I wasn’t sure about Marvel Rivals after it was initially announced and previewed, but the closed beta gave me hope that it would be possible to get something acceptable out of the game, despite some obvious issues that needed to be ironed out.
It’s hard to deny that Strike Force 2 has been struggling for a long time, and depending on who you ask, so has Blizzard’s once-compelling hero-shooter IP as a whole. The truth is, things started to take a turn for the worse about two years after Battlefield came out, when the powers that be felt it wasn’t enough to welcome players of all skill levels and grow from there, and instead started chasing esports-related growth . . Now, despite OW2’s recent triumphs, it still feels like a shell of its former self, and Marvel and NetEase’s shameless take on the mode might be exactly what many of us have missed over the years.
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I have to agree with my friend Connor, Marvel Rivals feels like a redesign of Strike Force, but depending on Which It’s trying to replicate the stages of OW2, which is probably a good thing since OW2’s current iteration (it even feels wrong to think of it as a sequel) isn’t very good. Marvel and NetEase are simply looking for big revenue from hero shooters, while most hero shooters and other live gambling are clearly starting to die out. However, all of these recent developments are difficult to predict, and even harder to predict if we consider how long AA and AAA development typically takes, unless you are a studio full of development wizards (there are some fascinating cases) .
Marvel Rivals also doesn’t escape the “free-to-play” shadow that I complained about recently. This stuff has been (and continues to be) tried and tested, and if you’ve been paying attention to Marvel’s efforts elsewhere, it’s easy to see why some characters were added instead of arguably more iconic characters from across the Marvel Multiverse Sexual hero. For example, the appearance of Luna Snow can only be explained by NetEase and Marvel’s clear focus on the Asian market with this launch; she is an overlooked Korean K-pop superhero who first appeared in Marvel Futures During the battle. The current roster of 21 characters may piss some people off, but there’s a good financial reason behind every superhero (or villain) that has appeared.
Those things aside, the gist of my experience playing Marvel Rivals so far is… it’s a ton of fun to play. Solid hero design is there (although it will need a lot of balancing work post-test), and if NetEase plays well enough, synergy may be the game’s most defining feature. By sacrificing overly rigid class archetypes and allowing each hero or villain to shine based on their comic book counterpart, some bold gameplay possibilities emerge, and the unique interactions and boosts that come with certain group combinations may become available in each new Shakes up the meta during the season, if done correctly.
On a more basic level, games are just Feel It’s nice and looks great (although the artist may have had some sketchy stuff going on behind the scenes). The tepid response to Concord’s own beta may stem in part from the safe art direction. Meanwhile, Marvel Rivals looks like a condensed version of the Spider-Man movie, with strong anime influences, and it’s amazing to see it all come together in action (even outside of the actual gameplay) . The downside to this aggressive visual style is that chaotic teamfights eat away at much of the game’s readability, to the point where you’re often on the ground before you realize your health is too low. This is an area that needs significant improvement before public release.
The level design is also a mixed bag. It all works well with a game mode borrowed directly from Blizzard’s hero shooters, but the layout lacks something more immediately recognizable and can even get a little difficult at times if you’re playing as one of the slower people. (usually support-oriented) super person. Meanwhile, Venom and Spider-Man are jumping around just like they would in a single-player Insomniac game. I’m not kidding when I say the overall experience of Marvel Rivals can change a lot of Depending on which character you choose, I guess the developers want everyone to feel powerful despite their differences, so there’s a lot of work to be done on that level.
Will NetEase listen to all the feedback we send like crazy over the next few days? Hopefully this foundational hero shooter will be as popular as Marvel Snap in the digital collectible card game world. As for Marvel’s role in all this, it should really be focusing on building cross-media synergies with future lineup additions. That means bringing Agatha Harkness on board this fall, and/or recruiting Sam Wilson as Captain America in February. Before that happens, however, we need to know if it will be rolling out to everyone soon. Sadly, for all we know, it might launch in 2025.
