Could Marvel Rivals really be the "Overwatch killer"?

Will this hero shooter be the one to overthrow Overwatch?

Adam Lovegrove
16th September 2024
Screenshot: Youtube, @Marvel Entertainment
A few weeks ago, I received an invite to experience Marvel Rivals’ closed beta, which gave me and thousands of other gamers the chance to play NetEase’s brand new hero-based shooter – a genre that has recently become flooded with mediocre, uninspired and unoriginal releases. Even some of the stronger attempts at the formula like Valorant and Apex Legends, which are far more unique and inventive in their takes on the style, still haven’t managed to reach the heights of Overwatch 2: the undeniable front-runner of the genre.

Marvel Rivals is very clearly inspired by Overwatch 2, wearing its influences proudly on its sleeve. From its hero classes and move sets, to the game modes and map designs, almost every element of it takes notes from Blizzard’s shooter in one way or another. And while these striking similarities limit the game from filling its own niche in the same way that Valorant and Apex do, Marvel Rivals has the building blocks necessary to become a worthy competitor to Overwatch 2, and with some improvements could provide Blizzard with a threat worth thinking about.

Before I begin comparing the two games, I’ll give a brief overview of the basics of this game. Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play, 6v6 third-person shooter that gives players the option to play as a roster of 23 (and counting) Marvel Comics characters. These characters are split up into three classes: Vanguards, Duelists and Strategists. Vanguards are the heavy types, typically responsible for soaking up large amounts of damage with their high health bars and keeping the enemy fire focused on them. Duelists are primarily focused on dealing damage and securing kills, acting as the main source of firepower for the team. And Strategists serve the purpose of supporting their fellow teammates, whether that be through providing them with extra health, speed, and damage, or applying debuffs to make opponents easier to kill.

A shot of the scenery in Tokyo 2099
Screenshot: Youtube, @Marvel Entertainment

The beta featured a disappointingly low total of four maps spread out across two locations: Yggsgard and Tokyo 2099. While it is confirmed that there will be at least three different game modes once Marvel Rivals releases, the beta only features two. The first is Convoy, which involves attackers moving a payload past multiple checkpoints while the defenders try to stop it. The second, Convergence, has both teams battling to capture a single point across multiple maps in a best-of-three format. And Domination, while not available in the demo, will have teams battle for control of multiple different points across a single location.

Anybody who has played Overwatch before will notice the parallels instantly when reading those last two paragraphs. The three hero pools are near identical to Overwatch’s Tank, Damage, and Support classes, and the same goes for the game modes when compared respectively to Payload, Control and Flashpoint. The two games are undeniably alike one another, but that isn’t to say that Marvel Rivals doesn’t have any unique elements to it at all.

What caught my eye at first when the trailer for this game released were the introduction of Team-Up Abilities, where certain combinations of characters can combine their powers to receive new or strengthened abilities. It’s an incredibly creative idea that compliments Marvel’s massive multiverse of characters very well, while also encouraging teams to think carefully about the characters they select. The majority of these are really cool, like Hulk being able to power up Iron Man’s suit with powerful gamma radiation, or Venom providing Spider-Man and Peni Parker with symbiote power, allowing them to damage enemies as a ball of black spikes. My only real gripe with these is that I wish there more for each character, and that characters with multiple team-ups available should probably be limited to having one equipped at a time.

Iron Man teaming up with Hulk to enable his gamma-infused rays
Screenshot: Youtube, @Marvel Entertainment

Another thing about Rivals that sets it apart is its destructible environments. Large parts of every map, from walls and buildings to statues and pillars, can be destroyed by attacking them, opening up and evolving the landscape of the battlefield. At times these can be cool, allowing you to catch hiding enemies off-guard, use rubble as cover or create ramps out of broken structures. While these can be useful when they work, fallen debris can also block pathways off, disrupting the flow of the fight which isn’t fun for either team. I also can’t help but feel as though too much of the environment is destructible at times, and once a significant amount is destroyed, areas can feel far too open and empty, which can be a problem for characters who rely on playing around cover. Reducing the number of breakable buildings would definitely make this mechanic feel more balanced.

