I played a few games of Marvel Rivals at Summer Game Fest 2024 earlier this month, and came away thoroughly disappointed. It’s a competent enough team-based third-person shooter, and one with real appeal for Marvel fans, but it’s a shadow on the wall compared to other competitors in the same genre.
Let’s break down how, and why, it made me feel so disappointed. First, I’ll tackle the elephant in the room. Marvel Rivals – created by Netease Games – is an Overwatch-like. It has various differences that help differentiate it; the setting and characters are clearly different, and there are clear gameplay differences, too, such as its third-person approach.
But for the vast majority of players who’ll actually touch the game, it is Overwatch‘s skeleton with a comic book skin draped over it. This is either wonderful news for those who just can’t get enough of this particular genre, or boorish sludge for those already fatigued with this kind-of product.
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