Review: Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

[gigastar]

Me blathering on about something.

If I recall correctly, Frank West was removed because of balance issues.

That wouldnt make sense. Its easy to adjust a characters attack, defence, attack speed and health to achieve a balance of some kind and even then it can be fine tuned in post-release patches.

For example Dante has 40+ special moves that means he should be able to chain for some pretty creative and horrificly painful combos, but to balance that he has relatively low attack power. And some specials can only be comboed from other specials.

Another, better, example would be Zero. Its abundantly clear the guy can stunlock you for the entire duration of the match, but thats balanced not just by his relatively low health, its also balanced out by a charge system that forces players to alternate between different attacks.

A last example is Pheonix, its quite clear after her Ressurection hyper her health slowly decreases. Also worth noting that the Healing field hyper only works in close quarters to the opponent. She also has perhaps the lowest overall health even considering the Ressurection hyper.

 

[StriderShinryu]

so wait, did they reduce the number of characters to cut down on redundancy, or so they could sell us DLC in a month? sounds like they're gearing up to sell a $80 game, like the good ol' N64 days.

Along with what others have already posted, you have to keep in mind that none of the work for MvC3 had been done already, unlike what was the case with MvC2. MvC2 basically just pulled almost any character who had a 2D sprite created for a previous Capcom fighter and stuck them in one game with a few tweaks here and there so that they all sort of meshed. MvC3 is running on a new fully 3D engine (though the gameplay remains 2D, just as in SF4) so every character found in MvC3 had to be created from the ground up. Though most of the old cast retain many of their old moves in appearance, there's really no easy way to go from an ancient 2D pixel sprite like Morrigan sported for 15+ years into a brand new 3D model.

I am still vexed at the lack of a proper single player mode;

I actually have to agree with this. Outside of the lack of Strider, this is really something that has cost Capcom an immediate sale with me. I fully recognize that fighters are meant to be played as multiplayer games, and they certainly are their best when experienced that way, but that doesn't excuse the lack of some sort of single player value. Even a more in depth training set up and some sort of short story campaign would have made a difference. I was already standing in the store today with the game box staring back at me, but I just couldn't pull the trigger knowing that if I wasn't in the mood for competitive PvP play the game would have nothing to offer me.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Wow MVC2 had you spectate and the same rooms, and MVC3 CAN'T?! wtf, did they some how lose technology.

 

[sheic99]

Me blathering on about something.

If I recall correctly, Frank West was removed because of balance issues.

That wouldnt make sense. Its easy to adjust a characters attack, defence, attack speed and health to achieve a balance of some kind and even then it can be fine tuned in post-release patches.

For example Dante has 40+ special moves that means he should be able to chain for some pretty creative and horrificly painful combos, but to balance that he has relatively low attack power. And some specials can only be comboed from other specials.

Another, better, example would be Zero. Its abundantly clear the guy can stunlock you for the entire duration of the match, but thats balanced not just by his relatively low health, its also balanced out by a charge system that forces players to alternate between different attacks.

A last example is Pheonix, its quite clear after her Ressurection hyper her health slowly decreases. Also worth noting that the Healing field hyper only works in close quarters to the opponent. She also has perhaps the lowest overall health even considering the Ressurection hyper.

That's what I remember, it may not be true, but I'm far too lazy to go look at this point.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Me blathering on about something.

If I recall correctly, Frank West was removed because of balance issues.

That wouldnt make sense.

Frank was removed for technical reasons, not balance reasons. Capcom couldn't get him to play as he does in TvC without his moves (specifically zombie summons) causing extreme lag in the new engine, particularly in online play.

Take heart, though, as some of the coding relating to Frank is still on the disc even if his resources (gfx, sfx, etc.) are not. It's obvious he was taken out very late in the development process and, as such, it's pretty likely he will be back as DLC at some point once Capcom is able to repurpose all of the work they've already done on him.

 

[StriderShinryu]

Wow MVC2 had you spectate and the same rooms, and MVC3 CAN'T?! wtf, did they some how lose technology.

Different games and different tech. You could spectate in SF4 too. *shrug* Supposedly a working lobby system with actual spectating is one of the most important things Capcom has recognized and is working on for a downloadable patch/update to the game.

 

[Throwitawaynow]

Wow MVC2 had you spectate and the same rooms, and MVC3 CAN'T?! wtf, did they some how lose technology.

Different games and different tech. You could spectate in SF4 too. *shrug* Supposedly a working lobby system with actual spectating is one of the most important things Capcom has recognized and is working on for a downloadable patch/update to the game.

Do you know where they said that? I dont want to get my hopes up for nothing. I know my friends are going to be on that game all day but I'm not good enough to fight a lot(win and not get sent to the bottom), and to not even get to see their matches would make this a pretty pointless buy.

 

[Ghengis John]

With phrases like "After Street fighter IV raised the bar" I have to wonder how many fighters you play. But I'm happy you enjoyed yourself at any rate and you did profess not to be a huge fan of them. I've been hearing from a lot of friends of mine this game's quite fun. What I'd like to know is how the game stacks up against other fast fighters. I heard it has a light, medium, heavy and special layout like BB. That true?

 

[Woe Is You]

I was wondering this and no offense to the 360, but why are lots of fighters reviewed on 360 and yet the ps3 has the better controller for fighting games?

There's actually a huge variety of controllers for both and most guys that are really into fighting games play them on sticks, anyways. Was just at a local Tekken tournament the other week and me along with 60+ other people played on a bunch of 360s with arcade sticks.