While Marvel Rivals is, at its core, a fun and entertaining experience, I feel that the balancing of the game is easily one of its largest issues. All the heroes feel extremely overpowered, which is a complaint I’ve heard many players try to defend against, stating that it doesn’t matter if all heroes are incredibly strong as long as they are equal. However, I don’t think it is as simple of an issue as that. For example, due to many of the heroes having such a high damage output, the time-to-kill in this game is incredibly low, which punishes players from being too risky with their playstyle. This can make close-range characters far less viable, as even the shortest amount of time spent in the open can potentially see your health bar drop from 250 to 0 in an instant.

I think a good way to demonstrate this problem is by comparing certain abilities in this game to their Overwatch counterparts. For example, Soldier 76’s Ultimate Ability – Tactical Visor – allows him to automatically lock on to enemies for a short amount of time, making him capable of landing every bullet he fires. While this may sound strong at first, there are plenty of ways to diminish its impact – blocking his bullets with a shield, hiding behind cover, or hitting him with a CC (crowd control) ability. But when it comes to Marvel Rivals’ equivalent – Star Lord’s Ultimate – many of these issues are eliminated for the player as he enters free-flight, allowing him to move past enemy shields and making him harder to hit. Combine this with the fact that half of the environment around you can be destroyed at any given moment, and there is very little you can do to avoid his onslaught of lock-on bullets from above.

Captain America tossing his shield while charging into the enemy team
Screenshot: Youtube, @Marvel Entertainment

Part of what makes hero-based shooters so much fun is the freedom you have to experiment with different tactics and playstyles, but when the enemy team can gun you down in the blink of an eye, that freedom becomes significantly limited. This issue is heightened by a severe lack of visual or audio feedback on any damage that you or your enemies make. The majority of attacks in this game lack any sort of weight, which not only makes you feel as though what you’re doing is having no effect on the enemy, but it can also make it hard to realise that you’re taking too much damage yourself, as the game gives you little feedback to let you know you’re close to dying. When Reinhardt swings his hammer in Overwatch, you feel its impact in the streaks of wind it leaves in the air; the grunts he makes as he sways it back and forth; the heavy thumping sound when it collides with an enemy and how it knocks them to the side. Comparatively, heroes like Hulk, Spider-Man and Black Panther feel as though they have no momentum to their swings, kicks and punches, which can make them feel terrible to play. The same goes for projectiles, bullets and almost every other resource in the game.

While the game struggles in this department of its visuals, the art style itself is stunning and second to none amongst its genre. Don’t get me wrong, Overwatch is also a great looking game, with a colourful cast of characters and maps, but Marvel Rivals’ cel-shaded style is nothing like any other game out there, with the attention to detail being so high that it looks like it was ripped straight out of a comic book. Everything in this game is brimming with life and colour, from the vibrant visual effects on attacks and abilities, to the elaborately detailed character designs, to the stunning MVP animations that play at the end of a match. The only problem is that characters can tend to blend into the environments a bit, but adding some thick, dark-shaded borders could fix that quite easily.

Overall, Marvel Rivals definitely has the potential to be a seriously fun hero-based shooter. It builds off many of the great ideas Overwatch has previously laid out, adding its own unique twists and turns that make the game feel fresh and unique enough. But do I think it has the potential to compete for the crown as the king of hero-based shooters? Not quite. Despite all the problems that Overwatch 2 has encountered over the last few years, it’s become pretty clear that it won’t be giving up its spot anytime soon, with its player count still growing despite multiple setbacks. However, Marvel Rivals could easily claim a significant portion of the hero shooter audience with some tweaks to its movesets, a larger pool of maps, and some much-needed polish. It is only a closed beta after all, and I’m sure the team at NetEase will use the feedback received to work on their product further before releasing it to the public. Hopefully these two games can start a sort of rivalry between each other, pushing the respective teams to make them both the best they can be.

AUTHOR: Adam Lovegrove
BA English Literature | Head of Culture

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