Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite Review

Infinitely inferior

(This review contains minor spoilers!)

          I love classic side-scrolling fighting games. From Street Fighter to Tekken, something about them never gets old to me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from a pro at these kinds of games, as I usually button mash my way to victory. That doesn’t make me enjoy them any less though.

          And one of my favourite entries in the genre was Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Boasting an enormous roster of characters from both the Capcom and Marvel Comics universe, a ton of moves to learn and pull off, and even a simpler control scheme for players less experienced at fighting games that made it far more accessible at the cost of locking away some of the stronger abilities. It’s a great game.

          And now here comes the sequel. Capcom’s had 6 years since Ultimate 3 debuted, so what do they have up their sleeves?

          Well, it’s more a question about what they haven’t got up their sleeves. Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite isn’t a bad game, but when compared to its direct predecessor it is lacking in every single department. Capcom appears to have attacked the game with a machete, as every aspect carried over from 3 has either been lessened or removed entirely.

          Let’s start with the characters. The game has a selection of 15 Capcom and 15 Marvel characters, coming in at a grand total of 30 overall. Compare that to 3’s 50 characters, and it’s looking kind of sad.

Part of this seems to be the fact that, in an effort to resemble the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, X-Men and Fantastic Four characters are nowhere to be found here. Wolverine, once the face of the franchise, has been excised completely, and gone alongside him are favourites from the previous game such as Doctor Doom, Deadpool and Magneto. Since the Marvel movies are the hot thing right now I get this decision, but why not replace them with characters from the movies instead? Where’s Ant-Man? I wanna play as Ant-Man!

          Even worse is the fact that other characters are already available as DLC, so you can increase the roster…for a price. The game hasn’t even been out for more than a few weeks and they’re already trying to break open your wallet. I know I’ll sound like an old man here, but back in my day when the game wanted to give you more characters, you had to unlock them by actually playing the game.

          The game’s graphics look like the finest polygons 2002 can buy. Characters resemble hunks of flesh-coloured meat more than they do actual humans, and for some reason a lot of the characters don’t have hair physics instead of just furry looking textures slapped onto them. The worst example of this is Rocket Raccoon, who resembles a drowned rat more than he does his cinematic counterpart. Oftentimes during cutscenes character mouths won’t sync up with the dialogue, instead looking more like they’re chewing on something in a really robotic motion.

          Speaking of cutscenes, let’s talk about that. Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite features a Story campaign with all the Marvel and Capcom heroes uniting together against the forces of Ultron. Unfortunately, despite being called a “story” mode, it feels more like a string of PvE battles loosely tied together through some very lazily written cutscenes.

          The excuses the writers have to get into fight situations are hilarious at times. Early on the heroes are debating whether it’s worth risking asking Thanos to help them fight off Ultron. Captain America thinks they’re out of options and it’s a necessary evil. Iron Man says there’s probably another solution. How do they resolve this dispute?

          Why, by sitting down and talking it out like rational human beings, of course.

          Nah, just kidding. They beat the crap out of each other in the middle of Avengers Tower. It’s hilarious how the writers come to this conclusion. The entire exchange goes something like this:

          Captain A.: “Okay guys, we need to get Thanos on our side! It’s the only way we can fix this!”

          Iron Man: “C’mon, Cap, there’s gotta be another way!”

          Captain: “Sorry, Tony, but we’re out of options.”

          Iron Man: “THEN YOU LEAVE ME NO CHOICE!”

          And boom, fight sequence. There isn’t a single cutscene that isn’t handled like this. The characters talk for a bit about whatever, something bad shows up, and they need to fight it. Rinse and repeat until the end. I eventually started skipping cutscenes because they got so insufferable, which is something I never do.

          The game’s one saving grace is the gameplay, which is…not terrible, I guess? Like everything else in the game it pales in comparison to 3’s character-switching super-speed action, but you could do a lot worse.

          You can select two characters from the roster for your team (as opposed to three in the previous game), and you can switch between them at will at any time in the fight. Also here are brand new Infinity Stone power-ups, another element brought in from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Each of the six stones have a unique ability that can be used at any time in battle, such as a lightly damaging attack or a small speed boost, as well as a super ability when fully charged that can turn the tides of battle. The stones are easily the highlight of the game, if not only because they’re basically the only real new thing that was added. A well-placed Infinity Stone move can legitimately change the course of a match when used correctly, or be a total waste of time. It’s up to you to determine when to use them.

          One issue I did have with fighting was that at times the hitboxes on the characters seemed pretty unfair. At one point I was battling the Hulk, but I found my punches wouldn’t connect unless I was literally right in his face. Keep in mind that Hulk is the largest and heaviest hitting character in the game, so sticking close by him is not exactly the best strategy, albeit a confusingly necessary one. On the other hand, Rocket Raccoon, easily the smallest character, has the hitboxes of a normal person. It’s really confusing when you swing your arms at Marvel’s jolly green giant only for nothing to happen, and then be able to smack Rocket across the screen when your fist should’ve flown right above his head.

           Is Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite a bad game? No. The gameplay is perfectly serviceable, and I can see myself having fun playing it with friends over a weekend rental. But as a direct successor to Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, it pales in comparison. It lacks the character roster, gameplay finesse, and comic book-like graphical style that made its predecessor pop so much, and as a result looks like a weak imitation of what came before it.

FINAL SCORE

5/10

Average