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. Let's start with a major positive: the presentation here is brilliant, at least.
All the Marvel characters are instantly recognisable, without just being boring MCU film rips. The game is clearly comic-based, and you feel that with the designs. They're interesting spins on the characters, all faithful in their depictions but distinct from the million other Marvel games you can play right now.
If you take your hands off the keyboard and just look at the game, it's marvelous. Getting close and actually interacting with it, however, is .