{"id":970,"date":"2021-03-27T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T12:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=970"},"modified":"2022-07-17T17:07:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T21:07:48","slug":"marvel-vs-capcom-infinite-issue-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2021\/03\/27\/marvel-vs-capcom-infinite-issue-38\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite \u2014 Issue 38"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Mar\u00advel vs. Cap\u00adcom now infi\u00adnite\u00adly frus\u00adtrat\u00ading series<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mar\u00advel fight\u00ading game scene is well known by now and well worn. Pret\u00adty much, any\u00adone who\u2019s any\u00adone in the Mar\u00advel com\u00adic uni\u00adverse and movies has been in a Mar\u00advel Ver\u00adsus game. This is noth\u00ading new by now. You\u2019ve seen these peo\u00adple before and, if you\u2019re a Cap\u00adcom fan, you have seen their side of the ros\u00adter in oth\u00ader games before you got here. So, what exact\u00adly are you get\u00adting out of play\u00ading the lat\u00adest iter\u00ada\u00adtion in the long-run\u00adning Mar\u00advel Ver\u00adsus Cap\u00adcom series? Not much, but Cap\u00adcom already knew that. They just hoped you wouldn\u2019t notice.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re invest\u00aded in the Mar\u00advel Cin\u00ade\u00admat\u00adic Uni\u00adverse but don\u2019t know any\u00adthing about the comics, MvC: Infi\u00adnite serves as a start\u00ading point for under\u00adstand\u00ading the comics side of things in prepa\u00adra\u00adtion for Avengers Endgame. Oh, yeah, there\u2019s some Cap\u00adcom sto\u00adry set up, too, as an after\u00adthought. Real\u00adly, this is sev\u00ader\u00adal sto\u00adries mashed togeth\u00ader: From Mar\u00advel, <\/span><\/span>you get the Infin\u00adi\u00adty Saga and Age of Ultron sto\u00adry; from Cap\u00adcom comes Sig\u00adma and Mega Man X\u2019s sto\u00adry and some of Vam\u00adpire Savior\/Darkstalker\u2019s 3 arc deal\u00ading with Jedah Dohma. The sto\u00adry kind of makes sense in a mashed-up way. It\u2019s not half bad, giv\u00aden that the pre\u00advi\u00adous efforts of Mar\u00advel vs. Cap\u00adcom 3 to give a cin\u00ade\u00admat\u00adic team up was decent and miles ahead of any oth\u00ader title in the series to date. Most\u00adly, the Mar\u00advel Ver\u00adsus series has fol\u00adlowed an estab\u00adlished com\u00adic book arc \u2014 Mar\u00advel vs. Street Fight\u00ader was most\u00adly Apoc\u00ada\u00adlypse and the first Mar\u00advel vs. Cap\u00adcom focused on Onslaught \u2014 and this is no dif\u00adfer\u00adent. Where it fal\u00adters is oversimplification.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Infin\u00adi\u00adty Saga is nev\u00ader tru\u00adly fin\u00adished in the comics because Mar\u00advel con\u00adstant\u00adly returns to it over the years to explain a lot of things. <\/span>Also, think\u00ading crit\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly about what this is real\u00adly based on, the sto\u00adry of the Infin\u00adi\u00adty Saga real\u00adly took about 18 of the 22 MCU<\/span> movies to tell its sto\u00adry. You can\u00adnot tell this sto\u00adry in two games \u2014 Mar\u00advel Super Heroes being the first to tell this arc. Infi\u00adnite tries to and winds up half accom\u00adplish\u00ading it with some weird, forced Cap\u00adcom sto\u00adry side fool\u00adish\u00adness thrown in for good mea\u00adsure, because hey, Cap\u00adcom is also in the name.<\/span><\/p>\n

You get the sense that if Capcom\u2019s angle of things was removed, this would be just fine, and Infi\u00adnite would be OK<\/span> with\u00adout it. That does not help Cap\u00adcom at all here. Imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly, it destroys the need for a new team-up game and ren\u00adders Capcom\u2019s side of the ros\u00adter unnec\u00ades\u00adsary. I do not feel Ryu or Chun Li are use\u00adful in any of the sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions pre\u00adsent\u00aded in the sto\u00adry mode.<\/span><\/p>\n