I am still vexed at the lack of a proper single player mode; it was the same problem with Street Fighter and TvC and CAPCOM doesn't seem to understand that yet. After playing the story modes in Blazblue and Smash Bros Brawl it just seems half-assed to not have one. Grinding through arcade 30+ times to see character endings is just BORING. It is still MECHANICALLY sound, but content wise MvC3 is lacking compared to its modern peers

I don't know. The fact that Blazblue has a story doesn't by any stretch mean that it's a story worth following. Basically if I wanted some weird Japanese story telling, I'd go straight for visual novels... at least they payoff.

Continuum Shift did fix a lot of the issues with Calamity Trigger (like SSF4 did with the vanilla SF4) though and it's a really good technical fighter that has exemplary practice modes and tutorials. It's just that I don't really see why you'd want a crappily done story to pad out your game. Haven't games like Portal shown that you can have a great game with no padding at all?

The lacking spectator mode is a big WTF though.

 

[Rad Party God]

Sweet!, it's already out!, I wish I'd have a console right now, at least I wish it'll get released for PC sometime.

Captcha: blevello system's

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I must ask again - for someone hoping to get into more advanced fighters, could this be considered "baby's first 2D fighter," or am I better off sticking to the Dead or Alive 2s of the genre? Because man I want to get into BlazBlue but I need a better entry point into advanced mechanics than 5 hours of complex comprehensive tutorials...

 

[StriderShinryu]

Wow MVC2 had you spectate and the same rooms, and MVC3 CAN'T?! wtf, did they some how lose technology.

Different games and different tech. You could spectate in SF4 too. *shrug* Supposedly a working lobby system with actual spectating is one of the most important things Capcom has recognized and is working on for a downloadable patch/update to the game.

Do you know where they said that? I dont want to get my hopes up for nothing. I know my friends are going to be on that game all day but I'm not good enough to fight a lot(win and not get sent to the bottom), and to not even get to see their matches would make this a pretty pointless buy.

Sorry, I can't recall exactly where it was said, only that it was said by Seth Killian in at least a couple of different interview. He did so many of them pre release I couldn't even guess which one(s) it was he said it in. :/

 

[Woe Is You]

I must ask again - for someone hoping to get into more advanced fighters, could this be considered "baby's first 2D fighter," or am I better off sticking to the Dead or Alive 2s of the genre? Because man I want to get into BlazBlue but I need a better entry point into advanced mechanics than 5 hours of complex comprehensive tutorials...

The execution is. The actual mind games part, though, I'd say is every bit as complex. You can use the simple mode to get one button combos and supers but you still have six buttons and there's tons of shit happening on screen at every moment.

So the execution is about on par with Smash Bros if you want it to but there's a lot of strategy going into the building of team, being at the correct distance, managing your super bars and so forth.

 

[Doctor What]

Played it at Best Buy today during my break. I was not disappointed in the least. Most fun I've had playing a game in public against strangers ever.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

I was wondering this and no offense to the 360, but why are lots of fighters reviewed on 360 and yet the ps3 has the better controller for fighting games?

To be fair, I've only played the game for about two and a half hours today on my PS3 (using a Dualshock), and my thumb is getting that heated sensation that normally preceeds a blister. And I've had difficulty doing a lot of the moves on the D-pad. It's nothing you can't get used to, but it does take getting used to doing that much on the D-pad.

Thank heavens for that ungodly blister I got from Guilty Gear a year ago. Otherwise, my left thumb would have been out of commission by now.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I must ask again - for someone hoping to get into more advanced fighters, could this be considered "baby's first 2D fighter," or am I better off sticking to the Dead or Alive 2s of the genre? Because man I want to get into BlazBlue but I need a better entry point into advanced mechanics than 5 hours of complex comprehensive tutorials...

MvC3 would be a decent first fighter. By all early reports, the characters are fairly balanced and the Easy mode (should you choose to use it) is powerful enough to be impressive but not over powered. Basic combos are just that, basic. If your buttons are 1,2,3,4 and a special move then a combo literally can be as simple as hitting 1,2,3,4 and then doing a special. It's also not as tight execution requirement wise as some other 2D fighters unless you're interested in doing some really wacky stuff.

The problem is, however, just what the review points out. Without a comprehensive training/tutorial system of any kind, you're still going to need outside help making that leap from beginner to experienced player.

 

[Mr. Fister]

Sounds a lot like Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom, then: Instantly fun and satisfying, but lacking a solid single-player campaign and decent instructions.

I'll give it a rental sometime before my roommate heads back to his country along with his Xbox 360.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

I've been trying to get into BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, but I even fail in the TUTORIALS. The tutorials! God! This being the case - it might be nice to get into a "noob-friendly" fighting game to stretch my thumbs out first, THEN jump into the complexity inherent in BlazBlue - and I do want to play BlazBlue because it does suck me in. It's just... hard.

So maybe MvC3 is a good place for nubs who've only ever played DoA2 to start playing fighting games?

I hate to burst your bubble, but Blazblue really isn't all that complicated.

After you move past the simple controls for MvC3, you're going to find that it is leagues above Blazblue.

But I still love Blazblue. I've got both versions, and the $120 Fight stick. I didn't bother with the tutorials. I can't keep up with them, but I can do them when I'm not being told to. Its odd, but I'm like that with every fighting game. Just keep at it and you'll get it. Its probably my favorite fighting game.

 

[Blazenwizard]

I had chance to play this past weekend before it hit stores and i must say I was a bit disappointed.. it looks amazing and the animations are truly a spectacle to behold however this is not the game I've been waiting 10+ years for.. it's slower, clunky and why of why would you make a universal launcher button?? they totally wasted a button to ease up on noobs smh..