“Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds” is a smash hit. Pun intended. There are fighting games that please the masses but alienate the arcade priesthood, like “Super Smash Bros.,” and games like “Tekken” that thrill the Druids but leave the rest of us wondering what the heck a parry button does. Then there are the few, like “Marvel vs. Capcom 3,” whose approachability belies a depth reserved for mining by true finger acrobats.
| ‘Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds’ |
| » Systems: PS3, Xbox 360 |
| » Price: $59.99 |
| » Rating: 4 out of 5 stars |
For this bridging of the gap we can thank “Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Utimate All-Stars,” a Wii game that didn’t get the sales it deserved but introduced two innovations that, in our opinion, made the “Vs.” series way better: first, scrapping the four-button control scheme for one that uses three — light attack, medium attack and heavy attack — and second, introducing Simple Play, which lets you perform special moves with the press of a button, with no fancy joystick moves required. This mode lets you play with your nerdy cousin, who will probably still beat you by unleashing the types of screen-shattering combos that earn the series’ trademark shouted superlatives, like “Wonderful!” and “Stylish!” But to throw a fireball just by hitting A? That’s a dream come true.
For those of us looking into “Marvel vs. Capcom 3” chiefly to see how our favorite characters can be controlled in a fighting game, there’s much to appreciate. Old standbys like Ryu and Wolverine are joined by Marvel newcomers like Thor and Deadpool, and Team Capcom is flush with freshmen like the “Bionic Commando” guy and Haggar from the bowling alley arcade staple “Final Fight.” And, continuing the admirable tradition of including characters who don’t obviously lend themselves to a fighting game, the game lets us play as the divine wolf Amaterasu from “Okami” and MODOK, some sort of despicable head in a can.
Our one complaint is that there simply aren’t enough characters. In an age when a character’s inclusion matters as much as how he or she plays, even 36 seems skimpy. We can only guess Capcom is planning to wring a few extra bucks out of us every time a favorite character is made available for download. And, sigh, when it comes to Phoenix Wright from the brilliant “Ace Attorney” series, we’ll bite.
