Marvel Rivals, Netease’ free-to-play Overwatch wannabe comprised of superheroes from the Marvelverse, is set to launch on December 6th. And in a “hah, take this Overwatch!” way, they’ve also announced that all of its heroes will be unlocked for everyone straight off the bat (man). Oh no wait, he’s DC isn’t he. To be fair, I’ve only watched one Avengers film, two Captain Americas, and Thor: Ragnarok (without seeing the other Thors). All of which I have zero recollection of. Anyway, yes, Marvel Rivals.
The game’s big middle finger to Overwatch isn’t only that every hero is free-to-play immediately, but any heroes released later down the line will be too. On the one hand I think this is good because there’s no barrier to trying out the new hotness. But on the other, I do think there was some merit to locking new heroes behind at least a bit of progression. Not like, spending real life money or anything, but just a sense that you’ve worked to unlock the new hotness. I don’t know, I just found it quite exciting whenever I unlocked a new character with my hard earned Overwatch Bucks. And weirdly, it gave me a sense that I’d passed some basic tests: in mastering the simple free characters, I’d graduated to the more complex new release.
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Captain America and the Winter Soldier are also joining the roster, which confuses me slightly as I thought they were one and the same. Then again, I am about as in tune with the Marvelverse as I am some of The Voice’s coaches performing Beautiful Day 12 years ago.
Otherwise yeah, my thoughts on Marvel Rivals are thus: I think this game is swinging around far too late. I wouldn’t say hero FPS games are dead, but I do believe Marvel Rivals’ specific brand of shooter just isn’t in demand anymore – even if it does look alright.
It might be DC or whatever, but I hope Square Enix one day gives us another Guardians Of The Galaxy adventure again. Now that game? That game was good.
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