcom 3's. No disrespect to Hideyuki. Because he is an absolute beast. But Capcom should have shoved an option in the game to allow for the crusty awesomeness of the CPS-2 original themes. Because not all of Hideyuki's renditions do them justice.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is seriously light on features. Capcom seem to have not learnt their lesson with previous games that these crossover titles should be a treasure trove for galleries, character info and unlockables. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a prime example of how Capcom should have gone about things. Some of these characters have such histories, that it seems a shame that we get no sound test with the original versions of characters themes. No lengthy bio's from the games they originated from. And no links to demos of the original games in the Xbox LIVE arcade and PSN marketplaces. This game does feature unlockables. But they're barely worth checking out. And Capcom's effort in regards to them feels half arsed. A real shame considering the polish they put into other aspects of this game.

Do any of you miss the days when characters had their own stages? I sure as hell do. This 6 stages between 25+ characters crap needs to stop. All of the stages look great, but there simply aren't enough of them. Even time of day variations of stages would have been something. You honestly do get sick of seeing the same backdrops when you're playing this game, and you will fight on every single one during the arcade mode run.

The online setup is bare bones and basic, as Capcom's online affairs often (i.e always) are. Not being able to spectate matches is a joke. Hopefully Capcom will patch in a feature for this at a later date. Capcom clearly had their thinking caps on when they decided that sitting in a lobby watching gamer cards bump together whilst life gauges deplete was compensation for watching a match in progress. *does...the Golf clap*

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 features a mission mode, much like Street Fighter EX+ alpha brought to a Capcom beat 'em up for the first time, and more recently Street Fighter IV. Whilst the missions do a good job of teaching you combos, it is very text book and no substitute for playing against actual players. The mission mode also throws attack names at you in the assumption that you know how to do them. There is no option to have the computer perform the combo for you so you can at least see what it looks like and how to go about it. And the interface is also cluttered. There's no option to bring up a command list to hover on screen whilst you play a mission, or scroll through a combo so you can see the whole thing. The mission mode sounds good in theory, but it's too lazily implemented to be of any real use.

The character endings are hot messes. Paling greatly in comparison to the amazing tongue in cheek anime endings of the Japanese version of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Capcom put so much effort into the amazing character models, that it seems silly that they did not opt to use the in-game engine to cut-scene the endings. Two illustrations for a characters' ending in 2011... Really Capcom? REALLY!?

The voice acting in this game is brilliant. The character specific banter between the characters is absolute gold. You'll find yourself pitting certain characters against one another, just to hear their pre-match trash talk. Small little touches such as a character calling the name of the character they're tagging in during air-combo's tags just add to the overall polish of the voice acting in this game. Also, the characters calling each other specifics dependent on their relationship with them is an additional touch of brilliance. Phoenix calls Storm by her first name (Ororo). Storm calls Magneto Eric. Both ladies refer to Wolverine as Logan. Hulk is special in this regard as he calls characters all manner of things. Thor gets called "Blondie". Felicia gets called "Cat girl". And Amaterasu hilariously gets called "Dawg". There are others, but I'll let you find those yourselves. Just know that Hulk delivers classics so good, that you'll pick him for this reason alone. It's just a shame the characters mouths don't move when they speak. It looks a bit stupid really. Especially seeing as the camera insists on getting up in characters' mugs during hyper combo's and victory poses.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 strikes a nice balance between pleasing fans of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, as well as crossover newbies who have never touched any of the games in the series before. Capcom have succeeded with flying colours in re-introducing everybody to one of their famed series' in an easily accessible package - much in the same way they did with Street Fighter IV. But as a fan of the previous Marvel crossovers, the fan in me can't help but feel that this game underwhelms, and it's difficult for me to truly pinpoint why that is. I love the graphics. The character roster could have been better, but regardless of who Capcom threw in, this would always be a niggling issue unless they went for a 54 character count. But something about this game just doesn't click with me and have me ready to soil some underwear in the same way X-men vs Street Fighter, Marvel super heroes vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and 2 did the first time I played them. Even Tatsunoko vs. Capcom managed to hit a sweet spot with me. Perhaps it's because the formula feels too familiar now. Or maybe I'm all Capcom'd out. But my consensus on this game is that it is not amazing. It's a damn good game, but it doesn't blow me away and I was expecting it to and really wanting it to.

As a fan of Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and 2, I honestly cannot decide whether this game is better than either of them; which probably means that it isn't. But my feelings of doubt aside, I admire the effort that went into making this game possible, as the series seemed to have indefinitely stopped at Marvel vs. Capcom 2. And as a fun and easy, pick up and play HD beat 'em up - this is a worthy pick and nobody else could quite pull this off like Capcom.

The good
+ Stunning graphics
+ Accessible to newbies and Marvel vs. Capcom veterans alike
+ Brilliant character voice work

The bad
- Not enough noteworthy extras
- Online modes and options are severely lacking
- Character roster could have been a tad more varied