REVIEW - Marvel Rivals sacrifices clarity for intensity
Scrappy spam.
By Jonathan Garrett
09/12/24
Reviewed on PS5 Pro.
Marvel Rivals buckles under the complexity of its balancing, leaving a game that feels less Overwatch and more Gang Beasts, but without the comedic slapstick or chaotic hilarity inherent with nonsense party brawlers. The characters are recognisable, and the presentation undeniably slick, but the fundamental favouring of ranged attacks and tendency for scraps to devolve into a flurry of incomprehensible flailing make it tough to recommend.
There are some wonderful free to play design choices buried underneath this flawed effort; a battle pass with rewards that persist beyond the end of each season, and an entire cavalcade of characters unlocked from the off, is a healthy mandate which keeps the doors wide open for players new and old. There’s a lot of contrasting move sets which encourages deeper exploration of the roster, and no matter your current feelings about the MCU, there will surely be a hero worth your time.
But once you’re loaded in, things start to quickly fall apart. Character movement is sluggish at best, with movement feeling unusually restrictive in a game that features characters with fantastical abilities. If you choose a melee focused character, attacks don’t land consistently, and what appears to be a soft auto aim feels poorly tuned. You’ll get peppered by characters with ranged attacks, and the lack of traversal options makes it tough to close the gap.
Then there’s the absence of clear feedback; it’s not always apparent why you’re taking damage in the heat of the moment, and you’ll quickly watch your health drain to zero as a ranged enemy picks you apart. The destructible elements within the map are frivolous at best, where it doesn’t make sense that certain surfaces can break while others can’t.
In some ways, that sums up why Marvel Rivals is such is misfire; it’s inconsistent in its design choices, and lacks the clarity necessary to avoid frustration.
Perty.
WORTH IT?
At the bottom of every game review, we ask the question: Worth it? And the answer is either “Yeah!” or “Nah”, followed by a comment that sums up how we feel. In order to provide more information, we also have “And” or “But”, which follows up our rating with further clarification, additional context for a game we love, or perhaps a redeeming quality for a game we didn’t like.
NAH.
Marvel Rivals frustrates more than it entertains, with combat that lacks nuance and instead favours scrappy brawls.
BUT
It features one of the friendlier monetisation models that we’ve seen in the free to play space, with all characters available at launch.
2/5 - FLAWED
TARPS?
At the bottom of some of our articles, you’ll see a series of absurd looking images (with equally stupid, in joke laden names). These are the TARP badges, which represent our ‘Totally Accurate Rating Platform’. They allow us to identify specific things, recognise positive or negative aspects of a games design, and generally indulge our consistent silliness with some visual tomfoolery.
