Marvels Rivals, a third person team based shooter from NetEase games and Marvels Games has finally made it out of beta and is now fully available for everyone to play since December 6th. It is a 6v6 hero shooter where we get a taste of the power each of iconic characters from Marvel’s Universe wield. It is available to download on PS5, Xbox and PC.
Gameplay, Looks Like Overwatch But That’s About It
Getting right to the gameplay, players have a third-person view of their character and reticle on screen reminiscent of the crosshairs from Overwatch. Players can choose any of the 33 characters that are available to play. Players who have played Overwatch or Call of duty will feel right at home in Marvel’s Rivals with the Convoy game mode being exactly the same as Payload in Overwatch.
There are also other game modes available for play such as Domination where players of a team have to compete to hold a certain part of the map, whoever holds the point for the longest time wins the game. There is also Convergence where teams have to enter a certain area that is divided into sections going past these sections to earn the team points.
A standout feature in the combat is the “Dynamic Hero Synergy” system where players can combine specific moves of their champions to perform a combo on the opponent team. This invites experimentation from players and adds a layer of complexity that has been seen before in any sort of hero shooter games before.
So Many Heroes To Try Out From The Get-go
It is a breath of fresh air to see that players can choose whoever they want out of the 33 characters available to play right from the start, there is no grinding to be done to unlock characters or anything of the sort. This is a really inviting change as players can just choose whoever they wanna play as without any barriers whatsoever.
Each of the characters themselves retain their iconic distinct designs and iconic moves such as Iron Man’s beam that he fires from his chest, Captain America can throw his shield around as he fights, Black Widow wields a sniper rifle but has some close range attacks etc. It seems this time the characters are more akin to how they were in the comics rather than how they are in the cinematic universe.
This change in origins brings a lot of surprises as some of the characters that we have seen from the cinematic universe are vastly different from their comic book counterparts. Some of the characters we know and love do have some unique tricks that the game brings forth which players wouldn’t have known unless they kept up with the comics.
Some Things To Fix
While it must be acknowledged that the game just came out of beta, there is some lack of variety in the number of maps available. As of writing this article only 2 maps are available with slight variations to play in.
Although the game was in closed beta for some months now there is still the issue of balancing for certain characters. Due to their distinct differences some characters are still overpowered compared to others which can lead to unfair matches if they aren’t addressed soon.
Alongside the imbalances there are only 2 maps available and only 3 game modes which can quickly feel repetitive to the player base as these aren’t exactly new game modes, we have seen them before in Overwatch or Call of duty.
A Strong Entry In The Free To Play Genre
Overall Marvel’s Rivals is a strong entry in the hero shooter genre and has the potential to compete against Overwatch 2. The shooting mechanics look visually the variety of heroes to play makes it a strong contender for players looking to switch from Overwatch 2 or players wanting a new experience amongst the sea of free to play titles.
NetEase and Marvel games can surely address some of the shortcomings the game has as it can just be summed up to lack of content. In the coming months the game is surely going to have seasons and content drops which will no doubt elevate this game’s status as a proper contender in the Free To Play genre.
