“I wanna take you for a ride!!” God it feels good to hear that once again! After more than a decade of waiting, rejoice fighter fans. The king has arrived! That’s right, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 is here in all of its frenetic, techno-colored glory. This time around we welcome back Wolverine, Spiderman, Sentinel, Morrigan, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Dr. Doom, Ryu, Felicia, Chun-Li, Akuma, Jill, and Tron Bonne. We lose a lot of the characters that MvC 2 made us love but gain the likes of Chris Redfield, Dante, Amaterasu, Arthur, Storm, x-23, Super Skrull, Dead Pool, Dormammu, Haggar, M.O.D.O.K, Magneto, Phoenix, She-Hulk, Shuma-Gorath, Hsien-Ko, Taskmaster, Spencer, Trish, Viewtiful Joe, Thor, C.Viper, Zero, and Wesker complete the current line up this time around. The line up is also my first real complaint about the game. First they launch the game with a substantially less number of playable characters than the previous game. Its like selling someone a mustang with a V8 engine and then remodeling the car and only selling it with a V6. On top of that they released the game with two DLC (Downloadable Content) only characters, Jill Valentine and M.O.D.O.K. I consider that a bit of a cop out on Capcom’s part. So you truncate the line up and then tell me you plan on adding more character in the future but I have to pay for them? What the hell were you doing for the last ten years? Apparently just arguing over who would actually be part of the line up. Maybe its because its because I am who I am (i.e African American) but where are the black characters? Marvel, a company who has been at the forefront of racial diversity in publishing before everyone else, has seen it fit to include Storm as the only fighter of color. With such characters as Black Panther, Blade, Night Thrasher, and Bishop just to name a few. There is no excuse why they weren’t included. The same criticism goes for Capcom.
Gameplay has changed for anyone use to the original six button configuration in favor of a more simplified single button light, medium, and heavy attack system. The bumpers control your assist characters and triggers are the dodges. The easier button configuration opens the door for new comers to the series but alienates the purists and makes chronic button mashing almost a main stay. As a gamer who has been playing the series since the beginning, the change is a little jarring. Not to say I didn’t instantly adapt but it was a shift that took me a round or two to work through. Despite the change, the game is insanely fun and easy to pick up. The break neck speed, ridiculous combos, and colorful line up make the game constantly different and always entertaining. Flaws and all MvC 3 is a game worth the wait and just as much fun as the previous versions of the franchise. So get your K.O on!! 8.5/10