Marvel vs Capcom 2 Review (XBLA)
The very first Marvel vs Capcom game was a ton of fun. I was already a big fan of the Street Fighter vs X-Men games that came before it, but Marvel vs Capcom was even better. Still even though I knew that Marvel vs Capcom 2 would pack a ton of new content in over its predecessor I never in a million years would have imagined just how much more content it would have. This Xbox Live Arcade release of Marvel vs Capcom 2 is arguably the best port that is out there right now. I think it is even better than the Dreamcast, Playstation 2 and original Xbox version!
Now if we start by talking about the graphics I will fully admit that the 2D characters are a little jaggy, but to be fair this was never once supposed to be a HD remake it was just a port of the arcade version. So it is a little hard to be critical of that. Still all 56 of the characters look great just do not expect silky smooth characters like what were in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
One thing that I think made the transition very well was the games stages. While there are not as many stages as you would find in other fighting games they all look amazing and have many 3D elements to them instead of just being flat 2D background. I understand why there is not that many stages. For one thing the ones they have are all very detailed and the other thing is that no way would they have given all over 50 characters there own stage.
Game play is what really sets Marvel vs Capcom 2 apart from the bunch. Its really kind of tough to describe what just makes this game so great to play. Well the control is actually pretty simple. This has been done so that anyone can pick up a controller and play, but there is a very deep learning curve to this game.
The learning curve if you really want to master this game is quite complex and I am not meaning that as a criticism. You see you need to pick three characters and there is unique combos for all combinations of the 56 characters so it is next to impossible to be a master at every combo of characters. Marvel vs Capcom 2 is a game that if you want to be really good at it will force you to stick with a set few characters.
It can be so satisfying once you have formed your own super team and have learned all there combos. Yet at the same time a novice to fighting games can put the game on easy setting and still have a ton of fun playing through the arcade mode. Marvel vs Capcom 2 really is a fighting game that caters for gamers of all skill levels. Which is a really nice touch.
In terms of single player Capcom in my opinion made a pretty big mistake. In the original versions of the game like on the Dreamcast for example you would need to unlock extra characters as well as there different colours. Here Capcom decided to have everything unlocked from the start. In a way this was good for people who want to just jump right into the online mode without having to unlock anything, but I am sure there are many people who would have liked to have unlocked everything themselves.
In all Marvel vs Capcom 2 is a great game. It is one of the most fun fighters on the Xbox Live Arcade it has a huge cast of characters and best of all it is a game that is easy to pick up and play, but hard to master.
