Marvel Vs Capcom 2 XBLA Review

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Review: Marvel Vs Capcom 2
Released: 13th August 2009 (UK) (Out Now)
Platforms: XBLA,PSN

FINAL OPINION: CRAZY FIGHTER / AWESOME

Marvel VS Capcom 2 is one of the most highly demanded fighting games to be re-released and Capcom has finally given many long time fans what they wanted by re-releasing Marvel Vs Capcom 2 for download on XBLA. This version of Marvel Vs Capcom is based on the Dreamcast version and was developed by Backbone Entertainment.

Marvel Vs Capcom doesn’t have much of a story and the game doesn’t even hit at one, but then again no one is playing this game for its story. However just for the sakes of those that need some story to go with their games, Earth and everything on it begins to die and Ruby Heart locates the route of the problem to a being known as Abyss, the Armour of Erosion. Upon learning this she brings together the greatest heroes to find this being. In the end its source of power is made known to be a mysterious black metal ball within its centre.

Now that the guys that need some story in their games are happy I can get on with what this game really is about and that’s fast paced and over top fighting on a 2D plane field. As the title suggests Marvel Vs Capcom brings together the greatest and best characters and heroes from both the Marvel world and the world of Capcom. The game contains a total of 56 characters/heroes taken from the X-Men, Avengers, Spider-Man, Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Mega Man series. Marvel Vs Capcom gives players the pleasure of teaming guys like Ryu with guys like Wolverine and Cyclopes.

Unlike Capcom’s previous release Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, Marvel Vs Capcom 2 has not been given the same graphical make over. Instead a new widescreen option has been added and three filter options have been added to improve on the dated character sprites. These include the classic filter which leaves the character sprites untouched in there blocky goodness, Crisp (which I find to be the best option) cleans up the look of the characters nicely and lastly you can if you want select the smooth option. The backgrounds for the fighting arenas are in 3D and look great but they do show how dated the character sprites are.

Just like Street Fighter HD Remix, Marvel Vs Capcom’s options are quite bare. There is a single player which comprises of the Arcade mode, Training and Score Attack Mode. Within Arcade Mode players pick a team of three and will progress through eight stages. The first 7 stages comprising of various random teams of three, with the eight stage players will find them self’s facing off against Abyss who has three forms. It should be noted that no matter what team of characters you pick the game only has one ending. Training Mode is the same as Street Fighter HD Remix’s and is the usual place for players to practice the moves. Lastly Score Attack is pretty much the same as Arcade Mode except you don’t have an endless amount of continues once you‘ve lost a match. Next on to the multiplayer, this is setup in the same way as Street Fighter HD Remix. There are two main options to choose from these are Ranked matches or Player matches with a 6 person lobby system. If you’re new to Marvel Vs Capcom 2 unfortunately the online isn’t very noob friendly, nor would it be considering this game is almost a decade old so people have been playing it for years. You may find yourself losing most matches then wining and completely getting your arse handed to you. The online is pretty flawless although not perfect sometimes there is a bit of lag but not enough of it to ruin peoples experience with the online.

If you’re thinking of playing this like its Street Fighter because it has Ryu and Ken in it then you’re setting yourself up for an arse kicking. Yes it has street fighter characters in it and yes some of the moves are executed in the same as they are in Street Fighter but ultimately this game plays a lot different. The key to winning in Marvel Vs Capcom 2 is to let loose with powerful and devastating combos. Marvel Vs Capcom 2 uses a 4 button system (2 kick buttons and 2 punch buttons) with 2 additional buttons for assists.

During a match at any time a player can tap any of the corresponding assists buttons to have one of their off-screen characters perform a selected special move. The only time this can’t be done is during a super jump or super/special move. Each character has three types of assists which allows them to execute different special moves or normal moves in some cases. Players can select which type of assist they would like for each character during the character selection. At the bottom of the screen is a super meter which rises in levels when moves are executed and when the receiving damage. Once a bar has reached level one a player can pull off a “Hyper Combo” move. However allowing the bar to charge up even more will eventually allow the player to pull off a “Delayed Hyper Combo”, which allows the player to pull off multiple Hyper Combos with each character in turn. In addition a player can pull of a “Variable Combination” which allows a triple hyper combo where all characters perform their Hyper Combos at one time. Players can also perform a “snapback”, which knocks their opponent off screen and forces an opponent’s teammate to jump in. This move also requires at least one super metre charged up. Characters can also gain back portions of their health when they are “tagged out”. This is represented as a red energy bar within your normal life bar shown at the top of the screen.

I have to say that the control scheme is very simple and easy to get use, so even if you have never played this game before you shouldn’t have any trouble learning and getting to grips with them in a short space of time. Marvel Vs Capcom’s lasting appeal is tied to its online. If you spent many hours playing Street Fighter 4 or HD Remix then you’ll spend just as much time with this as you did them. I found myself turning down the background music after only a few minutes as I quickly got sick of it. The only sound I wanted to here was the unleashing of a Hyper Combo and maybe my own selected music stored on my hard drive playing in the background instead.

Its fast, over the top and crazy, if you love fighting games they you’ll probably enjoy this too. If you’ve always wanted to play this game but never got the chance in the past because of its limited print run like me, then now’s your chance to jump into the action. The control scheme is simple and easy to get use to and the game has a whole roster of characters from both Marvel and Capcom for you to play with.

Marvel VS Capcom 2 Breakdown:

GAMEPLAY

Fighter hasn’t changed since its original release. Some may complain about the character balance but that’s a topic that pretty much comes up in just about every fighting game.

GRAPHICS & PRESENTATION

Character sprites are showing their age and the filter options help a little to improve them, but the backgrounds look great. Widescreen allows the game to expand its viewing field to fill peoples HDTVs, while the menus have also been redone since the original. However this pales in comparison to Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix's graphical makeover.

LONGEVITY

Number of options is a bit bare but if you spent countless hours with Street Fighter games then you’ll spend just as much time with this. If your not entirely into your fighting games then this might not last you as long espically when playing online.

AUDIO

Thankfully there’s an option to turn down the background music and being on 360 you can always play your own music. Everything else is ok.

FINAL OPINION: CRAZY FIGHTER & AWESOME