Well, you just found my area for my casual writing. The reason I'm doing this on here instead of ScrewAttack is because it's not a blog that I put too much time one (around 5 minutes), but just quick thoughts. Also, be prepared for just some of my casual everyday thoughts, as this is more of my overall area to give short and brief thoughts instead of traditional blogs built on a subject. Some of you may not know this, but I am really passionate towards film and I might post some short thoughts on them, along with other things. Shockingly, I'm very casual when it comes to games and spend my time occupying various other things. And since I rarely talk about anything in my every day thoughts, I'll be writing them here. Today we're just starting with my first thoughts on MvC 3.For those of you who are new to this, my first impressions are my 1-2 hour experience of a game and I post my brief thoughts. It's not very well written or anything, but rather that impression set on me by the 1-2 hours. At the end of my points, I write a first impression score and after some time return with an update and second impression score or final score (depending on how long the game is).
Well, I got the game on Monday and was ridiculously disappointed. No, not at the game, but the fact that I didn't receive the DLC character voucher, the comic, nor the comic subscription. I called their hotline and they said they'll fix it in the next call. But no avail. Still no stuff that I paid for. I'll call them again to square things away.
Now let's get to the gameplay. Wow. Talk about polished. Everything that was lazy and broken in MvC 2 was abolished completely in the sequel. The way Capcom worked on the system is amazing, making it familiar to fans of the series, yet a completely new experience. And wow, are the fighters fun to play as. So far, my favorite is X-23, and in these days, I played as a little over 10 characters. Each of them feel completely different from each other and just are a blast to try out.
The graphics and music are also fantastic. Taking many of the themes of the previous games, Capcom remixed all of the themes for an updated feel, and yes, they brought back the character selection theme from MvC 2 that plagues our ears. My favorite theme is Spider-Man's, and not really because of my obsession liking of the character, but mostly because I've always loved his theme since Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter The graphics also look quite amazing, with each of the fighters and stages looking amazing. Although the stages are a little on the light side, they are oozing with detail. In the Umbrella Facility, if you cause enough destruction, zombies start crawling around with the emergency signal blaring, The Ghosts N Goblins stage has you going on a moat and seeing all the enemies and bosses in the games.
One other things I love is the little references and exchanges specific characters make. Deadpool makes fun of Magneto's "Welcome to die" line from X-Men: The Arcade game, yells at you for not recording the match, and demands Capcom to put him in the next Street Fighter. Phoenix whispers Scott when she dies, Captain America says, "Avengers, assemble", if you play as him, Thor, and Iron Man, and Iron Man remarks how he should have used his Mark I Armor instead of the Extremis Model. And that's just the surface of it. I just love the attention to detail in the fighters Capcom made, and hearing these exchanges and references is just taking it one step beyond.
Now the gameplay is a mixture of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. It uses a light, medium, and heavy button system, and adds in a launch button to start air combos. When doing a proper air combo, you can press the launch button in midair, to switch to the next fighter. If done right, you can easily juggle opponents in midair. But to make it fair, Capcom added reversal options to make sure there's a chance for characters not to be destroyed by just one combo.
The regular fighting has the same chaotic nature the series is known for, but adds in some inspiration from Street Fighter IV. Like Ultra combos, there are Level 3 Hypers that use the cinematic approach Street Fighter IV did and deal a high amount of damage. Some like Iron Man's are ridiculously powerful, while some like Deadpool's are just hilarious to watch (he literally beats up people with his health and combo bar). There's also the X-Factor that powers up people and reduces damage. The less health and characters you have, the longer it lasts. It's a bit annoying to fight against, especially when you're winning and the opponent spams their hypers mixed with X-Factor.
Some people may be turned off by the lack of overall content (Capcom is releasing an event mode for free), but I personally love the core fighting so much that this doesn't bother me in the slightest. Though I hope a Spectator Mode is released, the overall fighting is ridiculous fun. If you're wary of the fighter genre, this is an overall good starting point, but it will take time getting used to. For fans of the series, this is a dream come true.
First Impression Score: 9.5