"It's Mahvel Baybee!" - Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review

From what originally started as an extremely random crossover game, "Marvel vs. Capcom" has developed an amazing fan following from both professional and casual gamers alike. So much to the point where a sequel was created 2000 that to this day is considered to be one of the best fighting games of all time. Over ten years later and after much demand, Capcom finally released a third game in the series –which takes everything that made the previous Marvel vs. Capcom games so popular, and translated it to today's world of gaming.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 isn't your typical fighter. Instead of pitting one character against another, you select three characters to fight against another three in tag-team warfare. So much of the game relies on teamwork. You'll either be calling your partners in to help with a combo, counter an attack or unleash a full scale ultra-assault on your enemies. As you'll soon find out, this also requires you to choose your team carefully. You might go a whole week in Arcade or Training mode trying to select a team that resonates in combo-harmony.

When it comes to selecting your team, you have a nice size roster to choose from. Having 10 years in between MvC2 and MvC3 gave Capcom a very long time to update their rosters and selected characters that are pretty much "in the now" for the game's universe. Capcom's revamped roster include the mainstays such as Ryu (Street Fighter) and Morrigan (Darkstalkers), but also extremely sought after characters like Dante (Devil May Cry), Haggar (Final Fight), Amaterasu (Okami), Zero (Mega Man X), Jill Valentine (soon to be added as downloadable content), Albert Wesker and the boulder-punching Chris Redfield (Resident Evil). On the Marvel side, there are some returning characters such as Wolverine, Captain America and Spider-Man. Deadpool, She-Hulk and Taskmaster are just some of the newcomers to its respective (Marvel) side as well.

MvC3 consists of an offline and online mode. Offline mode contains several sub-modes such as Arcade, Training and the new mission mode,  that allows you to practice moves and combos. The online mode consists of playing across either Xbox Live or Playstation Network. The gameplay is fast and fluid, even more so than the original two games. Because of its 3 on 3 gameplay, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 gained notoriety for having so many things happening on-screen, that it becomes way too confusing to focus and plan your attack, forcing you to adapt quickly to whatever is going on or lose quickly, a very different quality from strategic fighters such as Virtua Fighter or even Tekken. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 not only continues the tradition, but adds a new dimension to it, called "X-Factor". Think of "X-Factor" as a last ditch resort power. The less team members you have, the longer and more powerful the "X-Factor" is. While this can generally be seen as a blessing when you're trying to make a come from behind victory, or even battling the boss in Arcade mode (which you'll definitely need it), it can be a nuisance online when battling certain characters such as Sentinel and Dark Phoenix, who are already extremely powerful.

Finally, the game isn't for everyone. Some fans of strategic fighters didn't like Marvel vs. Capcom 2's hectic gameplay. In that case, they definitely won't like this new iteration. Even though both MvC2 and 3 are considered to be tournament games played by professional players, there's still a stigma in the air by some that consider the game to be too "over-the-top".  MvC3 can be seen as a party game, where you can have a bunch of your friends over and play, chat about how ridiculous the gameplay is all while having a good time. Also, in comparison to MvC2's roster of over 50 characters, MvC3's roster has shrunken down drastically. This is because MvC2 had 2D characters, while the new roster is 3D. A lot of fan favorites like Mega Man X, Ken (Street Fighter), Venom and Gambit were removed. Even though there have been announcements of more downloadable characters in the future, it brings some worry that fans will have to end up paying $50+ extra just to get 10-15 more characters (so far downloadable characters have been priced at $5 per character). Either that or release a updated version of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 that has all of the characters and force players to abandon their old copy of the game to buy the new one.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 stays very true to the series roots while adding a few new things to the fray. Although it probably won't be for everyone, it's definitely worth a purchase if you're a Marvel, Capcom or "Versus series" fan.