Marvel Rivals is impressing millions and I was wrong about it

Back in July 2024, I had the chance to spend some time with the Marvel Rivals beta. I said then that the experience left me wanting, and that it might be more fun with friends. After writing up my feelings, I did spend some time playing with a buddy and the beta left a more favourable impression on me. Now, the game is out for everyone and after playing all weekend, I have to say I was wrong. Marvel Rivals is kind of brilliant.

That’s not me retracting anything I said previously, it feels as if the time between the beta and the release was spent ironing out any kinks, and amplifying the heroes on the roster to make them feel more cohesive. I still stand by my point that in a world where heroes and villains are battling each other over objectives, they don’t feel very powerful. There’s no weight to the actions aside from some crumbling scenery. I’m not sure how this could be achieved but the back and forth of superpowers being thrown around lacks any gravitas. Aside from that, I’ve been having a blast.

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Of course, it’s suffering from the same issues as Overwatch does; rarely is there a competent healer on the team - everyone wants to be Spider-Man or Venom - and for the love of God get on the damn objective. It would be great to see more incentive to push players into choosing support roles, but this is an issue that so many games have struggled with, I’m not surprised to see it here.

Now that’s out of my system, I have to say that I’m impressed by the level of polish the game has received. The design of the characters is superb, from the sketchy style, down to their abilities and attacks. It actually feels like diving into a comic book panel to witness your favourite heroes throw down. That’s when your Spider-Man player isn’t swinging into the walls because they skipped the tutorial.

While I won’t be spending a penny on another live service game, I admire the extra costumes too. Pairing up with Marvel Studios to bring over styles from the MCU is a quick way to get into the wallets and hearts of players, and I don’t say that with any snark or sass. If this became my main live service game and I wanted to shell out for cosmetics, I wouldn’t feel short-changed by what’s on offer. If this is how NetEase is coming out of the gate, I can only imagine what they have in store for the future.

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Speaking of. What intrigues me the most is how much work they’ve put into the characters. The Marvel universe is vast and filled with literally hundreds of heroes and villains. 33 of them have shipped with the launch of the game, bringing a huge variety, from big names like Wolverine, to lesser known characters like Cloak and Dagger. The variety is awesome and pulls the game out of the realms of ‘it’s Overwatch but with Marvel characters’ not only because each superpower is based off comic books, but because they combo each other.

I played a lot of Squirrel Girl yesterday; she’s a one-star character, meaning she’s pretty simple to use. I went several games without a Spider-Man on my team but when one finally dropped in, her arsenal went from decent to brilliant, just with the one addition of a team-up move. Her usual acorn ammunition got a level up and by pressing a button I could shoot sticky acorns, held together with web fluid, at enemies to stick them to the floor.

It’s a small thing, but it changed the way I played follow-up matches. Did I have a certain character on my team I could gel with? Could I gain an extra attack or ability by siding with someone? You can even call out for a team-up on the character select screen, which is a lovely feature.

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After switching over to Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier (to give him his full name and pay respect) I found my main. He strikes a nice balance between precision, due to his gun only having three shots before reloading, and traversal abilities. There was nothing more satisfying than dancing around an Iron Fist, peppering them with shots, before unleashing a dashing uppercut to wipe out their health.

It’s no surprise that the game is doing well. With tens of millions of players signing in, it shows that a good licence and decent gameplay can bring people in. It’s crossing a broad spectrum of passions, from those who love the MCU films and want something to play for free, to those who genuinely love a good team-based shooter and are hooked in by the Marvel details.

I stand by the game being better with friends, though. Especially if you can get a few into a group and can strike the right balance between classes. The downside to these games will always be that someone wants to be the main event and practically every team I got on solo had a Wolverine, Spider-Man or Venom, Iron Fist and Iron Man. It doesn’t help that both Spidey and Iron Fist are overpowered in the current meta.

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Anyway, I’ve gone off on a tangent. Bringing it back to me being quite wrong, and my most heinous comment that Marvel Rivals was “too little, too late” while referring to NetEase jumping on the hero shooter genre. What a silly boy I am. Only by playing more and letting the game steadily infect my brain over the weekend have I realised that you can’t really arrive to a genre too late when you are hoping to reinvent it.

I stand by that companies can arrive late to genres and completely miss the boat (or even the whole point) but when you get past the idea that this is just Overwatch again, you can see the work put in. Of course, it has similarities, but there are so many subtle differences that it feels like inspiration is all it is; with map-based perks, the aforementioned combo abilities, the destructible scenery. It’s doing enough to look like no homework is being copied.

I’m excited to see where this goes, and to see if Marvel brings in crossover stories. It would be great to read comics as part of an event in-game, and vice versa. The potential is huge, and I hope NetEase and Marvel ride the wave and don’t get complacent, or I’ll have to write another article going back on what I’ve said again.