Marvel Rivals Review

The hero shooter genre has its highs and lows, and no other game could beat the supremacy of Overwatch 2, Blizzard's uncontested crown jewel. Many, including LawBreakers, Battleborn, and Dirty Bomb, tried but miserably failed to fill this niche. There has typically been only one exceptional title in these hero shooter games, but not that many stand out. 

This is Marvel Rivals, an ambitious new project by NetEase Games, a Chinese company working with Marvel Games. Launched on PS5, PC, and Xbox on December 6, 2024, this shooter brings a marvel twist to the genre-it's a superhero hero shooter-for competing with the established Overwatch 2 and the new Fortnite Ballistic Mode.

Marvel Rivals is a fast-paced competitive shooter featuring a cast of iconic Marvel heroes and villains in solo electrifying moments and teamwork-directed mechanics. But can it actually stand out in competition with Blizzard's Goliath in Overwatch? Let's find it out in this review.

As someone who's played plenty of hero-based titles, I find it easy to spot the similarities, inspirations, and familiar abilities in Marvel Rivals. But far from being a downside, this works in the game's favor. The developers took what's proven to be effective and added their own unique spin. For instance, Psylocke has gameplay that is reminiscent of Genji, while Squirrel Girl brings vibes similar to Junkrat. With 33 characters available at launch, the roster is impressively large for a debut, sparking curiosity about how frequently new characters will be added. Given Marvel's nearly endless pool of heroes and villains, the options are limitless.

Every one of these characters has unique abilities with different strengths and flaws, and most of them are really great to play with. One innovative feature is the new team-up abilities. Some characters can actually interact directly and pull off some unique combinations, which gives the game a deeper experience together with some creativity in the strategies. An example is Rocket Raccoon and Groot, where Rocket rides on top of Groot's shoulders, an interesting detail that seems as fun as it is tactical. Elevating gameplay and these show interactions also give many chances for experimentation with different combinations.

The variety of melee characters is another highlight. While it might be divisive, heroes like Black Panther and Iron Fist are incredibly fun to use. Unlike the abundance of hitscan heroes dominating other games, Marvel Rivals embraces its melee roster, which fits perfectly within the Marvel universe. Characters like Venom simply wouldn't translate well if the game relied solely on guns. This choice ensures a diverse and balanced cast while staying true to the source material. Whether melee or ranged, every hero feels polished and thoughtfully designed, which is impressive for a launch title. It's clear the developers put in significant effort to make these characters shine.

Another pleasant surprise was the game's smooth launch. With nearly 500,000 players online, server issues were nonexistent—a rare feat these days. The seamless experience deserves major credit, showcasing a level of preparedness not often seen in new releases.

Marvel Rivals uses a role system similar to Overwatch, featuring Strategists, Vanguards, and Duelists. Duelists are the most numerous, but there's a wide variety of playstyles. Thor, as a Vanguard, mixes melee and thunder-based ranged attacks, while Penny Parker, a Strategist, focuses on defense and control with mobility. Characters like Rocket Cloak and Dagger also offer great support options.

While the balance can feel off, with excessive healing or instant elimination from hitscan heroes like Hawkeye, the characters are fun to play. Team-up abilities, like pairing with Penny or Peter Parker for symbiote attacks or Rocket with Punisher, encourage synergies, even if not always the most balanced.

The maps in Marvel Rivals are mostly great, with my personal favorite being Hydra's Base, for it is dynamic and changing. Some maps also feel quite plain at times; however, the environmental damage adds variety and the aesthetics are also very neat. Usually, each map has a good balance of high ground and flanking opportunities, thus making things easy to maneuver. 

Having said that, there could be other modes and maps for the game. It's always nice to have variety when it comes to maps. Although it's a free-to-play title, when you play one map three times in a row it gets a bit stale. Also, there is a lack of ranked play, which quite puts the game at a did-not-start stage because many games introduce their ranked modes sometime earlier. The lack of competitive ranked play is felt and is very glaring.

The character designs in Marvel Rivals are amazing. Every character has a lot of energy, I may be a tad bit biased as a Marvel fan, but I still think many of these characters look really cool. From iconic heroes like Spider-Man to lesser-known characters like World Girl, there's something for everyone, which is something other games, like Concord, struggled with.

I really love the game's art style. I'm glad they didn't go for a realistic look because the more playful, stylized visuals give the game a lot of charm and help each character stand out. I have always preferred this kind of graphic over realistic ones.

As for monetization, it's pretty typical for a free-to-play game, but a standout feature is that you can keep progressing through the battle pass even after the season ends, which is something I think more games should do, including Overwatch. I wish more games had this.

One thing that puzzles me about monetization is the high cost of the MCU bundles. While I understand the MCU's popularity, some of the epic skins feel overpriced. For instance, the legendary Spider-Man skin costs $26 for just a small change, but you could buy a much cheaper skin that looks completely different. Unless you're a huge MCU fan, it doesn't seem worth it.

On a positive note, I appreciate that all characters are available for free from the start, without being locked behind the battle pass like Overwatch used to do or requiring grinding like Apex Legends. Overall, there's nothing too crazy with the monetization, and I really hope that if this game does well, other games will start letting you keep progressing in the battle pass after a season ends because that should already be a standard feature.

We've seen many games launch with big promises, claiming to be the next Giant Killer or boasting a massive debut, only to fade quickly. Recently, XDefiant announced it would shut down next year, and Multiversus had a huge beta launch but struggled upon full release.

Five hundred thousand players at launch is quite something in the world's current gaming phenomenon. Though numbers tend to fall over time, a large, lively player base is always something to be proud of. Perhaps worry will come when the player base dwindles over time. Only time will tell how the developers adapt.

I want to mention a few minor issues that I have personally experienced, one of them being the lack of a role queue. While keeping an open queue for those who enjoy it is fine, offering a role queue option is crucial. It can be frustrating when a team lacks a healer or tank, especially considering there are only seven strategists and eight vanguards compared to 18 duelists. Balancing these numbers would be a big improvement.

Another area for improvement is progression. There's hero-specific progression, but it's minimal, and there's no overall player level or progression outside of the battle pass. This is a bit of a letdown for free-to-play players, especially when compared to other games like Overwatch, which also struggled with this issue after their progression overhaul.

As for Iron Fist, I had high expectations for his wall-running abilities. Unfortunately, it feels clunky, which is true for a lot of the wall-running and climbing mechanics in the game. It's a bit rough around the edges but still fun overall.

Lastly, the UI needs work. The heroes tab looks neat at first, with animations when you hover over characters, but it feels like it's from a mobile game. The dropdown box for selecting classes is awkward, and scrolling through heroes in the selection screen feels unnecessary and clunky. These design choices could definitely be polished.

Marvel Rivals offers a unique twist on the classic ideas of the hero shooter genre, turning familiar concepts keen gamers will recognize from titles like Overwatch into something new. It features a fantastic cast of beautifully visualized characters, compelling team mechanics, and a style of shading that gives it a charm that's hard to come across. While it is not the most polished game in some areas, the imbalance of matches and roles to infrastructural underdeveloped knots in UI features is very fun and creative. 

Having had 500,000 players at launch alone and having had the chance of continuous updates, this indeed is a great addition to become part of this genre. Very much early to talk about the long-term impact, but it's still worth diving into for anyone who's after breathless heroics in a team-capture twist.