The history of video games is, to an extent, a history of subtle iterations of other people’s ideas. The interstellar success of Taito’s Space Invaders spawned the entire shoot-’em-up genre, with titles such as Galaxian, Phoenix and Gorf taking the basic idea and adding new features. Later, 1984’s Karate Champ begat the fighting game craze and Tetris brought us falling-block puzzlers. It’s the way things have always worked: adapt, expand, hand on the baton. It’s just that there’s a subtle yet deep gulf between imitation and inspiration… and not all titles manage to cross it.
Marvel Rivals, the latest live service game from Chinese mega publisher NetEase, is Overwatch with Marvel characters. That’s not just the elevator pitch, that’s exactly what it is. A colourful roster of comic book characters with differing skills meets in a series of sci-fi arenas to do team-based battle over a small selection of play modes. Machine-gun-toting vanilla guy Punisher is Overwatch’s Soldier 76 with a hint of Bastion; God-like healer Adam Warlock is the male Mercy; and as a fist-thudding tank, Hulk is just rampaging gorilla Winston with less hair. Gaming site GamesRadar has even provided a handy guide to show players which of the Marvel cast members are most analogous to their Overwatch faves.
Many of the well-worn tropes and abilities of the genre have at least been remixed to fit the Marvel universe – and playing as these familiar legends adds undeniable appeal. Whether it is bludgeoning enemies with Thor’s hammer, catapulting exploding acorns as Squirrel Girl or lobbing Captain America’s shield into Black Panther’s body armour, Rivals captures the comic book dynamism of this famed cast to such an extent that major skirmishes look like the most exciting scenes from the X-Men ’97 cartoon. It’s good too that all 33 heroes are available for free from the beginning. There’s a store and a battle pass, naturally, but these will currently only get you alternative outfits, emotes and other accessories; and completing daily missions and seasonal story objectives earns currency to buy this kind of stuff without paying a penny.
Furthermore, the game does have one big new feature – Team-Ups – which unlock extra hero abilities when at least two players on the same side choose complementary characters. There’s the Symbiote Bond between Venom, Spider-Man and Peni Parker, which allows the latter two to channel the former’s alien powers, and there’s Ragnarok: Rebirth, which lets Hela heal or revive Thor or Loki. The kinships can be be a real boost to tactical play.
But in many ways, Rivals reflects that key tenet of the hero shooter design bible: for every plus there must be a minus. With its huge slate of Marvel super freaks and their Team-Up powers, the game feels extremely unbalanced at times. It is hard to counter characters such as Storm and Iron Man when they can stay in the air for a whole match, picking off enemies from afar and avoiding most of the incoming fire. Big-hitters such as Venom and Moon Knight tend to completely dominate any area they’re fighting in, often at the expense of melee-based combatants who need to get in close to deal major damage. I never thought Wolverine would turn out to be one of the more subtle and refined characters in a Marvel cast, but here we are.
The game is undeniably lavish to look at and interact with. The user-interface design around menu systems and information screens is exceptional; the destructible locations sparkle with detail; and the characters are beautifully re-created. Once again, however, there’s a downside. During the chaos of a superhero riot, with explosions and magic attacks and “hilarious” quips firing off simultaneously, its tough to tell what you’re damaging and, conversely, what’s damaging you until it’s far too late.
Buffs and nerfs will surely come for these characters in time, evening out the balance, and players will start learning how to combine team members more strategically. But even if the balancing issues are addressed, what we’re left with is the video game equivalent of a folkloric changeling, a supernaturally accurate substitute designed to entrap those who loved the original. The question is: can we really blame Rivals for walking so close to Overwatch that it could conceivably be served with a restraining order? As failed hero shooters Hyenas, Concord and xDefiant have all recently shown, the brutal economics of the live service market demand absolute fealty to established norms. Tagging on a massive global licence doesn’t hurt either.
Rivals, like many other highly polished, super-focused franchise expansions, is entertaining, gorgeous and well made. But its existence bodes ill for the mainstream games industry and those who work in it. It says that to be successful, especially in the live service sector (where so much investment is going), broadening or challenging a genre isn’t necessary. You simply need to replicate and re-franchise, tossing a few low denomination coins at the concept of innovation. Meanwhile, studios that strike out with new ideas or original characters are doomed to failure: millions of dollars lost, jobs gone, game over.
Rivals is crammed with Stan Lee superheroes, but its message – about the total and utter Funko-Pop-ification of games – is as bleak as a Charles Burns graphic novel.