Review: Marvel Rivals - Finally a Worthy Competitor to Overwatch 2

These and other questions will be answered here, in our analysis! The Um Gamer team tested the game on PC (via Steam), with more than 15 hours of gameplay.

Attention! Performance and graphics issues will be mentioned. These topics depend on the configuration of your computer, so below are the specifications of the PC used for this review:

Overall, it consists of 6v6 confrontations formed by characters who can be Vanguards (Tanks), Duelists (DPS), and Strategists (Supports), working in a very similar way to Overwatch 2, the game modes are the same, your objective will always be to capture a point or escort a load, but Marvel Rivals also brings its peculiarities to the table, and we’ll talk about that in a future topic.

Like a good title of this genre, it has frenetic gameplay, with action from the beginning to the end of the matches. With so many different heroes and abilities, it would be easy to not be able to read some important information such as your HP amount or the cooldown time for a skill, but the interface is extremely clean, making it easy to read during a battle.

All heroes are unlocked from the beginning, allowing you to fully explore the difference in play styles, providing greater dynamics.

Playing alone can be a challenge

A small negative point is the composition formation, I expected the team of six players to be divided into two Vanguards, two Duelists and two Strategists, the same way Overwatch worked in the past. But no, the choice is free, you can put together a team with as many heroes as you want in each role.

In this example here, four of the six players were Duelists, consequently, our front-line and healing power were compromised.

Until then, I thought it was a mechanic specific to quick matches, as they are aimed at the casual audience, who may prefer to test a new character or play with random compositions with friends. But I was surprised to see that the competitive mode works the same way.

Of course, in competitive, players tend to care more about the composition, taking a Strategist if there is no hero of that class in the team. But the number of people who only use Duelists is still absurd.

When we look for a match alone, our team will be filled by random players, leaving us even more vulnerable to compositions with four or five damage characters, without healing or frontline.

On the other hand, it will be even more fun to play with friends, and depending on the map and situation your team finds itself in, the team will be able to be more flexible with strategies.

Main differences between Marvel Rivals and Overwatch 2

Camera

As a frequent Overwatch 2 player, I felt some differences as soon as I hit play, the first being the third-person camera, instead of the first-person view we have in the Blizzard title. It's something more subjective, but it's worth mentioning.

Interaction with the map

It’s a fact that both games have some effect of breaking small items in the scenery, such as a bench or flower vase, but in Marvel Rivals this mechanic goes to another level. Here we can even destroy walls or platforms, and this completely changes the course of the fights.

For example, Squirrel Girl has a ricocheting shot, similar to Junkrat's attacks in Overwatch. When you shoot the same wall several times, to hit an enemy from that angle, it will shatter, and you will no longer be able to continue with that attack pattern. In addition to, of course, opening new escape or advance routes for both teams.

Team-Up Abilities

Another great innovation in Marvel's Hero Shooter is the Team-Up Abilities system, which appears when we have two or more heroes who interact with each other. They can be both passive and active, and give you a small advantage, which is even another reason to prioritize playing with friends.

Some examples are Spider-Man or Peni Parker with Venom. Here, Venom makes part of his symbiosis available to the two, and they can activate it to transform it into spikes that deal damage and repel enemies.

Another team-up is between Groot and Rocket Raccoon or Jeff, both have the possibility of climbing up on Groot's shoulders, receiving damage reduction.

Competitive Mode

In Overwatch 2, we have different ranks for each role, and it’s highly praised by players. For example, the same individual can be Gold in the support role, Bronze as a Tank, and Diamond as a Damage. This will make queues fairer, as a person can play better or worse based on role.

In Marvel Rivals, there is only one competitive queue, which can be frustrating if you work your way up to Diamond by playing a Duelist, but need to play a Strategist in a specific match. You will definitely have difficulties, as in the Strategist role, you are not a Diamond per se, but you will be up against players of this level.

But, given that this Hero Shooter is not as rigid in terms of roles, allowing you to switch classes mid-match, single queue became necessary.

Check out the image below if you want to understand more about competitive Marvel Rivals:

When clicking on the game modes section, we see the “Practice” tab, with several tutorials and practice options.

The tutorials are extremely well done, and the hero tutorials, despite not yet featuring other characters, explore well the mechanics and peculiarities of the one you choose.

For example, in Rocket Raccoon's guide, all of his tools are covered in addition to one of his Team-Up Abilities.

The Training Camp is also another positive topic, it’s possible to test Team-Up Abilities, always carry your Ultimate with the aim of testing it, in addition to enemies distributed in different ways to practice short or long-distance shots.

Honestly, this practice mode doesn't lose in anything to Overwatch 2, quite the opposite, I see a broader scenario full of tools for your training.

The worst aspect of Marvel Rivals is the performance, I felt some freezing in the matches, most of the time it didn't bother me, but ultimately, it does matter. In fact, these FPS drops increased when I tried to broadcast my gameplay live.

Although this varies depending on the hardware level of your machine, I saw a good part of the community complaining, from people with simpler PCs, to those who have more power on computers and consoles.

Connections to the server on the other hand, are perfect, I played from the first minute of launch and I didn't face any connection drops, queues to enter, or any other sign of instability in that regard.

Bugs

I didn't come across any bugs during my experience, except for small crashes, Marvel Rivals is doing very well on this topic.

Developed in Unreal Engine 5, NetEase did justice to the incredible graphics engine it has at hand, with a visual level above other titles on the market. However, due to performance, I had to play at the lowest quality.

I used Boot Camp to test the high quality of Marvel Rivals for a while, and I was extremely surprised by the quality.

Balancing

In any online, competitive, multi-character game, the topic of balancing comes up. A huge discrepancy in power between the heroes is capable of harming any launch, as it will cause frustration in players.

However, NetEase knew how to measure the capabilities of each character well, of course some, like Scarlet Witch, stand out at the beginning and should enter the first statistics with a slightly higher victory rate, this happens in every game, but nothing to the point of ruining your experience.

I tested almost all the heroes and I didn't feel weaker or incapable with any of them, making the matches very fun and competitive, it’s really decided by the player's skill and not by mechanics that are far above normal.

Marvel Rivals doesn’t have any Pay-To-Win mechanics, the insertion of money into the game is exclusively used to purchase cosmetics.

As this is a live a service, NetEase will work with the launch of new battle passes, which are also focused on skins and other cosmetic items.

Pros

Cons

SCORE: 8.5

Will it displace Overwatch 2 from the top of this genre? Probably not, Blizzard's shooter already has its loyal community. But it's definitely worth giving Marvel Rivals a chance, and it will likely be a worthy competitor with Overwatch, sharing the biggest “slice” of this market and becoming a reference.

I am available in the comments for any questions or suggestions.