Marvel Rivals Review – Apex-who? What-watch?

For years, Blizzard had domination over the Hero Shooter category with Overwatch. Still, when they fumbled the ball with Overwatch 2, it opened the door for other companies to come in and sweep up the players who were disenfranchised by the lack of good balance and content that Overwatch 2 created. Enter Marvel Rivals, the new kid on the block that is moving players back into the Hero Shooter genre with reckless abandon… and the cuteness that is Jeff the Shark.

Name: Marvel Rivals
Platform(s): Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S
Developer: NetEase Games
Publisher: NetEase Games
Game Type: Hero shooter
Mode(s): Multiplayer
Release Date: December 6, 2024

Another Multiverse Story

The merciless clash between tyrannical dictator Doctor Doom and his future counterpart from the year 2099 has forced countless universes to collide in the Timestream Entanglement, creating new worlds and crises unknown.

Now, Super Heroes and Villains from across the multiverse must fight together and against one another as disparate groups each seeking to best both Dooms before one achieves domination of these realities. Familiar faces become newfound foes while former enemies become the greatest of allies in Marvel Rivals!

While there is some lore in Marvel Rivals, what is there isn’t that much. After all, Marvel Rivals’ story is just a framing device to bring all these characters and their sellable costumes into the same game and make them fight against each other for the will of Doom… Which is all we need because Doom’s will is all.

Jokes aside, Marvel Rivals doesn’t need a story, but I’m sure there is something coming. There are some little location lore and character lore here and there, plus lines between characters that hint at a story, but when the gameplay is that good, you don’t need a story.

Marvel Rivals: From an Art Book Near You

I do not know the names of the artists who worked on Marvel Rivals, but I want to thank them for all the days of hard work that they put into all the character models, locations, and abilities in this game. Everything looks like it came out of an art book that you would see from a movie series or something. Marvel Rivals could have taken the easy way and made everything cell-shaded or something, making the whole game look like a comic book or animation, but instead, they went the way of highly detailed characters and locations that make Marvel Rivals look like art.

I know it is a weird comparison, but remember seeing X-Men vs Street Fighter for the first time? Watching Cyclops blast off an Optic Blast that filled the whole screen? That’s the effect you get in Marvel Rivals when you see Iron Man fire off a Uni-beam at a group, hitting multiple people (or one stupid sucker) and watching them topple over. Remember seeing Spider-Man swing around New York in Spider-Man 2 on PlayStation 2? That’s the same thing as watching Spider-Man, Venom, or Pene Parker swing around the map. Everything in Marvel Rivals looks like something else that came before it and evokes the same feelings you had back then. A truly amazing thing to see.

Chaotic Fun, as It Should Be

I’ll be honest, I have locked my main in early. From day one, I’m a Venom main. Yeah, given my background as a Spider-Man/Venom fanboy, to hear that comes as no surprise. However, playing as Venom is amazing. I love being a tank, and a tank that can fuck shit up is even better. Not only do I get to be the frontline of most games, but I get to dive into the enemy and wreck face. My aggressive play style works with Venom as I can defend the people while taking down support and DPS class heroes at the same time.

Watching the enemy, and my teammates, I see a lot more than what I did in Overwatch or other games of a similar style. With Marvel Rivals, you don’t just have the same type of characters with slightly modified mechanics or skills but instead, you have characters who have their skills built around not only their role but their history and personality. The best example of this is Jeff the Shark, a wonderful and cute little character who is in a support role, meaning he does healing, but he also has DPS attacks and one hell of an Ultimate. So never take characters at face value.

The gameplay in Marvel Rivals is fast and frantic, with heroes flying, swinging, climbing, and running all over the place as they control points, move objects, and take territory. But unlike other Hero Shooters that just have you passing through single-lane locations, Marvel Rivals offers multiple ways to attack or defend an area that opens up even more with the right hero, or if you destroy walls or other objects. This gives Marvel Rivals a style that allows people to play how they like, and not how a bunch of developers think they should play.

Marvel Rivals: Thrills and Comic Book Spills

Marvel Rivals is one of those games that never plays the same way twice, even if you have the same heroes on your team from the previous round. This gives Marvel Rivals a replayability that is perfect for those people who want to become competitive eSports people, or just casuals who want to take an evening to release some stress. Marvel Rivals is the Overwatch that Overwatch used to be before it turned its gameplay into an eSports-only game. Sure, Marvel Rivals could use some balancing, as I already hear people wanting Jeff’s Ultimate Nerfed or just slapping Shang Chi with the Nerf-bat a million times, but most of that could be early skill issues.

And yes, Marvel Rivals does have a season pass where you can get skins, sprays, emotes, wallpaper, and other stuff like all other games these days, and there are microtransactions available, but they are not shoved in your face every second you have the game open. This is how you should be with these types of things: subtle. While I’m still not a fan of these types of things, at least it is not as bad as something like NBA 2K25.

Move Over Overwatch, Apex Legends, and All Others

Marvel Rivals reminds me of the early days of Overwatch, where it was more about the fun than it was about meta comps, checking the buffs and nerfs, and spending more time researching how to follow the trends than playing the game. I’m sure this might only be for a short time before influences start dominating the game or the eSports clans start running trains through competitive play, but I hope that Marvel Rivals remembers that it is about fun first. If they can remember that, then this game is going to be successful for a long time to come.

Review Disclosure Statement: Marvel Rivals was available to us, for free, by NetEase Games for review purposes. For more information on how we review video games and other media/technology, please read our Review Guideline/Scoring Policy.