Marvel Rivals is more than just another hero-shooter | Closed Beta impressions

Taken at face value, Marvel Rivals – the new 6v6 team shooter from NetEase and Marvel Games – looks like a fairly shallow Overwatch clone where the likes of Mercy, Winston, and Tracer have been replaced by Magneto, Spider-Man and, erm, Jeff the Land Shark. And while it certainly does cleave close to what Blizzard have been doing with the genre for a few years (well, until they actively attempted to murder their own franchise), there is surprising depth to Marvel Rivals.

Each of the already huge roster of characters has their own unique abilities, strengths, weaknesses, Ultimate moves and passive talents which genuinely makes each of them feel different. They may fill the usual roles – and here we do have some strong similarities to other games in the genre – but how they perform in their respective class varies. Adam Warlock and Rocket Raccoon are both equipped to heal the party, for example, but the way they do it is completely different. Meanwhile The Punisher and Rocket are both ranged characters, but play very differently. Partly this is because, at this point, The Punisher feels vastly overpowered.

Which may be my main issue and takeaway from the Closed Beta: that Marvel Rivals needs some more time in the oven, with a lot of balancing tweaks. As a beta running before release, Marvel Rivals looks and feels very slick – but there are certainly problems where balancing is concerned. Arguably, it almost feels deliberate. I mean here’s a few dozen heroes and villains of varying power levels (The Punisher versus Magneto seems almost silly to consider), clashing over some cosmic catastrophe or another. Balance is unlikely to be much of a factor.

And yet it’s crucial to the genre, and without it we have… well, we have Marvel Rivals, a game where Storm felt almost untouchable while Spider-Man couldn’t take a few direct hits without falling over. Where Iron Man zips around launching missiles with the destructive impact of a Nerf gun but The Punisher’s bullets can shred The Hulk. I’m not expecting characters who are indestructible in the comics to be so in the game, but stats seem all over the place at the moment.

But it does look pretty as all hell. Character models are spectacularly good, steering closer to the comics than anything seen in the MCU, even if voices and mannerisms feel plucked from Disney’s take on the franchise. Of course, looks are skin-deep, as this is a third-person hero-shooter and each character will no doubt ship with a billion-and-one alternate outfits. Environments swing between recognisable and forgettable, with no particular stage really standing out in my memory. Objectives vary by map, with standard fare like “escort the vehicle” popping up more often than not. Each map offers a good variety of vantage points and choke-points, and destructible sections of scenery, with flying characters often having the upper hand when all the particle effects and explosions are making it hard to see who’s right in front of you.

The heroes and villains themselves are a colourful and eclectic bunch, too, with some lesser-known faces on the roster like Luna Snow and Peni Parker, while other more famous characters have been side-lined. A few bigger teams like the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy are missing key members, and there are few X-Men around yet. Villains like Venom, Hela, and Loki feature, though the big bad is Doctor Doom (well, two Doctor Dooms) even though Galactus’ daughter acts as the narrator. That said, how much the narrative will really matter remains to be seen.

Some of the powers are very cool, though. Spider-Man can swing around the map and crawl on walls, Dr. Strange can conjure portals through which the whole team can travel and shoot, essentially allowing you to create shorty-lived traps for the other team. Luna Snow can skate around, moving quicker than most of the others, and Magneto can create a powerful shield.

Perhaps the coolest element is the ability to synergise certain powers with a Team Up attack. An example is Rocket’s endless ammo ability, which also affects The Punisher and gives him unlimited bullets while in close proximity to the raccoon. Taking heroes that will synergise with others on your team could be essential to success, and NetEase has done a superb job creating characters that feel unique while simultaneously compatible with one another.

Marvel Rivals does have undeniable similarities to Overwatch, but they feel intentional for the most part, more of a homage than a rip-off, and while there’s some work to be done where balancing is concerned, it feels remarkably polished in terms of movement and gameplay mechanics, even at this stage. With several months until full release and so much source material to pull from, the Marvel Rivals Closed Beta has me feeling very, very confident that NetEase will drop a major hit with this one.

The Marvel Rivals beta will run until August 5th on PC (via Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S & X.