Sci-Fi writer, Short story scriber, journalist, bear wrestler. All rolled up into one sexy beast.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Editorial: Marvel vs. Capcom Looks Like It Might Suck. Hard.
The title of this article says it all, Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 looks like it might suck, hard. All of the trailers that I’ve seen so far just don’t do it for me, and if this game sucks, it’s going to be one of the biggest disappointments of my entire life. I’m not even joking. And that’s because MvC2 is one of my favorite games of all time, even higher on my list than most of the Mario games that have shaped my life forever. I even ranked it as the greatest fighting game of all time, so you can imagine my let down when the trailer makes it look like total booty. But not everybody shares my opinion, and you’re probably one of them thinking, "What the hell, it looks awesome!" But it doesn’t look awesome, it looks awful. Why, you ask? Well, where do I begin?
Let’s start off with the control scheme, because if there’s anything one can say about the control scheme of MvC2, it’s that it’s flawless, absolutely flawless. Originally, when I first heard that MvC2 would have four buttons instead of six back in 2000, I was devastated, thinking it would make the game far too easy for somebody as badass as me. But I was wrong, dead wrong, because it actually made the game more versatile and actually added layers to the title as three players would have been too confusing for all those buttons to use. It made six buttons just seem superfluous when you thought about it. So four buttons was a good thing. No, strike that, four buttons was the perfect thing. And you shouldn’t mess with perfection, right?
But, from what I’ve seen and heard, MvC3 will be using only three attack buttons this time (also with a launch button for air combos, and two buttons for each character swap). This is similar to the format of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, which I don’t think will work for MvC2, since it makes it far too simplistic to play. This is the very same complaint that I had with TvC in that it was just too damn simplified for its own good. Now, it’s not that TvC was a bad game. In fact, in my review, I gave it 3 and a half stars. It’s just that it feels like it was made for newbies in the interest of appealing to everybody, and it was. I think this control scheme seriously going to alienate the hardcore crowd for MvC3 who like that extra bit of training with the extra button. It’s certainly alienated one of my friends who actually played the game recently at ComicCon. He said flat out that if you like playing Marvel vs. Capcom 2 competitively (which I do) then you will NOT like MvC3. He thinks a punch and a kick should not be on one button, and I agree. I think it’s going steal all of the fun out of complex combos when you can just roll your fingers across the buttons and whip out 20 hit combos like you could do in TvC. I don’t want MvC3 to be that simplified. I’ve been playing the MvC series for years now, so why does the game have to be pared down so it can be played by my grandmother, who doesn’t even play fighting games? This isn’t Wii Sports. This is Marvel vs. Capcom! Why does it have to be so easy?
Next up are the graphics, which just look so annoying. The characters in this game look huge in all the videos I’ve seen. Why do they have to be so big? They make the background look puny in comparison, and that 3D effect is just lame. Part of the beauty of the hand drawn look of the predecessors is that they looked like they were actually right out of the comic book, which was cool. It really fit the Marvel universe. But ever since I saw that first trailer with Iron Man flying all over the place like an idiot, I’ve been immediately turned off. There’s just something about 3D that just doesn’t fit the MvC universe for me. The supers are going to fly all over the place, just like in TvC, most likely from what I’ve seen so far, and it’s just going to be too chaotic. I’m probably going to have a seizure.
And finally, what’s up with the new characters? I know I’m taking this personally, and I really shouldn’t be, but why are most of the Marvel characters so lame so far? Why are we getting M.O.D.O.K, Dormammu, and Super-Skrull? Who the hell wants to play as them? Now, I will admit that getting Thor and Deadpool is pretty awesome, but why haven’t we seen Punisher, Doctor Strange, or any of The Fantastic Four yet? Are they even in the game at all? Sure, MvC2 had its fair share of bizarre characters, too (um, Servbot?), but there were so many damn awesome characters in there that it didn’t make any difference in the end. As long as you could do a Strider, Wolverine, and Guile combo, everything would be alright in the world. But so far, these characters (Except for Arthur from Ghost and Goblins) just don’t excite me. When are we going to get Frank Castle already?
In closing, MvC3 is really looking like it’s going to suck. Granted, I’m sure it will be playable, and people may even like it, but as a follow-up to arguably the greatest fighting game of all time, it doesn’t look like it’s going to stack up in even the slightest. Ten years of pining and hoping and praying, and it looks like we’re going to get a cheap imitation of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Is that what we deserve? The one consoling thing about all this is that we at least still have MvC2 on Xbox Live if this winds up being a stinker. But seriously, damn. Why does this game have to look so disappointing? Capcom, I want to get excited. But what you’ve shown so far just doesn’t do it for me.
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