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Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

Fan service only gets you so far.

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As gamer, geek and an avid fan of the comic market's colourful assortment of icons can testify, the Vs series is of instant attraction, servicing a trio of cultures that will at the least have passing interest in each other, ardent following at best.

Yet its only to one of these that this, an 'Ultimate' overhaul which is light on front-end, heavy in the back-end tinkering of last year's Marvel Vs Capcom 3, can be recommended for any lasting appeal.

The game - the franchise - should be relatively well known by now. Clashing a selection of characters from both companies against the other in a tag team extravaganza with an OTT move set and simplified control setup has rightly won fans for its exaggerated flair over the years.

Yet for all its bright and breezy attitude it requires dextrous finger tapping and the mental dexterity to remember the brain-splitting number of combos and when best to execute them. Its akin to playing Bruce Lee at chess. Digits and brains will bruise, whether you loose or win.

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Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

It's the same with any fighter, but the chance of button-bashing wins are very much in the minority here, the easy access that defined Street Fighter as an experience to be enjoyed no matter what the skill level non-existent. This time round even single player hurtles its difficulty skyward a few matches in, so unless you train, your teams will be frustratingly turned into mulch in short order.

Training involves digging into Mission mode, striking out multiple objectives for every character in the roster and letting you build up a knowledge of their combos. Its an efficient way to file the potential combinations, even though it'll prove that you need to trade controller for arcade stick to tick off every one.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3
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For the fan, the new additions and tweaks to the original line-up bring with them a chance to dig into the little nods that show Capcom has done its homework (or cheated by looking over at Marvel's notes) on the characters.

Note that Nemesis is the only character that turns his back to his opponents when backing up, a clear indication of his dismissal of anything being a threat. Or how he growls the immortal "S.T.A.R.S" line when faced against Chris Redfield. Iron Man's dig at armour-clad Nova pre-match about what his name means in other languages. Same with Dante's and Virgil's pre-match banter. Spider-Man gets his Fantastic Four and Symbiote costumes as alternate colours. Hawkeye's helped out by Ant-Man in his Hyper combo.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

There's argument that the new roster leans more towards comedic inclusions for comedy's sake on Capcom's side, while Marvel's newcomers aren't all that promising. Character-wise its a strong mix, but the potential of the likes of Doctor Strange and Phoenix Wright with short standard attacks and initially lacklustre supers will be only found through dedicated testing. Strider's as fast and combo-friendly as ever, Ghost Rider's chain grants long range snipes both straight and diagonal, while Iron Fist's character history lets Capcom sneak in a re-skin of Tekken's Marshall Law into the 2D fighter and makes him possibly the best of the new lot.

Despite a fair argument for this moving past a DLC release and into retail, another version of the title not even a year after the first seems hard to swallow, though the £24.99 price point eases matters somewhat. But as such we can't recommend this as a must buy to everybody. Fan service only goes so far: for those that want to tangle with recognisable characters but not invest the time to learn the fighting systems to survive past casual battles with like-minded friends, you may exhaust your enjoyment quicker than you think.

For those of the dedicated fighting fraternity, this'll handily fill in the void between fighting games, with the smaller tweaks and rebalancing to the fighting system will be the source of discussion and experimentation for the next while - at least until the next update, be it digital or physical.

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07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Still the best use of Marvel's characters in video-game form. Nods to fans show care and consideration. Spectacular fights worth watching as much as playing.
-
Lasting appeal will only be for those dedicated to digging into the fighting system proper. New inclusions are an odd mix of essentials and odd-balls. Still think this could have been a ballsy DLC package.
overall score
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Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3Score

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3

REVIEW. Written by Lee West

"If this is the quality expected of future fighting games, then the PS Vita is proving a heavyweight contender for the genre on the move."



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