A new face has emerged in the hero-shooter game genre, and it’s one littered with faces familiar to any comic book fan. Marvel Rivals, a six-vs-six hero shooter from NetEase, released a trailer on March 27, promising a closed alpha test in May of this year.
At first glance, there are striking similarities between Marvel Rivals and Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 that are impossible to ignore. Both games feature six-vs-six combat, pitting characters with special abilities and ultimates against each other, with all the heroes fitting under the DPS/tank/support class types. Even the UI is somewhat similar.
But what is Marvel Rivals doing differently to stand apart from Overwatch 2?
Different characters
This is an obvious inclusion on the list, but Marvel Rivals utilizes iconic heroes and villains from the comics to make up its roster of playable characters. Some of the big names fans will recognize from comics, movies, shows, and other games will be featured, including Iron Man, Spider-man, the Hulk, Black Panther, and the majority of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
A few names that may only be recognized by regular comic book readers and not the general audience also appear, including Luna Snow and Magik. There are a few bigger names that have not been revealed yet, including Thor, Wolverine, Captain America, Captain Marvel, or anyone from X-Men aside from Magneto.
Third-person gameplay
While Overwatch 2 is a first-person shooter with very limited and rare instances that require a third-person view, such as when Reinhardt uses his shield, Marvel Rivals appears to be entirely third-person.
Team-up abilities
Marvel heroes teaming up and pulling off special feats is one of the most enjoyable and cinematic aspects of several of the franchise’s movies, films, and shows. And those team-ups are a critical part of the gameplay experience.
It appears specific duos of characters can activate team-up abilities if both characters are on the same team. These abilities are very likely to have a sort of cooldown timer. Here are the character team up abilities we saw from the Marvel Rivals trailer:
- The Hulk can infuse Iron Man with his gamma radiation, letting Iron Man fire a powerful, relentless green beam.
- Luna Storm can inject Namor with “Ice Energy,” which lets him summon iced-out aquatic creatures that presumably deal slowing damage.
- Rocket Raccoon can ride Groot, allowing both character to deal damage from a singular source.
Destructible environments
A huge highlight of the Marvel Rivals announcement trailer was the amount of destructible environment features. The previously mentioned team-up ability between The Hulk and Iron Man not only deals a lot of damage to players, but it completely destroyed a massive statue. Later on in the trailer, Loki mimics Black Panther’s powers and destroys an entire bridge.
While Overwatch 2 features some smaller, more negligible instances of destructible environments, it appears players in Marvel Rivals can destroy bigger, more foundational elements of a map like bridges and walls.
