Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Review

Capcom has struck again with its latest fighting entry, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. While basically serving as an update for February’s super hero and game icon throwdown, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 manages to feel like an entirely new experience. With an updated engine, twelve additional brawlers and a few added game modes, this is a hard title to miss for its $40 price tag.

I must make a confession: I got bored of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 very quickly. All of the characters had the same kind of strategies and play-styles. If you picked one of the two “cheap” characters (namely Sentinel and Phoenix), you’d win 98 percent of the time. This does not seem to be the case with Ultimate, as a lot of the cheapness seems to have been leveled out.

The new characters add a much fresher feel to the fast-paced, flashy, combo-based combat. For example, Phoenix Wright has a slow, methodical style that has the player searching for three clues while trying to fend off attackers. If those three pieces show up, you get to use his “OBJECTION!” attack that does enough damage to effectively knock an opponent’s character out of the match.

Perhaps the most welcome addition to the franchise is the online spectator mode. The previous Marvel vs. Capcom 3 had lobby play, but the only players that could watch the fight were the ones participating. Everyone else had to just watch two license cards bump into each other while life meters slowly dwindled away. I’m not the best at the game by any means, but I get to learn some stuff from my friends that are much more skilled than I am by being able to observe. Being included in the conversation about an epic comeback is much better than just hearing what happened.

There are a couple of new modes that stray from the traditional Marvel vs. Capcom play. The first is Galactus mode which allows you to play as the World-Eater himself. This sounds cool on paper, but in execution, it’s not as fun as it would seem. He’s very powerful and you can easily dispatch a team of three in a few seconds. In a short amount of time the Heroes and Heralds mode will be released via DLC. You choose to play as either saviors of Earth or Galactus’ Heralds. There are different cards with abilities you can collect and use in the fight.

Another pleasant surprise I discovered upon inserting Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom was the graphics upgrade. There seems to be much deeper color and vibrancy that looks amazing in 1080p. Like Marvel vs. Capcom 3 before it, the amount of craziness on-screen seems like it would be overwhelming, but the art style honestly just makes it out-of-this-world beautiful. On top of looking great, the game sounds fantastic. The music sounds just as heroic as the heroes on the screen and the voice-overs are pretty much near perfect.

Overall, I have been enjoying my time with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I am sure I will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. Capcom has again promised a plethora of DLC for Ultimate and fans are salivating to find out what they have planned. This game is not just for professionals and fighting game junkies, as the Simple mode is still selectable for newer players. With a total of 48 characters, every player is bound to find a team that agrees with their play-style and personal taste. This release truly is the Ultimate vision of Marvel vs. Capcom and has reclaimed me as a fan of the series.