Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play team based hero shooter developed by NetEase and Marvel Games. It sees iconic heroes and villains battle it out in two teams of six, trying to claim victory over one another through one of three different game modes:
- Domination: The two teams try to maintain control over a designated area.
- Convoy: One team is tasked with pushing a moving vehicle to the end, the other team is tasked with stopping them
- Convergence: a blend of the two, where the attacking team must first take control of the objective, and then push a moving vehicle to the end. The defending team must stop them.
It is available on PS5, Xbox series X|S, and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store. In its first week, it has already exceeded 10 million players across all platforms. Launching with 33 playable characters and more on the way, the roster includes a bunch of fan favorite characters and a few oddball picks. From Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Wolverine to Luna Snow, Squirrel Girl, and Jeff the Land Shark, the game has an excellent variety of character choices. While most characters are from Marvel’s main universe (Earth-616), the game does excellently utilize Marvel’s vast multiverse. The game currently has two playable characters from other notable universes: Peni Parker (Earth 14512) is most well known from her role in 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Psylocke, who is actually Sai (Earth-TRN1033) from Peach Momoko’s Demon Days: X-Men. Additionally, the overarching narrative of the game is based on a multiversal war between two variants of Dr. Doom: Dr. Doom of Earth-616 and Dr.Doom 2099 (Earth-928), the latter of whom is from a dark future set in the year 2099.
The game also features one of my all time favorite concepts in Marvel Comics: Team-up attacks. The game encourages you to pair certain characters together, granting their attacks secondary effects and frequently, new abilities entirely. From Scarlet Witch allowing Magneto to use a Chaos magic-infused greatsword, to Groot letting Rocket Raccoon and Jeff to hop on his shoulder and ride him, to the Hulk throwing Wolverine in the legendary fastball-special, there is endless potential and fun to be had with pairing beloved characters together. The developers have even confirmed that team-ups will continue to evolve. As more characters get added to the game, existing team ups will get changed or replaced to keep the game fresh and engaging.
“I feel like a lot of the movement is a lot more dynamic than other shooters I’ve played, sometimes even too dynamic.” Senior Mars McKittrick said. “It makes the gameplay really fun and a lot of the designs I feel are pretty unique. When you look at a character for Marvel Rivals, you don’t really mistake it for other games.”
While the MCU and animated Marvel shows may make it seem like everything in Marvel happens in New York, Marvel Rivals also does an excellent job of having the battles take place on iconic locations from all across Marvel’s comics. From the Kingdom of Yggsgard (Asgard entangled by Yggdrasil the World Tree), Venom’s homeworld—the planet Klyntar, to the base of the evil Nazi organization—Hydra, the different maps all have very different tones and aesthetics that make each match feel very different.
“It’s also making me interested in learning more about characters like Psylocke in the game.” Senior El Ferguson said. “I haven’t ever heard anything about Psylocke other than a few bits and pieces until I played the game. So I think it’s really cool to play as these new characters and then want to learn more about them.”
Marvel Rivals is a free, fun, and fresh addition to the hero shooter genre. Whether you’re here because you’re a diehard hero-shooter fanatic, you love Marvel comics, or even if you just watch an occasional MCU film from time to time, there’s plenty for everyone to enjoy. The characters all feel fun to play and are just oozing with vibrancy, color, and style. No matter what your preferred playstyle is, there is definitely someone in the game for you. I hope you grab a few friends and have a blast in Marvel Rivals.
