I purchased Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 on the Xbox Live arcade when it was first released and still consider it is some of the best fifteen dollars I have ever spent. I played countless hours beating others (and getting beaten) into a technicolor pulp with my friends and loved every seizure inducing second of it. That being said, I think the game was appropriately priced at fifteen dollars because it only really had an arcade (vs. CPU) and a versus mode. It was just like the coin-op arcade game.
Upon buying Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 for sixty dollars, I was expecting much more content than its ten year old predecessor, but I was disappointed. There are actually fewer characters in this installment and no new game modes besides online multiplayer. Even with the addition of a few new faces, the creators took out more than they added. A black costume for Spiderman and a gray costume for Iron Man are not replacements for the characters Venom and War Machine, and I can't imagine anyone would be happier with the addition of characters like She-Hulk and Viewtiful Joe over them. Even though there are thirty-six characters, it falls flat next to the fifty-six in Marvel Vs. Capcom 2. They have already announced the DLC of Jill Valentine and Shuma Gorath, (my two favorite characters) but I don't want to spend the five to ten extra dollars to get what should have been released with the game!
Even though so many fighters have been removed, the remaining ones have been fine tuned excellently. There are no longer any characters that feel just like re-skins of other characters, and there is no character significantly more powerful than other characters. Some fighters, like Phoenix, inflict more damage, but in turn take more damage than other fighters. This causes the gameplay to feel different with almost every character, a major improvement for the series.
The game has moved on from its sprite-based two-dimensional to a three-dimensional character models, and it takes some getting used to. At first I did not like the change, especially for The Hulk (he looks like he has no lips), but I have come around. Even though there is less detail to each character while they are not moving, they look significantly better while flying around the screen.
There are now two control schemes, “normal” and “simple,” to choose from. Normal has changed from the light kick, heavy kick, light punch, heavy punch system to a light, medium, heavy and special attack buttons. Simple mode is a boiled down easy mode for beginners with a button for melee attack, ranged attack, super moves and special attacks, as well as automatically stringing together combos, completely taking out the need to memorize the complicated move lists. The simple mode may seem like it would give an unfair advantage, but normal mode offers much more room for improvisation and customization, as well as being much more fun to play on.
I personally approve of the addition of the simple mode because it allows people who have little experience playing to have a good time, instead of being steam rolled by veteran players. I played a few rounds with my girlfriend, who is not a gamer, and she was able to hold her own, more or less, with the help of the simple mode. Fine, I'll admit it: she even beat me a few times.
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 easily gets two full thumbs up, if you have the extra cash to throw down for it. In my opinion, it should not be priced at a full sixty dollars, feeling more of an Xbox Live arcade game, to be honest. Hardcore MvC fans will buy it no matter what I say, but for everyone else, I suggest you wait for a while until it lowers in price before buying it. The gameplay is amazing, and it is a ton-o-fun to play, but it’s too small of a game for me to encourage you to buy at full price. Buy Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 in the meantime if you really need need to.
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