I went into Marvel Rivals with the expectation that the hero shooter would really feel like a large reskin of Overwatch 2. Throughout its alpha, there was a rising sentiment that NetEase had copied Blizzard’s homework due to movies of Black Panther diving throughout maps like Genji or Hulk’s two varieties resembling D.Va and her mech. However after enjoying the closed beta for round six hours now, I am beginning to realise that the comparisons could have been an overstatement.
There’s clearly some inspiration right here, which is sensible contemplating work on Marvel Rivals started round 2019, arguably when the Overwatch hype was at its highest—I would use Blizzard’s work as a place to begin for certain. Whereas it is easy and useful to match characters from each video games so new gamers can get a greater understanding, Marvel heroes aren’t a mirror picture of the Overwatch ones. As an alternative, many related skills have been divided between numerous heroes.
For instance, Adam Warlock performs rather a lot like Brigitte, together with his major skill resembling her armour packs and his secondary skill working a bit like her final, however NetEase additionally determined to present him what is actually Mercy’s outdated final, crew rez. Because of this the characters play in a different way, and you’ve got to concentrate on completely different points and obligations. At no level in a match have I felt like I might shut my eyes and let muscle reminiscence from the final eight years of enjoying Overwatch take the wheel—though one of many Tokyo 2099 maps gave me flashbacks to Hanamura’s first level.
It additionally helps that Marvel Rivals is a third-person shooter, which suggests there’s not as a lot of a concentrate on precision aiming. As an alternative, it locations a number of duty on managing and coordinating cooldowns. When you get the grasp of this, the chaotic fights develop into approach simpler to deal with, and you’ll really do some fairly cool methods, like utilizing Groot’s final to entice enemies alongside a extra explosive skill like Punisher’s Culling Turret to remove them in a single fell swoop.
This additionally is not the primary time we have seen a multiplayer shooter take inspiration from Overwatch. Video games like Paladins and Harmony have very related options, whereas Valorant nearly instantly rips heroes from Overwatch. Valorant’s Omen does not simply look similar to Overwatch’s Reaper, however he has lots of the identical skills, resembling teleporting or phasing throughout the map. Sova, in the meantime, additionally seems like his Overwatch counterpart Hanzo, utilizing a bow and arrow with a recon arrow to reveal enemies and a wall-piercing final, it is fairly apparent the place the thought got here from.
However whereas Overwatch clearly has a far-reaching affect on hero shooters, it does not have a monopoly on skills. You return far sufficient, and you’ll nearly all the time see similarities between new and outdated video games. The obvious instance of this must be how Overwatch is clearly impressed by Workforce Fortress 2, whether or not that be Mercy’s similarities to Medic or Tracer and Scout’s likeness.
Marvel Rivals can undoubtedly be arduous to understand at first, and NetEase must provide you with a greater option to convey the path of incoming injury as a result of proper now, there’s a lot happening throughout fights that generally I do not even realise I am being hit. However this is not one thing that different hero shooters have not needed to cope with earlier than. I’d pity anybody attempting to get into Overwatch 2 for the primary time immediately—from the skin in, it will probably look ridiculously busy.
Whereas Marel Rivals definetly is not for everybody, my colleague Fraser Brown actually thinks it is a useless man strolling, I’ve discovered the hero shooter to be fairly agreeable. It is nonetheless very a lot early days, because it’s simply midway by way of its closed beta, so hopefully, NetEase will take the time to deal with injury points and patch a number of highly effective heroes. This shooter will not be gunning for Overwatch 2’s crown any time quickly, however I would hope to see it go for it sooner or later—extra competitors is a good way to incentivize progress, which generally is a great point for all gamers concerned.