Marvel Rivals Review

NetEase's Marvel Rivals is finally here, and not only has Season 0 officially concluded, giving players an excellent opportunity to claim unique rewards to show their loyalty, but it's continuing strong into its first season. It launched to a 480,990 player peak, and it has managed to find over 400,000 daily peak players even a month after its release.

Here's the thing about Marvel Rivals, however: it shouldn't have succeeded. In a world where Concord existed for two weeks before being shut down and the Marvel Cinematic Universe fatigue is quickly setting in, where hero shooters are seen as just "another one in a pile", and gamers are opposing live service games to the point in which Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League manages to get to a 95% discount within its year of release, there was no world in which this title did this well at this time. Yet, despite the hurdles, it's been a highly successful launch month, and players aren't stopping their continuous adoration. But does it really deserve its acclaim, especially in the ecosystem it released into?

My history with hero shooters has been rocky. I've had brief periods of love for shooter titles wherein I delved into the well-established subgenre of heroes with some of the best games in it: Paladins and Overwatch 2 (I didn't get to enjoy too much of the original Overwatch despite buying it on release), both of which briefly captivated my heart and hours. As a proud Bomb King main and a closeted Moira main who can't tell the difference between DPSing too much and healing the team, it was exciting to delve into the Marvel IP and play as some of my favourite characters from the MCU.

So, of course, Marvel Rivals fits like a glove, and it's an easy title to get into, especially if you've already delved into the genre, offering three roles for you to play as that are all too familiar: Vanguard (Tank), Duelist (DPS), and Strategist (Support). Launched with a total of 33 heroes spread across eight Vanguards, 18 Duelists, and seven Strategists, there's a nice balance and a bit of range of choice for players who wish to start their first round. I'll take a bit of a moment to complaint about the lack of variety in the other two roles, making it DPS-heavy at launch (and likely for much to come, given that we already have Reed Richards announced as a Duelist), but the lack of choices isn't overly noticeable in-game when the matches are being played.

NetEase masterfully avoided possibly overpowered characters smoothly: Loki and Rocket Raccoon being placed as Strategists avoided the possible Loki one-trick craze, while Rocket Raccoon still retains damage-dealing potential without over-relying on a machine gun and DPS focus. It gives them unique character identities and a niche within teams that are damage-focused and can afford to let go of the excessive healing from the stronger Strategists focused on this. It's refreshing that, even if Loki and Rocket Raccoon were obvious picks for Duelists, NetEase innovated with their designs and created a new, unique character whilst not losing their identity.

Balancing is an interesting topic. Having reached Gold rank (because who would dare miss out on Golden Moonlight skin for Moon Knight?), I wouldn't say I'm a connoisseur of balancing, and I'm still quite ways away from being more than halfway decent at the title. Despite this, however, the higher into the ranks I got, a meta started forming that was all too evident, with Hawkeye and Hela appearing prominently whilst Spider-Man and Scarlet Witch one-tricks ran rampant despite team composition. What's interesting about the meta is that even though they were dominant, a clever switch and counter could disable their prominent damage dealers, turning the fight from a losing one into a sweep with a proper composition that focuses on enemy weaknesses.

Marvel Rivals is strategic in the way that it handles its characters, and though I can't talk for high ELO (high ranks and skill matches), it felt nice to know that there were options to counter dominant characters, especially this early into the balancing journey. Some heroes that seemed overpowered just required players to learn more about how to counter them, and it was evident that within weeks of release, the meta was shifting rapidly from characters that were difficult for noobs to deal with into higher-skill variations.

The best part about Marvel Rivals, despite its proper balancing and robust roster, is the team-ups that make it all thoroughly unique. Each character has at least one, and they offer boosts in several factors of their kits. There were 15 in total at the launch, and they centre around in-lore connections, boosting several factors of their kits. Some of the heroes are able to have numerous with up to two sets of characters. Those who boost others, like Bruce Banner and Venom, get an upgrade to one of their stats by a percentage, giving them a piece of the cake as well. Vanguards get a 150 HP boost, Duelists get a percentage increase in their damage, and Strategists get a boost to their healing percentage.

NetEase seems to have fun creating new team-ups with the characters, and it can change one from a mostly defensive kit into a well-rounded one, like in the case of Magneto and Scarlet Witch, where Magneto will get a whole new ability to conjure a blade that can deal a lot of damage. It's a great way to urge groups to appear together, increasing their stats and giving new abilities and mechanics, but it's a tad problematic when, in low ELO, players will select something for the sake of a team-up, not knowing how to play the respective characters.

The most prominent complaint that Marvel Rivals has accrued is the fact that it doesn't have a role queue. NetEase has stated that they have no intent on adding this, and even in low ELO, it's obvious that it isn't quite necessary. While there were a fair few frustrating matches where I was the only person willing to fill, for the most part, you'll find the lobby can be full of players waiting for others to pick to choose their role. Whenever it wasn't mandatory, a change from Vanguard to Duelist or Strategist emphasised the knowledge part of the balancing that makes the title so great to enjoy. There were times when our composition was split 1/3/2 in Vanguard, Duelist, Strategist, and it worked well, as our team was excelling at keeping our tanks alive but failing to bring the enemy ones down; it gives everyone the opportunity to pick their composition.

There is progression aplenty for account enthusiasts who want to have everything mastered, and it adds an extra "oomph" to gameplay for completionists. You have your basic stats section, which gives you a look at your games and lifetime stats, but even more important are the individual hero stats and achievements you can get. From needing to do a specific task as one of the characters, playing a crap-ton as another hero, or just enjoying the game and acquiring them through progression, there's plenty to do, and they come with rewards for completing them, too. The achievements have been a highlight, and acquiring hero proficiency doesn't leave the one-tricks out there who wish to show their devotion to characters wanting. And plus, there are rewards to show off to boot!

Finally, we get to the microtransactions. For a company prominently set in the mobile industry, NetEase's Marvel Rivals was surprisingly lacking in this area, and that isn't really a complaint. Even now, a month after the release of the title, we've seen the Battle Pass come and go, there are 41 total skin bundles you can get, which come with a unique MVP animation, an emote, a character card of the skin, and a skin-specific spray. The collaboration with the Marvel Cinematic Universe inflates this number a tad, bringing some of the beloved movie versions of the characters into the game, but NetEase doesn't forget to have fun with their skins, and it shows in the way they're built.

Of course, it's all cosmetic, and the team has assured players one of the most important things we needed to know: all heroes will be free-to-play from day one without the need for a purchase. Featuring three currencies, there isn't a way for you to get a "free" currency, and it's refreshing that there are only two specific coins you'll have to learn to understand it all.

Marvel Rivals released into an ecosystem in which it shouldn't have survived, yet it shows that these gates are all imaginary at the end of the day. Despite prominent burnout across the hero shooter genre, Marvel Cinematic Universe, and live service titles, it stands at the top for prioritising being fun first and foremost. It doesn't make players feel like money bags, brings genuinely fun, innovative, and enjoyable ideas to the table, and shows that NetEase is simply trying to ensure players are having as much fun as it seems they are having with their character creations. As a free-to-play title, there's little to no reason not to try it out if you're interested in either casual or competitive play, and it's become a prominent title throughout my month that I'll hopefully continue booting for years to come.