Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds Review

It's been 10 long years since we've seen the forces of Marvel square up against the might of Capcom, 10 long years since we were taken for a ride and finally one of the most successful Vs. series game has returned to our screens.

While everyone will have their own expectations of this latest Marvel Vs. Capcom title, one certain thing is that you'll find it very, very compelling and rather difficult to put down. While initial impressions suggest that this is an easy-to-pick-up button mashing game that requires little skill, the truth of the matter is that Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is one of the most complex fighting games I have ever encountered.

The basics of the game is a three on three tag team fight lasting 99 seconds. The aim of the match is to eliminate your opponent's choice of three characters from both of the Marvel and Capcom universes. You achieve this by simply out-damaging your opposite numbers via your normal, special, super and hyper moves; alongside this are assist moves, air combos, team aerial combos, X-Factor buffs and many many more combinations of attacking that it simply boggles the mind.

Now don't let the complexity of the title deter you from what is an outstanding fighting game, Capcom have thought about newcomers to the title and the game is very accessible to beginners. To help those new players you can select simple mode in the controls which reduces the attack buttons from three to one, and will also chain combos for you with repetitive pushes; the second and third attack buttons become the super and hyper move buttons respectively. The other buttons, special and partner assist, remain the same configuration.

There's a training mode allowing you to learn the basics of all the characters in the game, these start out relatively simple, showing you some basic combos to get started in your fighting career. The later stages of these training levels will teach you how to chain combos into aerial combos, and show even more complex yet still considered as "bread and butter moves" to the more advanced player.

Once you feel that you're sufficiently armed in the game then you can take on the single-player campaign: this pits you against computer AI over the course of six fights, after which you face off against Galactus who's feeling a tad ravenous, and the only thing that will fill the gut of this behemoth is a juicy ripe planet. Now the character you use to finish off Galactus is the character ending you will see for the credits, so bear in mind that while you get to choose a team of three, only one ending will display.

Of course the meat of this game is in the competitive game modes, either offline in versus or online across PSN or Xbox Live. This is where you'll truly get to test your skills and due to the number of characters available and the nature of the game you're never really sure who you will be facing. Thankfully every character has been balanced in a way to make them viable choices, no longer do you have gimped characters like we saw in MvC2 and not everyone will be choosing Storm Magneto and Sentinel for competitive play.

During your time with online play, the game is recording your performance and analysing every move you have made. This data is then displayed on your license card, this is viewable by all players and shows your play-style in a pentagon chart, your wins, losses and most used players amongst other data. The purpose of this is to hopefully match you with similar styles during online play to ensure enjoyable matches rather than getting some ultra skilled Justin Wong wannabe which destroys your team in 5 seconds flat.

Now I've gone on about combos, complexities and some game modes but the most important factor is, how does the game actually play?
Well the instant you jump in you'll find this flowing beautifully, the controls are responsive and smooth while the hit detection is on par with the cream of 2D fighters, and when you watch some high level play you're treated to a symphony of colour and extravagance that massages your eyeballs. I do feel that it's this fluidity and simple-to-pick-up approach that drags you into that dangerous area of "just one more fight" - it is in which you say that to yourself, then find that the pizza you put into the oven five hours ago is now as black as night and the oven itself spontaneously combusts from the increase of oxygen as the door is opened.

It has to be said that once you start to get to grips with the basics of this game you feel that more doors are opened up to you as you experiment with what works for your own play style, a lot of your initial hours in this game are going to be doing just that; experimenting, seeing what characters you like, what combinations work for you, adjusting assist types on the characters you select. There is literally thousands of options open to you in this game, it's overwhelming if you don't get to grips with it quickly.

In all honesty, and I wouldn't normally recommend these, but if you are serious about your fighters and want to do well with this one then head out and find the Brady Games Signature Series guide on this. This mighty tome cover all aspects of the game, all the moves, all the combos and explain all the terminology you're likely to come across in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. It is the game's Bible.

For example, the first time I started playing this I was going random selection with my partner in offline versus, and I get landed with M.O.D.O.K., Phoenix and Spencer, unbeknown to me I essentially had four characters in my line up rather than three - you see, it wasn't until I scanned the pages of the guide I realised that if you have a full five bar hyper meter, Phoenix is reborn as Dark Phoenix at the cost of that full meter.

While Phoenix is initially quite weak as she has the lowest HP pool of any fighter I have ever known, this tactical decision to save meter and your X-Factor (X-Factor being your one chance to cause a comeback as this regenerates health and increases damage output for a limited time) could easily swing the fight back into your favour if things are going wrong or bolster your advantage in a fight.

Now no game can be perfect and Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 does not break this view, there are aspects which are lacking or may put off users to the game. Firstly, why the hell is there no replay viewer for online games like we see in Super Street Fighter 4? It's the same engine so the capability is there for sure, it seems to be an odd decision to omit this functionality.

Furthermore to this point, while you can invite people into a lobby for some gaming, there's no spectator mode so people are aimlessly staring at the lobby screen awaiting their turn to fight, at least give them something to watch. Not having the ability to watch matches live in the lobby is a huge oversight and hopefully this along with replays will be addressed in some future DLC.

Secondly, please please PLEASE for the love of god just let us press buttons to remap our controls, it's so much more efficient than having to go to the button then cycle through the actions to get to the one we want. Pushing the button for an action is a damn sight quicker I can tell you.

To the aesthetics of the game, you'll find everything has been created with a fine attention to detail; all the characters look true to their respective likenesses, especially the Marvel characters, and what is interesting is that for the first time Marvel have allowed a certain degree of flexibility in regards to how their characters look. This means we can expect to see alternative costumes for the characters in-game and also allows alternative colours, so expect to see the likes of Hulk, Deadpool and Iron Man etc. in non familiar attire.

The stage design is also glorious, ranging from the streets of New York outside the Daily Bugle, upon the S.H.I.E.L.D. Carrier or upon a wooden raft floating through the first stage of Ghosts & Goblins, everything looks alive and vibrant. Some may feel that these stages may actually be a little too busy on the eyes, but once the action starts your focus switches firmly on the battle in front of you and I can assure you the stage definitely does not distract you in any way. Oh, and if anyone from Capcom is reading this, please for the love of god remake Ghosts and Goblins in the style of Arthur's stage, you know it needs to happen.

The overall style of the game is fashioned to feel like you're reading a comic book, from start to finish you can tell that Marvel have had a lot of input over this game which can only be a good thing. A Marvel license is something to cherish and an opportunity to create something brilliant which is exactly what Capcom have accomplished.

Whether you just like a casual bash or prefer to go hard-core with your fighting games, there is something in Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 to accommodate all walks of life, from start to finish it's guaranteed to offer you hour upon hour of fun while it takes you for a ride one more time.