Take a peek at fighting games from ten years ago – and what do you see? Most of you will get a sense of déjà vu – they seem to be very similar to the ones of today (albeit today’s games have stunning graphics and sound compared to the cheap old systems) in terms of gameplay.
Yet, there are fewer and fewer fighting games to be released these days to compare them to and it’s not surprising as to why - the genre itself is stuck in its old routes from ten years ago. Each fighting game seems to conform to the same format of the last, such as having a health bar located at the top, a timer, blending erratic characters and over the top storylines. Playing modes are the same –
Arcade, Story, Multiplayer etc. A Decade is a long time for the genre to develop – yet, it seems none of the fighting games have wanted to stand out. Instead, old recycled ideas have been used with new characters instead of the other way around – take note, games companies - new ideas should be used with the old characters
Is this why there are so few fighting games around, because the genre has become so stale and nobody wants to make a different fighting game?
Way back, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was released – much to the delight of fans (and I) – revealing a fantastic mix of Capcom and Marvel characters to play as – who didn’t want to fight the likes of Chun Li against Phoenix or one of the other X Men? Or pit Spiderman against Megaman?! The match up possibilities was endless…truly a geeks dream. The controls were fluid – enabling players to easily link moves into a dazzling display on screen and ranking up hit counts in a flurry of colour and movement. The game itself maybe wasn’t the most perfect fighter, but it became a cult, fan favourite.
Ten years later, Marvel Vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is unleashed. And that feeling of déjà vu rears its ugly head.
Of course, like every geek I waited patiently outside the games shop ten minutes before it opened (I was the only one there!) just so I could get my hands on a copy as soon as possible – I’ve waited ten years for the sequel – and I couldn’t wait any longer!
When the game eventually loaded up (it had to install the data to my PS3), I watched the opening sequence with pleasure and awe. Gone are the 2D sprites of the previous games and in are the 3D character models which have been cel-shaded to give a comic book feel. The visual style of the game is perfect in keeping in where the characters come from – for example, Dante from Devil May Cry looks exactly as he should in the DMC games – but with a comic book edge. Tasty!
However, I was disappointed when I saw the main menu – all the generic modes are there –
Arcade, Multiplayer, etc along with Online and Mission Mode (which is basically a tutorial on character moves in disguise). Still, I had faith that the arcade game would be enough to satisfy my beat em up needs.
And it did satisfy those needs – I opted for the newer characters to play – Trish from Devil May Cry, Wesker from Resident Evil and Deadpool. In between slight load times, the game started in a satisfying blur of movement, sound and colour. MVC3 is visually stunning – there’s no doubt about that. The fighting itself is solid – MVC3 has moved onto just a three button control – using low, medium and high attacks with the X button used as a launch attack for air combos. The hyper gauges are back – with the usual formula of having to fight to fill them and using them at crucial times to perform solo or group special attacks. You are able to switch between characters as in previous games and can even link moves by switching between characters. Essentially, it’s a jugglers dream – you can slice your way through combos with Trish, launch your opponent into the air, switch to Deadpool and blast some more moves until finally finishing off with Wesker. The game play works perfectly – the team work ability shines through as you switch from different characters unleashing devastating attacks. Poor Arthur from Ghosts N Goblins didn’t know what was coming!
The environments are well presented, if only a few to choose from. They range between rooftops of a parade in
New York – poking fun at the Marvel side of things to Labs with crawling Lickers – a la Resident Evil. Lovely.
The final boss, Galactus is a little on the dull side. Again, MVC3 conforms to the generic fighter – by creating a gigantic monster boss, with a huge supply of energy for you to button bash your way to victory. Yawn.
This is where MVC3 fails - with the character endings. Each ending is in text format with a couple of pictures. What ever happened to cut scene endings? Surely they had room to do it? It’s bad enough the endings themselves were uninspiring and quite frankly, rubbish, but to not even bother with a cut scene reward for playing? What were Capcom thinking? So much for fan service…
Then I tired out the online mode and found this to be shockingly bad. The game offers sub menus – such as ranking match, player match etc. Each one, once clicked fails to find any players… Except for the lobby matches. This is where the gamer can create or search for people to play with. When somebody is found – you are unable to watch the match if they are already playing! Instead, you can view their gamer card or their stats on the game…. I ended up waiting 20 minutes to fight and was beaten fairly quickly…. So I had to wait ages until I could fight again – no fun, Capcom!
In all, MVC3 is a delight to play, but there just isn’t a lot to do. Once you have played the Arcade mode a few times and finished the training (what Capcom believe to be ‘Missions’) – there isn’t a lot left… unlocking bits and bobs such as art work along the way doesn’t make for an exciting reward.
I really love the fighting and the array of characters available (there have been hints of extra characters via DLC) but I find it staggering that no thought has gone into the different modes to play. Wouldn’t it have been better to have a proper story mode, or missions to do? Or even different attack modes which could enable the player to unlock characters or mini games as they go?
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 is a brilliant fighting game, but is stuck in the routes of previous fighters, offering very little to the player. The creators have had a decade to come up with a fantastic sequel – but seem to have been caught up in the fan service rather than making a good game, which is such a shame as they seem to have the fighting down to a tee. This maybe a game just to satisfy fans as it can’t really offer much in terms of play.
7.5 / 10 – Matthew Greenacre
