QS stands for “Quickshot”, a series of short form review/preview/opinion articles.
So, you know how last week I talked about wanting a “real” Overwatch 2. Well, in a roundabout sort of way, we kinda do have that, as of a few months ago. If you’re okay with replacing a little bit of “Cheers loves, the cavalry’s here” with “Look out for the Amazing Spider-Man“. Which, given how incredible the game I’m talking about is, I’m more than happy to do that.
I am, of course, referring to Marvel Rivals, the 6v6 PvP Hero Shooter that launched back in December, and has been performing outrageously well in terms of player count, engagement metrics, and sweet sweet moolah ever since. A game that is, broadly speaking, if Overwatch had Marvel superheroes in it. It copies a fair bit of Overwatch’s homework, but not only does it manage to refine some of it, but it also presents its mechanics and presentation in a way we haven’t seen since prime Overwatch, and that’s just so fun and refreshing.
But let’s go into a bit more detail.
This is a multiplayer game, first and foremost. There’s no single-player content (I mean, there’s a training hall, and you can technically play with bots and against bots, but you know what I mean). It follows the typical formula that Overwatch made popular, and that was established way back with games like Team Fortress 2. You and your allied teammates do battle against the enemy team and their members, whether it’s in a Deathmatch point system, or King of the Hill style, or Pushing the Payload from one corner of the map to the other. Standard stuff.
And like other ‘Hero Shooters‘ as they are called, it’s the characters that really bring the experience together. Unlike in something like Call of Duty or Halo, where everyone is ultimately playing as the same soldier, Marvel Rivals allows you to select who you play as from a vast pool of heroes and villains. It lends a lot of customizability and fun to your team compositions, because every character has their own unique abilities and special skills to really make them stand out.
On that note, that’s kind of the biggest selling-point of Marvel Rivals, isn’t it? The whole Marvel thing! These characters aren’t just some generic crew of bootleg heroes and villains, or some motley collection of original characters meant to evoke classic archetypes. These are the familiar faces that you know and love from the decades of storied history of Marvel. Spider-Man is here, Iron Man is here, Captain America is here, Black Widow is here, Storm is here…the list goes on and on. It’s a pretty huge roster, and it keeps growing month after month!
Overwatch had to go to great lengths in order to endear players to its cast, and it did a phenomenal job doing so with all those gorgeous animated shorts and fun comics. Marvel Rivals doesn’t need to do any of that, as you’re already (most likely) in love with these characters from the minute you start playing! That makes it effortless to jump right into the universe of the game, and immerse yourself amongst the cast and the fun backstories and lore journals you can read between matches.
I’ve got a few characters I’ve gravitated to so far. Black Widow, Squirrel Girl, and Peni Parker have all been a blast. By far my favorite character as been Mantis, who in this game fits into the Support role (she’s a healer). I so rarely play healers in these types of games, so there’s certainly a bit of added stress in each match, but I’ve just been having a blast as Mantis. Her ability to heal or buff allies or herself, the ability to put enemies to sleep, her surprisingly high-skill-but-high-damage basic attacks…she’s a lot of fun. Plus, her voicelines are great too (“My anger is healthy!“).
You know, in the grand scheme of things, there really isn’t anything that Marvel Rivals does that games haven’t done previously. Marvel Rivals just excels at doing everything well. Match queue times are lightning fast, rewards are plentiful and frequent, the battles don’t drag on, every character feels powerful and impactful to play as, the visual style is a treat, and the controls are spot-on. Plus, the game is entirely free, and still manages to not fall into the greedy microtransaction pitfalls of other games of its ilk (battle passes, typically built upon FOMO, don’t expire, and in-game currency isn’t impossibly rare).
I think the best thing about this game is how beloved it is, because for a free-to-play game, the number one thing you want is player support and engagement. Marvel Rivals has that in spades, which basically makes it a fact that this game will endure for years. And on top of that, it’ll just keep growing and improving. More heroes and villains, more maps to fight on, more unique game modes…more everything. I can’t wait to see what the future holds in store for this incredibly fun game (Spider-Gwen when?).
It’s free, it’s on almost every platform…go ahead and try it out. Can’t hurt!
The Contrarian Corner 