You will feel right at home in Marvel Rivals. At least if you've ever started Overwatch or Team Fortress. The new hero shooter from NetEase and Marvel Games doesn't even try to disguise its role models – it's all about ‘copy and improve’.
The latter is a good keyword, because Rivals is much more than just a careless copy with a Marvel licence. After countless hours and many multiplayer games with a wide variety of hero combinations, we still want to play another round. Marvel Rivals not only offers a generous free-to-play model, but also a multitude of exciting heroes, who have already had decades as comic characters to successfully establish themselves.
The shooter has what it takes to be a surprise hit and can compete with Overwatch on equal terms. However, NetEase must not make the same mistake as Blizzard and lose sight of the players.
Marvel Rivals is probably not the best starting point to finally get to grips with the popular comic book universe. The abilities of the heroes are loosely based on their canon powers – Spiderman shoots webs and an angry Bruce Banner becomes the big green Hulk. In addition, there are brief Codex entries for each character that tell you more about their background.
Together with the short introductions on the loading screens of the respective map, that's all the story you can expect from the game. At least the heroes still get a little character development through the sometimes sharp-tongued and witty voice lines during the matches. Unsurprisingly, there is no single-player campaign, as you would expect from a hero shooter. Similarly, in the world of online gaming, platforms like wanted win casino no deposit bonus, known for its wide variety of online casino options, also don't rely on single-player modes but instead focus on community-driven gameplay. Just as Marvel Rivals builds its world through multiplayer interactions, Crusino relies on player engagement and rewards, emphasizing the social experience over individual storylines.
On the other hand, Marvel Rivals offers multiplayer fans a solid selection of characters, as well as different maps and modes, most of which are familiar from comparable shooters.
You can choose between a quick game or the ranked mode, which is available from level 10. In addition, there are even more relaxed arcade modes, as well as custom matches with your own conditions, a co-op vs. AI variant and a training ground where you can test all the heroes to your heart's content.
You should especially test tricky heroes like the ninja lady Psylocke extensively in the training area before your first match.
Just like the playable characters, the locations are based on the Marvel comics and films. For example, you can visit Black Panther's home country of Wakanda or Yggsgard, a mixture of Asgard and Yggdrasil that references the Norse mythology surrounding Thor, Loki and co. The total of eight different maps ensure plenty of variety, even if some share the same setting.
It's not creative there, but it is effective: That's because Marvel Rivals relies on many tried and tested game variations such as Domination, where you have to hold and defend a point, or Convoy. You already guessed it, you guide a vehicle safely from A to B. There is also a Team Deathmatch variant.
Even though Marvel Rivals is a team game, you sometimes have to face a single opponent. Here you will only survive if you are accurate and use your abilities better than your opponent.
All modes are entertaining and tactical, which is mainly due to the variety of heroes.
Marvel Rivals gives you access to all 33 heroes for free right from the start. So you don't have to unlock or buy anything. However, this also means that you should spend a lot of time in the training area learning the individual abilities.
Although Rivals offers heroes that are quite beginner-friendly, they all have a well-rounded kit with several active and passive skills, as well as an ultimate ability - similar to what you already know from Overwatch.
Each character has numerous active and passive skills that you can look up at any time in the menu or during matches.
Jeff the Land Shark, for example, is a particularly cute little cross between a shark and a dog. He is recommended for beginners, because his healing beam does not require precise aiming. He can also lay healing bubbles or throw them at his teammates, as well as briefly submerge himself to move faster. His ultimate is also quite something: he swallows all the heroes within a certain radius (friend or foe) and can spit them all or some of them out again. Very powerful when it comes to controlling points.
But of course it can also go wrong if you swallow the wrong person at the wrong moment. So, Marvel Rivals offers a lot of depth for all characters and requires you to overcome a certain learning curve to use them optimally.
Not everyone has to be able to aim fantastically. The different heroes offer a wide range of abilities and tasks. However, you always have to familiarise yourself a little – even simple characters have a pleasing amount of depth.
