It has been not even twenty four hours since the release of Marvel Rivals, and already many news outlets and forum users are jumping the gun with the most extreme takes from “Overwatch is dead! Murdered!” To “This game sucks dingdongs”.
Now granted, on an Overwatch forum it is no surprise that Overwatch players will want to defend their honor and glory against a game that for all intents and purposes looks the same from a distance. But it is surprising just how many forumers here are defending OW versus MR, given how… Everyone seems to hate the game we play anyway.
But my take on it is far more simple.
They’re both pretty good.
MR is a brand new game that has a bunch of bugs and some crappy things going for it. Personally, I kinda like the TPS style. Reminds me a little bit of Borderlands or Halo. I know it’s nothing like these, but that’s the first impression I got.
It’s a new game - even though they had beta testing - so of course it’s going to be the hot new thing. And of course people are going to rip it apart. And of course you’re going to lose games. Because you suck. I suck, too. If you haven’t been playing since the beta, you probably suck. And that’s fine.
And the characters: a lot of people are simply saying that most characters are just “Overwatch but ”. And I think that’s taking away from what’s actually the case. Sure, some heroes are definitely like this - Hawkeye feels just like Handbow - but overall, they’re different. Punisher isn’t just Soldaboy. Soldaboy can run, and can only use one gun, and has a helix rocket. Punisher cannot run, has two guns, a Zipline, a turret, and a smoke grenade that pushes him back.
Sure, a lot of things feel like Overwatch, but I think that’s because it’s both trying to be like it (quite obviously from how they did game modes and whatnot) and because a lot of people who are playing it are from Overwatch. therefore, we will paste our own experiences onto it. I personally play some Apex Legends, and I liken Punisher’s Zipline to Pathfinder’s ultimate. I also liken the odd number of “you’re mine” abilities to Hog’s Hook, because they do the same thing.
Hell, I wouldn’t even liken Black Widow to Widowmaker all that much. Beyond using a sniper rifle with a kind of charge or choke mechanic and having a mobility option, they’re not similar. And how those are executed are difficult as well. Widowmaker has a grapple and a charge count on her rifle, BW has a “click” charge and can run and jump. Their Ults are also nothing alike, so beyond “sexy sniper woman” there isn’t much to draw 1:1 comparison.
I do think a lot of the hate is absolutely overblown. But I also don’t think this game is going to kill Overwatch. I think it’s a pretty decent game, that if it played more to its own strengths - which it might - could easily become a staple of the genre. If they stopped trying to emulate Overwatch in some ways, they’d easily have a really great game, instead of a pretty decent one.
Also, I’m no longer going to mald about how Rocket is a support. He’s fun to play… God… I love throwing down my Rez machine…
