Hey, levelonefanboy here. I know my friend expjunkie brought you a nice, concise review of this game, but now I finally got my hands on it, and I shall tell you what it’s like from the newb view.
Yes, I’m a newb. I have never played Marvel vs. Capcom 2 or much of the other games except the Street Fighter series. This game had huge hype, Pretty much every gamer I know has it or has played it. I thought I might as well give it a shot.
If you’re a super expert 90-hit combo Master Lord in this game, you can probably disregard my comments and continue being the super high rank that you are. For all my newb friends, stay tuned. There is no need to be frightened of this game. Press Start!
Story: I got this from Wikipedia. Doctor Doom has assembled the greatest villains of the Marvel Universe and has joined forces with Albert Wesker in order to unite their respective universes in an effort to conquer both. However, this course of action awakens a great and powerful threat that could potentially destroy both worlds. It is up to the heroes of the Marvel and Capcom universes to put a stop to this evil before it is too late.
So there isn’t much in terms of plot, but most people buy fighting games for fighting. Now let’s go to the game itself.
Game Modes: For Offline Play there are Arcade, Versus, Training, and Mission modes.
Arcade: For single players who like bot challenges, this is the best you can get if you want to make some story sense out of this game. I have no idea what any of the moves are or who is better. Being the newb gaymer that I am, I decided to go with three hot-looking guys in the game: Ryu, Chris Redfield, and Captain America. (drool)
Here are some screen shots of Arcade mode:
Is it just me or does Ryu look thinner compared to the other versions? He also kind of looks like an Asian Hugh Jackman. Or am I just seeing things?
Just when you thought there wasn’t a story. Oh yeah, you all have to Save the Earth!
From this evil giant Galactus.
Once you beat him and save the world, you get a comic-style ending for the character who deals the finishing move. It really makes no sense because there was no plot to begin with.
But the whole reason to go through Arcade mode is to unlock stuff from the Gallery.
Every time you beat it with a different character, movies, their bios, their endings, viewing them as a model, artwork, and sound is unlocked.
Other than Arcade, you have Versus where you battle another player, and Training for those of us who don’t know much about character moves. Maybe I should’ve gone there first.
Mission Mode:
In here, you get different tasks with each character in case you’re tired of fighting.
Online Mode you can battle people in Ranked missions, fight other online players, and check leaderboards.
For Ranking, everyone starts off at Beginner. To advance yourself up, you must fight other “real” opponents online. If you win, you will move up.
If you’re a newb like me or just like to fight, then you don’t have to worry about ranking. It’s a way to show off to your friends how good you are. I tried one battle, and the guy was insanely good. Of course they’re not full Beginners. You’re going to have to gain some skill in this game to beat live opponents. Cosmic Lord seems to be the highest status. And you go from lords to scouts in each number ranking. 10th lord is below 9th lord and so on.
Gameplay: Each match pits three characters against three, so you have to play this as a team battle. You use one at a time, and you can switch off between characters or use your team members to help you during battle.
Playable Characters:
| Marvel characters |
Capcom characters |
| Captain America |
Akuma |
| Deadpool |
Albert Wesker |
| Doctor Doom |
Amaterasu |
| Dormammu |
Arthur |
| Hulk |
Chris Redfield |
| Iron Man |
Chun-Li |
| Magneto |
Crimson Viper |
| M.O.D.O.K. |
Dante |
| Phoenix |
Felicia |
| Sentinel |
Hsien-Ko |
| She-Hulk |
Jill Valentinea |
| Shuma-Goratha |
Mike Haggar |
| Spider-Man |
Morrigan Aensland |
| Storm |
Nathan Spencer |
| Super-Skrull |
Ryu |
| Taskmaster |
Trish |
| Thor |
Tron Bonne |
| Wolverine |
Viewtiful Joe |
| X-23 |
Zero |
*Note Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath come with the Collector’s Edition or must be purchased separately.
I honestly thought it would be tough learning the controls and game, but it’s like any other arcade. It’s not as complicated as Street Fighter, and the moves are easy to execute. You can pick any character and know a move just by doing “Hadoken.” But if you have any trouble, you can always access the Command List.
Characters have regular moves, then blue highlights the special moves, which land harder hits and big combo bonuses. These require that you gain some levels in your bar down below.
And when you push your “Triple Hit Special” button, if you have at least 2 levels you can do a Special attack with two or three team members.
Yes, there will be many who are insanely good in this game, but for a beginner, it is not too difficult to get the hang of the controls and mechanics of gameplay. Once you have that, all you have to do now is work on combos and timing.
License Card: Every person gets a customizable License Card, which shows their ranking, stats, records, preset teams, and even lets you see your friends’ license cards too.
Graphics: From many of these screenshots, you can tell that the graphics are amazing, especially in HD. The game is in comic style, adding an organized look and appeal.
Sound: I F&*(#IN LOVE THE MUSIC!!!! (cough ahem) The music goes well with the game. They have some recognizable soundtracks from the games that the characters come from. You can customize EACH person’s voice to be either Japanese or English.
Special Edition: I know this is late, but if you were able to get your hands on the Special Edition, you would get access to a steelbook case, an art book including a 12-page prologue comic written by Frank Tieri, a 1-month subscription to Marvel Digital Comics, and codes redeemable for free downloads of the Jill Valentine and Shuma-Gorath downloadable content. Special Edition is around $100 now.
Queer Factor: None of the characters are gay as far as I know. Arthur does bust a Zero Suit Samus, where he gets stripped to his underwear and Deadpool has a questionable Special where he, uh, “captivates” other characters? The guys provide yummy eye candy though…bulging biceps and ripped bodies. =D I’ve had a crush on Chris Redfield ever since Resident Evil came out in 1996.
Overall: From a person who does not play fighting games as much, this game is easy to pick up, and has much replay value. I played against my friend for a few hours, and even with no experience I found myself winning and losing in equal amounts. The characters provide interesting team formations, and the colorful graphics keep the game appealing. If you’re not busy fighting, you’ll marvel at this sight (No pun intended). It’s definitely worth a buy.
Story and Character source: Wikipedia.org
Images: My camera, copyright Capcom, flickcast.com
The Eclectic Gaymer 
