NetEase Games has developed many games such as Marvel Super War, Marvel Duel, Naraka Bladepoint, and Lord of the Rings: Rise of War. Earlier this year, the company announced their next Marvel PVP game called Marvel Rivals and it is one of the biggest projects they have worked on. Recently, Marvel Rivals launched their playtest on multiple and we of Sirus Gaming got to try out the game.
At the start of the game, I saw how well-developed and graphically insane the main menu layout was. Showing various selections from quick matches, hero rosters, events, stores, and event battle passes that were worth looking into. It was eye-catching and had a great interface especially when selecting heroes.
Since this game is similar to Overwatch in terms of genre, we would expect the same style but it is not. The game uses 3rd person shooting and has a variety of obstacles and challenges when using one Marvel hero/ villain. During combat, the health bar is seen on the bottom of the screen, and surrounding it are all the abilities and skills each character has. Of course, there is an objective marker that tells players what to do and everything that a player needs to know on playing the game is very easy to understand.
When teaming up and fighting other teams, I had an incredible time enjoying the combat system as not only do I get to unleash the skills and ultimate of my favorite Marvel character, but I get a chance to combine skills in a feature called TEAM-UP. This ability requires a group of specific like for example, Rocket Racoon and Punisher. Combining their strengths will give one of them invite ammo and increase damage output against multiple enemies.
Another is the super team of Spider-Man, Venom, and Peni-Parker, where the Alien Anti-hero unleashes his symbiote bomb that acts like an armor protecting the 2 Spider-heroes. This type of combination is very useful and makes a perfect way to think of competitive ideas to adjust one’s teamwork.
There are a total of 21 characters that are playable in this playtest. Each has been categorized based on their skillsets, background, and specialties. There are 3 classes found: Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist.
Vanguards are mostly tank characters who will be responsible for fighting in the front line. Characters like Venom, Hulk, Doctor Strange, and more can do a ton of damage but with slower firing rates. Most of them can even summon shields to protect their allies or cover teammates with personal shields to protect them.
The Duelists are considered the main DPS members of the team. They do quick damage from mid to close-range combat and move agile enough to put some distance away from their enemies. The characters that fall into this class are Spider-Man, Iron Man, Storm, and Punisher.
Lastly, the Strategists are considered the support type characters that can mostly heal and even buff your allies during combat. They may have the lowest health bar but their skills and abilities are a gamer change that can help boost the morale of allies or help turn the tide of the game.
There are several game modes found in this game from practice range to quick matches, and competitive mode. All of which are standard when playing these types of games. However, what I liked about this part is that the rewards when participating in these modes give a sense of being competitive enough to earn them like in-game currency, alternate costumes, stamps, and more.
Playing the game is very fluid especially when using a controller. Of course, you can play using the mouse & keyboard, but it’s more comfortable with a controller. Moving around, shooting enemies and all are good enough for me but if I were to comment, I would like to ask the developers to fix the camera angles as there were times that I had a hard time seeing through the map. Whenever I try to turn around, there will be times when the camera feels laggy, and I’m not sure if it’s a hardware issue.
Another is regards to the loading as it takes time for characters to be rendered. During matches or before the start of the match, it will take a while for my chosen hero to appear. It would usually take around 30 seconds or more to load and it may cause some problems in the future if not fully investigated.
Marvel Rivals is a game that I am looking forward to once it comes out in full force. I hope that they balance well each character in the game and do not oversaturate them. In certain games like Overwatch and Valorant, there will be times that a character will be downgraded or buffed enough to be overpowering. In Marvel Rivals, I can see well enough that they did a lot to make sure it’s balanced but once new characters come out, I am unsure if it will be a good thing or not.
If interested in learning about Marvel Rivals, I would recommend players watch gameplay trailers about it or read another news update about it to get a better understanding of the game.