When Netease Games announced Marvel Rivals, few people were happy. Instead, many turned away from it, dismissing it primarily as a cheap Overwatch rip-off. The game was forgotten, at least until the closed beta, which exceeded the developers' expectations in terms of player numbers. After trying it out, more and more people became curious and realized that their skepticism about the game was completely unfounded. Now the completely free game is fully released and we've tested this superhero shooter that outperforms its current main competitor Overwatch 2.
Blizzard's Overwatch had a magical glow when it came out nearly a decade ago, offering something new that players around the world didn't know they needed. Marvel Rivals is very similar to its competitor in many ways and perhaps lacks the magic that Overwatch brought and as far as the characters and their abilities go, they don't surprise me too much, although they are numerous and varied. However, that doesn't mean Marvel Rivals isn't good. In fact, it is much better than Overwatch 2 and it seems that many players have already realized this since the premiere was a huge success.
To put it simply, in Marvel Rivals two teams of six players each compete against each other and the concept can vary depending on the game mode. For example, it can be about transporting a convoy to its final destination or stopping it or capturing a base. Here a team must try to eliminate the opposing team in order to stop the attack or defense. Those who don't want to compete seriously can settle for Quick Play, while those who want to really push themselves and climb the rankings can do so in Competitive Mode (unlocked at level 10). Regardless of whether you want to play to win or not, both game modes have all cards and game modes enabled. There is also a “Conquest” game mode available, which is nothing more than a team deathmatch where you compete against each other to eliminate as many enemies as possible.
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There are three different classes to choose from: Vanguard, Duelist and Strategist. The first of the three can be translated as tanks and are therefore the characters who can afford to attract the attention of enemies since they can withstand a lot of damage before falling. They can also be a great option for protecting your teammates, as some of them can provide temporary cover to your allies, allowing them to deliver a powerful blow. Duelists, for their part, cannot withstand so many hits, but they can deal a lot of damage, so the main goal of a duelist is to try to finish off enemies. Whether in close or long-range combat. Lastly, the Strategist class acts as support for the team, trying to stay behind the rest of the team and help them with skills that make them stronger or heal them. Interaction between classes is extremely important, as a team has to really think tactically and analyze the battlefield to know which classes are needed at any given time and how they should best be used.
Marvel Rivals' character gallery isn't modest. You can choose from a whopping 33 playable heroes and villains, including eight Vanguards. These are Captain America, Doctor Strange, Groot, Hulk, Magneto, Peni Parker, Thor and Venom. The Duelist class is undoubtedly the largest as it consists of 18 characters including Black Panther, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hela, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Magik, Moon Knight, Namor, Psylocke, Witch Scarlet, Spiderman, Squirrel Girl, Star- Lord, Storm, The Punisher, Winter Soldier and Wolverine. There are seven strategists to play as: Adam Warlock, Cloak and Dagger, Jeff the Earth Shark, Loki, Snow Moon, Mantis and Rocket Raccoon. In other words, there are plenty of characters to choose from, and of course Netease Games will expand the list of playable heroes and villains as the game progresses.
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Despite being spoiled with so many characters, none of them seem the same. While Adam Warlock can revive his fallen teammates, Jeff the Land Shark can devour an entire enemy team and throw them off a cliff. All while healing his companions in completely different ways. What's also somewhat strange is that many of the characters can gain special abilities when they team up with certain people. For example, Rocket Raccoon can jump onto Groot's shoulders, allowing him to take more damage, and Hulk can catapult Wolverine across the battlefield and pounce on enemies. In addition to these two, thirteen other unique abilities can be activated when the right allies are aligned.
What doesn't always work so well in Marvel Rivals, however, are the characters and their abilities. Their skills can vary greatly. In other words, Netease Games really needs to focus on balancing characters in the future to create tighter, more equal combat. Luckily, only one person can play each character, which would have been a disaster otherwise. To explain a little better what I mean, you can compare Hawkeye and Black Widow, who are both snipers.
With her scope, Black Widow can aim more precisely, making it much easier for her to shoot enemies in the middle of the frontal bone, unlike Hawkeye, who can only shoot in third person, making it much harder to get the right hit achieve. Hawkeye can parry shots and switch between explosive and normal arrows, while Black Widow can sprint and jump very high and switch to electric batons, ideal for close combat. But as far as sniper choice goes, Widow is certainly much better while Hawkeye has no chance. While Black Widow is reminiscent of Widow Maker from Overwatch, Hawkeye is reminiscent of Hanzo from the same game, but since these characters are played from a first-person perspective, it is still easier to aim as Hanzo than Hawkeye.
Having spent a lot of time with Marvel Studios over the last few years, we're used to skyscrapers being torn down and environments being destroyed. In this regard, nothing has changed in Marvel Rivals, where players can destroy infrastructure, radically changing the playing field, and this can certainly be a strategy to use when enemies take cover behind it. Therefore, the game plan is never static, but constantly changing, forcing players to rethink things to emerge victorious, and I love that.
Many of you are probably thinking about how the concept of free gameplay affects the game itself. Can you pay to improve and earn more easily? There are certainly things in the game that you can buy for real money, but fortunately there is nothing for sale that has any impact on the battles themselves. In the in-game store you can purchase everything from costumes from the comics and film universe, to various video clips that play when you are crowned the best player in the game, to emotes. Additionally, each season has a season pass that consists of things you can unlock for free, or you can purchase a premium pass that gives you exclusive things to decorate your characters and profile with. Of course, you can think about it all you want, but at least one positive aspect is that at the end of a season you can still unlock everything from a previous season. So you never have to worry about missing anything. Plus, everything can be unlocked without spending a single cent, but of course it takes a long time. The choice is entirely yours, but luckily Netease Games' setup never feels too greedy.
Graphically, Marvel Rivals is a truly beautiful game with exquisite (if complicated) character menus as well as combat environments. The cel-shaded style suits the game perfectly, and the fact that it runs at 120 frames per second and in 4K on the PlayStation 5 Pro hardly makes matters worse. The voice actors also do a good job, with Yuri Lowenthal, who voices Spider-Man in the Insomniac Games game series, once again lending his voice to Spidey. Josh Keaton, who sang Iron Man in Marvel's Midnight Suns last year, also speaks it here. To liven up the atmosphere and make the fight more fun, the characters also comment on each other during the fight. For example, Hawkeye and Black Widow might start talking about how something happening at that moment reminds them of their previous missions, or Venom reminds Spider-Man that their collaboration is only temporary, to which the hero gives a weird response .
Marvel Rivals was initially doomed to failure, but after its brilliant debut, it's clear that Netease Games knows exactly what they're doing. There are definitely things to improve, but many of them are small details that never get in the way of the overall experience, which can only be described as really good. This could certainly be a game that will entertain us for many years to come and that we fully believe will be developed properly and made even more content-rich (which it already is).