Mr Sharkstrum sounds very unique on paper, but the parallels to Overwatch (and Team Fortress 2) are undeniable. It starts with the classes: Vanguard, Duelist and Strategist are basically one-to-one with Tank, DPS and Support. And many heroes are even strongly reminiscent of Blizzard's characters when it comes to their positioning in combat or special abilities.
Characters like Squirrel Girl have a unique design – after all, the girl is half squirrel. In terms of gameplay, however, her acorn-hurling mechanics are reminiscent of Junkrat's rockets.
A Black Widow, like Widowmaker, is a sniper who takes out opponents from afar. An angry Hulk, on the other hand, jumps into the middle of the enemies just like a Winston and blows them apart. To be fair, the comic book heroes and heroines with their personalities and powers were created long before the Overwatch faces. Nevertheless, the (probably deliberate) gameplay parallels cannot be denied when playing.
Tanks have the advantage of being able to take a lot of damage. Magneto here can use his shield to absorb damage directly and thus help his team to advance. This is something we already know from Overwatch (and many other games).
So what makes Marvel Rivals unique or even better than Overwatch? In terms of gameplay, you can actually almost put them on top of each other and find little difference. Both are about controlling areas and collecting kills by working together as a team.
Play to the strengths of your characters and combine them, and you'll usually be successful with this tactic – especially compared to players who rush in uncoordinated. Compared to Call of Duty and the like, hero shooters rely on resource management, cooldowns and teamwork, which are otherwise more familiar from more strategic multiplayer games like MOBAs.
Ultimate powers have to recharge first and can decide entire matches. Luna here uses them to dance and heal her team – or to distribute a damage bonus, which makes it almost impossible for the opponents to take the point around her. So use them wisely!
Which hero design you prefer is purely a matter of taste – just like the maps, which in both games rely on a timelessly stylish comic book look. Probably the biggest gameplay change that Marvel Rivals offers compared to Overwatch are the hero synergies.
Certain character combinations unleash powerful bonuses in the match, some of which even activate new active skills: for example, Rocket Raccoon can ride on the sturdy running tree Groot, thus reducing incoming damage.
And Shark Jeff, in turn, can suddenly create slowing frost puddles when Ice Princess Luna Snow is on his team. This invites you to experiment with team combinations in a refreshing way that goes beyond ‘We need a tank!’.
Certain pairs of heroes enable unique combos. It's worth building your team around them, as some of them are very powerful.
However, Marvel Rivals is currently receiving the most momentum simply from the controversy surrounding Overwatch 2. Many players were dissatisfied with the sequel because, compared to its predecessor, only a few of the promised innovations (such as the PvE mode) were ultimately established. In addition, the microtransactions seem petty and some even include new heroes.
Marvel Rivals doesn't do everything perfectly either: after all, there is no proper PvE either, and the myriad nested menus, currencies and challenges don't exactly make it easy to unlock new content. For example, the Battle Pass can only be levelled by completing challenges, not by playing matches.
The Battle Pass without additional currency costs around 5 euros. However, you don't unlock the content by playing, but by completing challenges.
Some skins also cost a whopping 15 euros. On the other hand, all heroes are available from the start, the Battle Pass is affordable, and challenges can even be completed comfortably in mode against the AI. New costumes or player boards are also completely optional, and there are no gameplay advantages to buy.
Right from the start, Marvel Rivals offers a solid shooter package that doesn't have to measure up to grandiose promises. It remains to be seen whether the developers can use this momentum to keep delivering.
After all, live service games are known to be judged over the long term. The quality of future seasons with new modes, maps, heroes and heroines, and rewards will determine whether Rivals can hold its own in the long term.
The same goes for the technology, by the way – on the PC, we repeatedly had to deal with crashes and even a loading bug that didn't let us into matches. This only changed when we reinstalled the game on an SSD instead of an HDD. Other players share similar annoying experiences online.
As a multiplayer hero shooter, Marvel Rivals is reminiscent of Overwatch in many ways, but stands out from its competitor thanks to its extensive roster of heroes and popular Marvel characters – especially because they not only have their own abilities but also exciting synergies. In addition, the free-to-play model is straightforward and fair. Only cosmetic content is available for purchase, and all characters, maps and modes are playable by everyone right from the launch.