Put simply Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is amazing. Street Fighter games have always been close to our heart. Ever since that first Christmas when Super Street Fighter II landed with the legendary Super Nintendo (thanks Grandad) and we got to pull off Chun Li’s flying bird kick we were all hooked for life. The fact that the same Christmas also provided the glory of seeing our mums uncomprehendingly pit Eddie Honda against Dhalsim was an added hilarious bonus.
However, in Marvel versus Capcom 3 the Street Fighter concept is combined brilliantly with the mutant might of Marvel action heroes along with other fighters from the world of Capcom. Essentially, it doesn’t get much batter than unleashing the power of Ryu’s dragon punch on a sentinel (except maybe a new found crush on She-Hulk – it’s part of a burgeoning ladies with green skin fetish; this isn’t the first instance that first arose recently thanks to Star Trek 2009 although it could all stem back to Galaxy High as a kid).
There are 38 playable characters in total, including Iron Man, Spiderman, Ryu, Storm, Chun-Li, Wolverine, Magneto, Doctor Doom and Albert Wesker, although you’ll have to unlock more than a few. There’s a mission mode to help you learn all of the moves. This forces you into picking up some of the more complex combos, which works really well in the game.
The tag team element of Marvel versus Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds, as has been seen in previous Marvel vs. Capcom games, is as blisteringly fast as ever, and the shadow download packs with teams and artificial intelligence modeled on the fighting style of Capcom development staff members is a pretty interesting concept to get to grips with. It’s like getting to see a shadow walkthrough of Super Mario Bros on the NES with Shigeru Miyamoto behind the controller. There are going to be more shadow download packs for the game too to give it even more lifespan, along with new costume download packs for those that like to give their brutal fighting games a distinctly Ken and Barbie feel.
The game does have a story line, something about Doctor Doom, Albert Wesker and a hidden evil wreaking havok on the two worlds of Marvel and Capcom, but that’s just an aside. Marvel versus Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is all about furious game-play and in that it’s got an abundance. When this is combined with the online mode, anything is possible. Marvel versus Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds is available on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.
Marvel versus Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds review: 4.1/5
