On December 6th, Marvel Rivals released to PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC, easily solidifying it’s place as a more than competent Hero Shooter, with a fast growing community looking for anything that is Overwatch, except Overwatch. But, what really IS Marvel Rivals? 

Marvel Rivals is a third person, “hero shooter” that boasts 33 well known, uniquely playing Marvel Characters at launch. From pop culture icons like Iron Man and Captain America to lesser known characters like Magik, a sword wielding mutant, and Jeff the Shark (my personal favorite.) All of these characters play completely unique roles from each other. With the 3 class system of Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist, along with the awesome Team Up system, which gives characters special abilities or boosts if their teammates play specific characters. The easiest example is when two players play as Groot and Rocket Racoon, Rocket may choose to ride Groots shoulders, providing him  significant damage reduction. Some team ups seem strange though. Characters like Loki and Thor (who are brothers) only get a team up when Hela (their sister) appears, and completely unrelated characters get team ups simply based on their vibe. The system is still amazing though, and every single character has a team up, leading to some amazing combinations of teams. The game also has incredibly fast que times. In fact, they are so fast that you don’t have time to even cancel a que!

Marvel Rivals can easily be seen as an Overwatch 2 clone though, with some new additions. It does lack many things Overwatch 2 has. For one, no Role Queue. A game mode which would force your team to have 2 of every class. It also does not have many game modes. Nor a custom game browser, but the game is in it’s infancy, so it’s not to blame. 

All in all, Marvel Rivals is an incredibly polished, incredibly fun time, with great characters and gameplay. If you have the chance, I would highly recommend playing it. There’s something for everyone!