Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds: Special Edition

I love fighting games, but I'm horrible at them. MvC3 is no exception. I loved setting up a team, customizing them a little, then going off to show the world how not to play a fighting game. The matches are quick and fun and pretty well balanced (though there are some cheap things you can do). The missions act as a sort of tutorial for the fighting, although if you're not accustomed to fighting games, you're not likely to understand the button abbreviations and lingo. This was my problem, I wasn't sure what H meant until I went and looked it up in the menu. This isn't a defect with the game, it's a defect with me never playing fighting games.

There are a couple problems I had with it, though. The selection of characters is kinda dumb on some fronts. A lot of fan favorites aren't in the game. They say it's to keep from having repeat characters, but it feels more like they wanted to try and get us with DLC. There are a lot of characters, especially Marvel, that I would have liked to see. War Machine, Moonknight (instead of Taskmaster), Ghost Rider, Red Skull, Cyclops, Gambit, and a few others would have been nice. And Mega Man is missing, which is weird, along with a couple more Capcom friends. Also, the online multiplayer is pretty bad (or at least it was before I took a break from the game). Just connecting to a game is difficult, it usually took me about 15 tries to find one match. This was annoying, but surely they have that fixed by now. The only other complaint I had about this game was Dante. At least for medium-skill-range players, if you see that your online opponent is using Dante, just put down the controller and get a sandwich because it is near impossible to beat him. He's very good at covering a lot of screen area and it's not tough to button mash your way to victory with him.

Besides these problems (most of which will likely be addressed in updates), this game is a nostalgic romp. If you played MvC2, you'll miss some of the characters, but there is enough here that you'll have fun for a good long while.

GONNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE!!!

A lot of the fans of MvC2 are griping over this release, and the one thing I have to say to all of them is, 'read press release notes.'

All the things they act surprised about were announced ages ago. Capcom was trying to turn this into an accessible fighter much like smash brothers. The designer kept comparing MvC3 to smash brothers as well.

So I expected a light-hearted romp, what surprised me though, was the fact that this game also has a ton of strategic depth. It is accessible enough that my girlfriend who never played fighters before could jump in and execute specials. But it has enough strategic depth that fight veterans still destroy fighting noobs. My girlfriend and roommate (a seasoned but bad gamer) have epic matches while I typically would win if I wasn't throwing an occasional game here and there so they can have more fun.

All I need now is two capcom fight sticks and I think I have found the best fighter to entertain me for the next decade.

I am a mvc2, virtua fighter 4, 5, online, street fighter 2, hd, street fighter 5, smash bros, melee, brawl, mortal kombat, 2, 4, deadly alliance, tekken:dr veteran (along with more I probably forgot), and I think I have finally found the fighting experience I have been looking for. A fighter with the depth of street fighter and the accessibility of smash bros. as advertised. If that sounds appealing to you, then this is the fighter for you!

Amazing, I was anticipating this game for such a long time and today when it finally came out I remembered it was coming soon, so the first thing I did was go straight to Amazon to get the special edition, unfortunately they were all sold out. I kind of panicked because I really wanted the special edition, long story short I called my local Gamestop, they had one left and of course I drove over there right away and picked it up, and so far not regretting it.

Ok, so whats in the special edition? You get a pretty damn cool Aluminum case that slides out of the cover, you get one month free of Marvel Digital Comics, and you also get two exclusive DLC characters. Jill Valentine and Shuma Gorath. Both will be available on March 15th for download, they send you a redemption code to your email and then you redeem it through Live. Overall for an extra $10 it was easily worth the hassle.

So now for the review.

Graphics: When you start up you are greeted with a cool intro video like other Marvel vs Capcom games. This game will seem familiar from the get go, the graphics have changed (for better or for worse) and they have gone with a cel shaded/comic style look instead of the regular 2D visuals of the other games. Its a good way to pull you in to the Marvel characters, in my eyes the graphic style benefits Marvel characters more then the Capcom characters. For example some Capcom characters really look off. The first person that jumps to mind is Ryu, I cant explain it but his face and body heck everything seems different from SFIV. Amaterasu on the other hand looks amazing, and being a real admirer of Okami the way they did the appearance graphically really does the character justice in this game, another character from Capcom that is awesome was Zero, he really looks like himself and everything down to this moves are so familiar. So yes overall the graphics for characters are good but you may need to adjust to that if you are coming from Marvel vs Capcom 2. The stages are really well done, I love all of them. Some that stand out to me though is the Daily Bugle, and the resident evil stage, and especially the Ghouls and Ghosts Stage (Loved that game!) but where are more stages? I'm kind of disappointed about that I'll explain later.

Sound: Its great, a lot of new songs for this game and they are great, it really sets the tone before the fight starts, Capcom has always done really well here. The English voices are OK, and I dont have a problem with them, I haven't run into anyone's voice and thought to myself that it was annoying so it looks good so far. You can also change to Japanese voices only in the options. The part where the sounds really got me going was the take me for a ride character select screen, of course its a remix of the one in MvC2 but it still sounds good to me and does justice to the original. There is also a menu that you can access that allows you to listen to just the soundtracks which is great.

Controls: Controls are as good as any other Capcom fighting game, the controls are familiar. There is a lot of customization. I should note that I use a Hori stick to play this game. I have been thrilled with it so far, its responsive and I really couldn't have asked for more precise controllers with the way I have it set up. It works fine as well with the normal controller but I tell you, once you use the arcade stick there is no going back. They also have other pre-installed controller options that you can choose from without having to customize, so take your time and really go through it.

Gameplay: Its good ol Marvel vs Capcom. The formula after all these years really has not changed. The gameplay revolves around specials and combos. What has shocked me so far about this game is how balanced it is. Marvel vs Capcom 2 was not balanced at all, some characters were clearly stronger then others. It seems like they have sorted it out now with the damage that can be dealt and the defense that characters have. It's the same fare as before as well, three vs three and of course there are team combos, which are amazing and get things hectic but it doesn't slow the system down, lag or delay one bit it runs buttery smooth. The Single player is short, You could actually beat it in about 10-15 minutes, and whoever you beat the final boss with is the character who gets their ending shown. The final boss was kind of tough, but the strategy is just to block the incoming attacks. It had one of those typical over the top boss battles that the other Marvel vs Capcom games had. Its no where near as hard as trying to beat Seth in Street Fighter 4, which on hard difficulties was pretty challenging. I have yet to play online but once I do I will update my review to reflect it. I have always been the type to learn everything I can about a game before I take my skills online and this is no different. Now my one grudge for Gameplay? Its not really a grudge but I absolutely hate the fact that there are barely any stages! A game like this should have 20+ stages, I cant understand all these characters with just a few levels. I'm not sure if there is still a lot of levels to unlock or what but so far it's been annoying. I'm thinking Capcom must have some DLC as well in the works so that will be interesting to see.

Overall: Its a great game, was it worth the hype? Probably not, after ALL these years. But to me as someone who grew up with this series since the very first game I'm satisfied. If you are new to this series there will definitely be a bit of a learning curve, however it not much deeper then any other fighting game. Overall, I like this game and I think that over time it will develop a wonderful and thorough online community that will have you coming back for more and more.

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