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Do you want the good news, or the bad news first?

Personally, I always prefer the bad news first, but thankfully the bad isn’t Marvel vs. Capcom related at all.

The sad news is that Batman: Arkham City developer, Rocksteady, confirmed that there will NOT be any multiplayer in the game. Ever since Arkham City’s article in Game Informer, there had been rumors of a possible Batman/Catwoman team-up co-op mode, and those rumors have been officially debunked, but I completely understand the developers’ point of view. Basically, a co-op mode wouldn’t have been feasible without taking away from the single player mode, and the sacrifice wasn’t worth it. You can read Rocksteady’s words here.

I understand where Rocksteady is coming from. The sacrifice of multiplayer is worth it if the campaign is amazing. Some might find this unacceptable, but, as a hardcore Batman fanatic, I’ll take an amazing single player Batman game this year over an amazing single player and multiplayer Batman game next year. (Patience has never been a virtue of mine.) I just hope we get some better DLC in Arkham City than we did in Arkham Asylum. But before that, we have the Arkham City comic tie-in that fills in the gaps between the two games. I can’t wait!

But enough about Arkham City! On to the main event! Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds was only a wet dream merely a year ago, but now it has become a reality, and is sitting in our game consoles!

Hopefully you picked up the MvC3 Collector’s Edition. The $69.99 package consists of a steel bookcase with exclusive art, a 12-page prologue comic, one month subscription to Marvel Digital Comics, and codes for the first two playable downloadable characters, Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath.

Last week we went over the awesome roster of MvC3, and this week we’re actually playing the full game. So let’s get down to it!

Obviously, MvC3 is a fighting game, but not just any fighting game, the sequel to arguably the greatest fighting game of all time. And what do you do to the arguably greatest fighting game of all time? You change it!

That may sound like crazy talk, but all the change in MvC3 is for the best! The first thing I noticed is that the characters have slowed down, but that’s not a bad thing. In MvC2, characters easily bounced off the walls at an alarming speed, which was cool, but the moves in MvC3 feel much more cinematic, and the pace of the fighting is still just as enjoyable.

Even more than that, the combat has been simplified. Hardcore fighting game fans fear not! It’s still a great technical fighting game, but for those less experienced players, there is a “simple mode” that allows you to preform all the same amazing special moves and finishers at the touch of a button.

A new edition of the series is the X-Factor ability. If you’ve ever played Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, and you know the “rage” mode, it’s basically the same thing, except MvC3‘s X-Factor preforms much better. It gives you an extra boost in power, and is a great tactic to execute right when you’re on the brink of defeat, and want to stick it to your opponent.

The game at its core is brilliant, as you would expect, but the story mode is heavily lacking by 2011 standards. It’s your basic mediocre comic book panel, speech bubble, character journey to the final boss with very little depth, but I didn’t have as much of a problem with it as other people, simply because the actual combat is so much fun.

The real problem of this game is the online experience. It’s generally smooth, but I do have friends who reported lagging, but not enough to hinder the overall fun. The online is not nearly as expansive as Capcom’s last major fighter, Street Fighter IV, and lobbying is extremely dull, but the worst part is the lack of replay, meaning if you have the greatest MvC fight of all time, it will be lost forever as soon as the K.O. bell rings, and any evidence of the epic is lost forever.

Also, keep in mind that Capcom fighting game fans are extreme. If you’re new or unfamiliar with Capcom fighters, expect to get your ass handed to you a lot during online play, but don’t let this deter you. Playing with friends, or even just through the story mode is great.

I’ll be honest. I grew up a comic book reader first, and a video game player second, and as good a fighting game series as MvC is, had Marvel not been associated with it, I may not have had much experience with whatever this series would have been. But what got me really excited about this game were the awesome alternate costumes. Everything from classic Thor, Black Suit Spidey, Iron Patriot, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Steve Rogers, Fantastic Four She-Hulk, and more, all gets me extremely excited, and that’s just from my biased Marvel perspective.

The training mode in MvC3 is pretty explanatory, and great if you’re new to MvC, and the mission mode is pretty cool to run through, if not the greatest gaming experience.

But no matter what negative things I’ve said about MvC3 in this perspective, there’s no doubt that it’s an absolutely amazing video game, and worth every cent of your money. This game absolutely holds up to its iconic legendary predecessor, and will be a fighting game standard until MvC4 comes out in another ten years.

My big question is, who are you playing as? MvC3 has a starting roster of over 30 characters, and I’ve spent the past two days doing a lot of experimenting. My old MvC2 standards were Dr. Doom, Captain America, and Wolverine, but in MvC3, I’m strangely very good with Hsien-Ko, and playing as Deadpool is so much fun. I still have a lot of mixing and matching to do with characters, But I know I’ll be hooked on this game all the way till the fall, when Batman: Arkham City releases.

Who are your favorite MvC3 characters so far?

For more segments of The Comics Console, click here!

Andrew Hurst
andrewhurst@comicattack.net
@andrewEhurst