With spring fast approaching, we see brawling enthusiasts counting down the days to the launch of Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. They have so much to look forward to especially with Capcom infusing the game with various new as well as familiar well-loved elements. Back in August, we had the privilege of tasting this spicy dish but unfortunately got to see just a limited sneak peek of ten fantastic characters, five from each side. We couldn’t complain too much though as we got a chance to check out the character costumes, their move list and backdrops although in limited quantities. We were however rather disappointed at the amount of information and features that were revealed.
Now, we were approached for ‘Round Two’ and expected to be hit with a greater force of features, characters, and backgrounds to indulge in. And for the record, we weren’t let down one bit. Well, maybe just a little as we could only get more bruises while brawling but still no story mode or any other such modes. It was although certainly refreshing to see more boxes filled up with the various characters that were expected to make their appearance in the third iteration. We now have the whole gang back onscreen and looking quite pretty and energetic at that. Fighting on behalf of Marvel was Captain America, Super-Skrull, M.O.D.O.K., Dormammu, Doctor Doom, Iron Man, Thor, Spider-Man, Storm, Magneto, Deadpool, Wolverine, Hulk, She-Hulk, and X-23. Representing Capcom is Albert Wesker, Tron Bonne, Zero, Chun-Li, Crimson Viper, Chris Redfield, Trish, Dante, Ryu, Morrigan Aensland, Viewtiful Joe, Nathan Spencer, Amaterasu, Arthur, and Felicia.
Different backgrounds were an energizing addition to the overall brawling experience. The company laid out various themed backgrounds that comprised of Kattelox Island, Asgard, The Daily Bugle, Shirld Helicarrier, Hand Hideout, Tricell Lab, Demon Village, and more. Although pretty captivating, there was just too much going on in the background for us to focus on and couldn’t really concentrate on the actual fight that was taking place in the foreground. There were explosions, celebrations, fireworks and even that odd zombie rising up from its grave and walking around, hands forward.
The stunning graphics brought a whole new outlook to the fighting genre. The colorful hues, character features and detailed backgrounds were all brilliant and quite detailed as compared to the earlier iterations. All the super beings were adorned with fantastic costumes and finished with looks that could certainly kill. We could choose from a trio set of attack types that included Alpha, Beta and Gamma as well as Normal and Simple modes. The latter allowed us to execute special moves and combos however the characters would have a limited set of moves. As reported about earlier, three players can be opted for to enter the battle arena. Once the fighters are chosen within the given time-limit, you then have to brace yourself for the next couple of action packed minutes that will surely blow your socks off.
The main first character that was opted for got the opportunity to dish out a quirky remark that suited the ‘suit’ adorned by them. It was however weird to see Nathan Spencer say, ‘Get over here’ which is Scorpion’s well-known quote from Mortal Kombat. During gameplay, we could execute team attacks where all three characters appeared onscreen and dished out some pain to opponents through their signature attacks. The best part was, when two characters of the opposing team were in the arena, they both lost some amount of life. Each character had their individual list of fantastic combos that could be executed with ease. Depending on the opponents choice of fighters, we could toggle between our three heroes or villains and bring any one to the forefront at any given time during battle. With these inclusions, it appears that a more intelligent approach to gameplay is what the company had in mind while formulating the title. While performing combos, you send the enemy hurling into the air while calling on another character to give the finishing blow. The Special Gauge accumulates energy that is utilized while performing Team Combos and Hyper Combos.
After an exhilarating yet satisfying match, a very comic bookish ending was ready to greet the winner. Talking about being ‘comic bookish’ and all those elements that bring back fond memories, we were quite elated to see the game go back to its retro roots. With the overall color additions and match conclusions, we were taken to a time where we hit the malls to feed all our week’s savings of coins into the arcade machines only to indulge in a round of brawling. The background music, sound bits and audio tracks certainly transported us to the time of Arcade.
All the characters bowled us over with their respective powers, moves and combos. We however felt that the roster was not equally balanced as some contenders proved to be just too strong but we’re sure that with more hands-on time, we could find their strong points and beat the living daylights out of the opposition. Although we could take control of various characters, the absence of forthcoming additions such as Sentinel, Phoenix, Hsien-Ko, Jill and Shuma-Gorath among others was certainly felt. Mega Man was also solely missed especially as we got to sharpen our skills with the hero in the previous two iterations.
Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds has both retro elements as well as brand-new attributes that are set to capture the fancy of not only long-time fans like us but new-comers as well. The audio bits, background animations, fantastic characters, and action-packed moves all amount to an exhilarating experience. We however enjoyed all this in the preview version of the title and looking forward to take the whole bundle home complete with all the features such as the story mode and online play mode among others. Till then, we sign out advising you to ‘Live and let die!’