Me: “Which button do I press to change characters?”
James Brotheridge: “I don’t know, this one?”
Me: [unable to speak due to being roasted by a gigantic column of fire]
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is exactly this, over and over again. Never before has a fighting game ever so perfectly captured the correct balance between accommodating the entry-level fighter who never learned the correct sequence of buttons to pull off a hadouken (i.e. me) and the expert fighter who can learn strategies, memorize combos, and essentially kick the ass of beginners like myself (i.e. James). Simply pushing buttons will result in shiny rainbow explosions, but for those who crave a deeper experience, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 delivers that in spades as well.
Outside of the game’s expert and solid fighting mechanics, the main draw for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is the fighting list, bringing together a diverse list of characters from the Marvel and Capcom universes. Overall, Marvel’s list is the stronger one, balancing a good selection of standbys (Wolverine, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, etc.) and more obscure characters from Marvel’s backlog, like Taskmaster, Sentinel, and M.O.D.O.K. That’s not to say that the list from Capcom isn’t good – any game that lets you see Mayor Mike Haggar in all of his bare-chested glory beat up on Amaterasu from Okami is going to be awesome – but there are bizarre omissions, like the lack of Mega Man.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is most definitely a fanboy’s (or fangirl’s) game, then, but at least it has the good sense to play up this aspect in its gameplay as much as possible. Sure, it’s not quite the curio museum that something like, say, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is, but it has some really awesome references to classic Marvel comics as well as a terrific selection of alternate costumes. If you’ve ever wanted to see Captain America wear a Punisher outfit, well, you can do that here. There’s not much to see outside of the fighters themselves (you can unlock artwork and cutscenes), but seeing the characters at all is enough.
What will bring you back to Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is its incredibly tight and fast gameplay, making for a game that’s perfect for high-level tournament play as well as a fun way to beat up on friends. Unless your friend is James.
Note: this review was originally published in The Carillon, the University of Regina Students' Newspaper.