I would like to preface this review with this; I am quite possibly the worst player ever at fighting games. Despite that, whether you're super quick on the draw with devastating chain combos or the quintessential button masher like myself, you'll find some enjoyment in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.
Capcom doesn't tend to disappoint in the fighting genres, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is no exception. The look and feel is very similar to the games that came before it, but the toon shaded models and 3D characters add a lot of depth to the game. All of the characters are exceptionally well done, with the Marvel characters staying true to the look and feel that they have in their respective publications, as well as the Capcom characters being updated to the modern console.
One of the concerns I had was how they would implement some of the newer characters introduced into MvC3. But Capcom took some very obvious efforts to make sure that each character stays true to form. Take for example Dante from the Devil May Cry series: Many of his signature moves from all four of the DMC games are present as special moves. Even Trish, who was never a playable character in the DMC series, has a move-set that feels fitting for her character.
Capcom did a good job as well with making sure that the gameplay was accessible to a range of players with different skillsets. In previous fighting games, my actions were purely random, pulling off any type of a decent combo was merely statistical coincidence. However with the simplified control scheme in Marvel vs. Capcom 3, it's easy to precisely control at least the types or styles of attacks that you want to do. This makes making combos a little bit less random for the novice button mashers providing them with a little bit more satisfaction in their results.
That doesn't mean that the control scheme has been dumbed down to the point where the more advanced players feel cheated with Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Quite the contrary in fact. Within seconds of getting a hold of the game, my local guinea pigs here seemed to have absolutely no trouble whatsoever mopping up the floor with me with their well planned, superbly timed attacks and counterattacks.
Of course, if you actually want to learn the moves and figure out how to do them consistently, there is a command list with the moves of each character available from the pause menu. And if you want to practice them to perfection, there is a training room available for you to do so. This provides you a selectable target that refills its life gauge so you can continue to attack it without having to start a match over and over again.
Capcom has also included some pretty excellent and sometimes amusing extras into the game. There's a Player License available that allows you to view your statistics, track what characters you use the most, set your presets for your teams, view your friends' progress, and track your Player Points; points acquired while playing the game that go towards unlocking additional content such as character bios, models, movies, artwork, and character sounds.
You read that right. Now you can listen to Ryu screaming, "Haaaaadoooooouken!" over, and over, and over, to your heart's content, provided you acquire the necessary player points.
Of course there's the ability to play on Xbox Live in either Ranked Matches if you're the competitive type; or Player Matches if you just want to jump into a random game. There are also global leader boards available if you want to see where you rank up in terms of Wins, Streaks, High Scores, or overall.
It would be at this point where I would tell you how awesome it was to play online with other players, but I have yet to be able to successfully connect to an online session by running the Ranked or Player Match searches. This is not an uncommon occurrence apparently as a quick Googling shows that in fact, many people are having this issue. While a workaround is available by going through the lobby search and picking up a game in there, it would be nice if Capcom would actually recognize that there may actually be a legitimate issue beyond it being "an ISP problem".
Aside from the connection issues mentioned above, I really have no complaints about Marvel vs. Capcom: The Fate of Two Worlds. They've definitely worked hard to design it to be easy to use for experienced gamers and button mashers alike. The action is fast paced and the graphics are absolutely phenomenal and the soundtrack is stupendous as well. Overall, this game is very much worth the money given that the aforementioned issue will likely be fixed in an update soon enough.
I would like to mention that I did pony up the extra $10 to purchase the Special Edition of MvC3. In the Special Edition, you receive the game in a steel box adorned in MvC3 artwork, a DLC code for Shuma Gorath and Jill Valentine (to be released in a few weeks), a 12-page comic leading up to the events of the game, and a one month subscription to Marvel Digital Comics. If you're a comic book fan, I would recommend picking this up. While the comic subscription is only a month, it is pretty neat to peruse the library and catch up on your favorite comics and the case itself is pretty sharp. However, if you just enjoy the game, go ahead and save yourself the $10 and apply it towards the DLC costume pack that'll be releasing soon.
