A Christmas miracle.
Let it not be said that I am too precious when it comes to my takes, or that I am an inflexible grump—for one of my last acts before I scoot off for my Christmas hols, I am going to admit that I misjudged a game. The game in question is the spandex-heavy Marvel Rivals, NetEase’s gaudy hero shooter, which I called “aggressively bad” back in July. It is, in fact, fine. Good, even.
I really did hate my time with Marvel Rivals’ beta back in the summer, but like the redeemed Ebenezer Scrooge, my heart has grown, and I no longer find it “powerfully offputting” or full of “awkward, blinding brawls”. And I take back the accusation that it steals from children and cheats on its spouse. Granted, this was an unspoken accusation, but you could all read between the lines.
The issues I had with it back in beta have not been completely excised from the live version, and I still find the lack of punchiness, visual feedback and character cohesion to be factors that will continue to hold it back from becoming a game I can enthusiastically embrace, but I’ve gotta admit: I’ve been having quite a bit of fun.
I was hesitant to give it another shot. Along with all the cracking singleplayer games I’ve got on the go right now, my cup runneth over when it comes to quality live service romps, too, and the thought of taking time away from Warframe or Guild Wars 2 to muck around in a dodgy licensed hero shooter didn’t hold much appeal. But I am a glutton for punishment, so I took a punt.
As Wolverine, I managed to eke out some amusement for a few matches, but it was fleeting. “It’s a bit better,” I thought to myself, “but not enough to justify keeping it in rotation”. But then, inexplicably, I found myself pretending to watch streamers so I could get a Twitch drop, and with a new Magneto skin in my cosmetic arsenal, I knew I had to play at least one more time.
I was conflicted, though. I played a lot of Magneto in the beta, and NetEase really did my boy dirty; it was one of the big reasons I bounced off it. It wasn’t just that it turned this Omega-level mutant into a babysitter, it was that none of his abilities felt remotely fun to use. But I had this ugly purple skin now. I’d gone to the effort of logging into Twitch for the first time in six months. I had to justify such an uncharacteristic move.
Slowly floating across the battlefield like a Twitch-sponsored Master of Magnetism, pew-pew-pewing with my impotent magnetic bolts, I started to regret my life choices. I was playing with a friend, who had to listen to my endless string of curses as I made it very clear a bad time was being had. But then something just clicked.
I started to get a tiny rush whenever my bubbles saved a comrade from certain death. Or when I brought up my incredibly short-lived shield at just the right time to thwart an enemy barrage. And I got to feel that powerful sense of smug satisfaction when I refused to give chase and hunt down fleeing foes, instead becoming an implacable purple turret, affixed to the point, so that when their sneaky tactic was revealed they did not find an unguarded objective, but rather a ferocious, unkillable old man. It felt good.
It’s a familiar sensation. Marvel Rivals wasn’t clicking due to anything specific to this hero shooter, but because there’s just something about the rhythm of a hero shooter generally that I find deeply compelling. I was getting into an old groove. And in that groove, I found it much easier to open my mind a little.
As soon as I forgot I was having a bad time, I was able to see what other people dug about Marvel Rivals. Instead of a mess, I started to see gleeful chaos. Instead of “disparate heroes vying for the limelight”, I saw variety and surprises. Where I had previously felt the same utter absence of satisfaction whether I lost or won a match, whether I had spent most of my time dying or nabbing the MVP accolade, now I was getting invested.
With this investment, of course, comes new issues. Now I actually care that, as is traditional in every hero shooter, there are a vast number of people who simply do not give a hoot about objectives. These people are my enemies. They should all be in jail. And then there’s the awful progression. The stingy mission payouts. The uninspiring battle pass. The sense that it doesn’t matter how well I play, only that I complete some arbitrary tasks over and over and over again, just so I can buy a spray that I’ll never use.
This can all be improved, though, and in the meantime, there are so many heroes I haven’t taken for a spin yet. I’m not craving the cosmetics quite yet.
Will I stick with it for long? Honestly, there’s a good chance I won’t be playing it after January. I mean, have you seen what’s coming out in February? I’m gonna be busy. But for the time being, I’m having a laugh. So yeah, I’ve changed my tune. Marvel Rivals is flawed but fun—though it definitely needs to pay Magneto more respect. More X-Men wouldn’t go amiss either, because c’mon, every other Marvel crew sucks in comparison. And that’s one opinion I won’t be walking back.
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