Marvel Rivals Is Overwatch with Superheroes, But Can It Live Up to Either? | Push Square
Marvel Rivals feels like it should be the most sure-fire success in the current gaming landscape. It stars just under 20 heroes and villains (at launch, anyway) from the comic book house's extensive roster, and they're thrown together into a free-to-play third-person shooter that, despite the perspective change, feels very Overwatch. After playing a few rounds with various different characters, our main question is whether that slam-dunk combination will really result in a memorable game.
«At Marvel, we always wanted to do a team-based, PvP game, and we found a studio [in NetEase] that shared the same passion with us to create a best-in-class [team-based PvP shooter]. And hence we have Marvel Rivals,» Executive Producer Danny Koo tells us. It's an idea that's been cooking since 2018, and the title is due to release on PS5 and other platforms later this year.
Thaddeus Sasser, game director on Marvel Rivals, provided us some context for why these heroes and villains are teaming up and fighting each other. «Two Doctor Dooms from alternate timelines, one from the future, one from the [present], are rivals over these entangled time streams. They're trying to achieve dominance over all the universes, all the timelines. The heroes are [embroiled] in this conflict and trying to resolve it, so that hopefully neither Doctor Doom is successful!»
That means both heroes and villains are working together and doing battle against alternate versions of themselves, as they're all aiming to thwart the plans of the two main baddies. We wanted to test out a few of the playable characters, and each of them has unique play styles and special abilities, as you'd expect. Groot can attack with his extending arms, but also put up large walls to create defences for his team. Scarlet Witch uses blasts of dark magic to attack and hex opponents. Players who want to get stuck in with a more traditional shooter character can opt for The Punisher, who uses a mix of firearms, a grapple hook, and
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