The ros\u00adter is actu\u00adal\u00adly not bad, but with the few new addi\u00adtions locked behind a DLC<\/span> pay\u00adwall, you\u2019re kind of left to won\u00adder would Infi\u00adnite be just a tad bit bet\u00adter if the more note\u00adwor\u00adthy char\u00adac\u00adters were avail\u00adable from the start. The base group is basi\u00adcal\u00adly a retread ros\u00adter from MvC3, and the new addi\u00adtions should have been in the series; the fact that we\u2019re just now get\u00adting Black Wid\u00adow, Black Pan\u00adther, Jedah and the Win\u00adter Sol\u00addier is a crime that only Cap\u00adcom seems to like committing.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addi\u00adtion to the gener\u00adic over\u00adsim\u00adpli\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of the sto\u00adry, the pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion is just as gener\u00adic and bland. The Mar\u00advel Ver\u00adsus series has always had strong pre\u00adsen\u00adta\u00adtion, and to be frank, this ain\u2019t it, as the kids say these days. The back\u00adgrounds are good, but some of the char\u00adac\u00adter designs have an oof lev\u00adel the size of Ultron Sigma\u2019s final form. They are, quite frankly, ter\u00adri\u00adble a lot of the time. There seems to be an attempt at real\u00adism but not, at the same time, because some of the Mar\u00advel char\u00adac\u00adters look like their MCU<\/span> coun\u00adter\u00adparts, but then when you look clos\u00ader, there\u2019s a detail that keeps them from look\u00ading exact\u00adly like the actor or actress that plays the character.<\/span><\/p>\n

For exam\u00adple, look at Cap\u00adtain Amer\u00adi\u00adca and Cap\u00adtain Mar\u00advel. Cap\u00adtain Amer\u00adi\u00adca, from far away, looks exact\u00adly like MCU<\/span> Win\u00adter Sol\u00addier-era Cap\u00adtain Amer\u00adi\u00adca as por\u00adtrayed by real-world Cap\u00adtain Amer\u00adi\u00adca stal\u00adwart Chris Evans. Up close, how\u00adev\u00ader, Cap looks just enough dif\u00adfer\u00adent for you to real\u00adize that Evans prob\u00ada\u00adbly didn\u2019t con\u00adsent to his like\u00adness for the game. Same for Cap\u00adtain Mar\u00advel and actress Brie Lar\u00adson. It\u2019s a small but notice\u00adable quib\u00adble I have here. And, some of these Cap\u00adcom char\u00adac\u00adters look atro\u00adcious. Ryu\u2019s face on the title screen is hor\u00adrif\u00adic. The sprites look ter\u00adri\u00adble here but in game, he looks fine. It\u2019s a shame because every oth\u00ader game in the series has been OK<\/span> in terms of the graph\u00adics. Sure, they weren\u2019t award-win\u00adning, but they reflect\u00aded the series\u2019 growth. Infi\u00adnite looks like it took about 10 steps back in a lot of respects.<\/span><\/p>\n

The music is just as bland. Each iter\u00ada\u00adtion of the Ver\u00adsus series has had some bangers on the sound\u00adtrack \u2014 even the much-maligned Mar\u00advel vs. Cap\u00adcom 2\u2019s sound\u00adtrack was mem\u00ado\u00adrable if not catchy. Here, there is absolute\u00adly noth\u00ading note\u00adwor\u00adthy. It\u2019s the first Ver\u00adsus game where I don\u2019t have some\u00adthing from the sound\u00adtrack saved, which is not good at all. As I played through the sto\u00adry mode, I kept wait\u00ading for some\u00adthing to jump out at me, and I got noth\u00ading. I was not impressed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The con\u00adtrols didn\u2019t impress, either. There has been a not\u00aded trend, since MvC3 was released, to sim\u00adpli\u00adfy the game sys\u00adtem for the Ver\u00adsus games to make them more accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I\u2019m always a fan of draw\u00ading in the casu\u00adal fan for these types of games, I\u2019m not a fan of ruin\u00ading a good thing. MvC2 was still acces\u00adsi\u00adble to even the most casu\u00adal fight\u00ading game play\u00ader, and this is even worse than the ton\u00ading down of the con\u00adtrols between MvC2 and MvC3. There is no depth to the com\u00adbo sys\u00adtem now, and that doesn\u2019t help Infi\u00adnite in any way.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m under\u00adwhelmed when it comes to Mar\u00advel vs. Cap\u00adcom Infi\u00adnite. Noth\u00ading plays in its favor, noth\u00ading makes any sense, and the team-up crossover event is show\u00ading its age in every facet of the game. There\u2019s noth\u00ading new here to make me say wow or push me to play as I did the oth\u00ader games in the series. If Cap\u00adcom were to lose the Mar\u00advel license again, it wouldn\u2019t be a shock\u00ader or unwarranted.<\/span><\/p>\n

 It\u2019s time to admit that the series is not an infi\u00adnite source of amuse\u00adment. Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, at this point, it\u2019s mere\u00adly a finite source of fight\u00ading game goodness.<\/span><\/p>\n