As someone who used to play a lot, and i mean A LOT of Overwatch before Blizzard nuked it and turned it into the shambolic mess that is Overwatch 2, Marvel Rivals has been a very welcoming experience so far, the perfect rebound relationship for someone who’s been hurt before, a loving embrace that whispers seductively into your ear “don’t worry baby, I won’t nerf Adam Warlock into the dirt like your ex did to Mercy”, and you can just tell she means it.
But I digress.
Thing is, hero shooters are an undeniable niche, requiring a shooter skill set even for characters that aren’t necessarily shooters. Personally, that’s part of the appeal, having 20+ ways to play, and not all of them rely on twitch reflexes and precise aim. But still, there are folks who are going to bounce off of all 20 of those playstyles, and just have to watch their friends play and laugh and bitch about Jeff from a distance. But don’t worry. It’s not like those folks are starved for options. Here’s a few options for those folks who want to make theirs Marvel, without all that pesky K/D ratio talk.
2 / 7
I’ll grant, this is mostly just trading one labyrinthine set of mechanics for another that’s even more likely to result in you getting pieced up in infinite combos by someone who hasn’t seen the touch of a gentle hand or the light of the day star since Obama was in office. But the magic of the VS titles is just how much can be had just randomly screwing around with characters and team builds, and wacky moves without ever having to take the games online. Seeing Magneto, M. Bison, and Dr. Doom get absolutely destroyed by a team composed of a Little Red Riding Hood, a Japanese schoolgirl, and The Mad Titan Thanos is just one of those innate charms that never gets old, solo or with friends. Best of all, there’s now three different flavors of experience to be had, with the announcement that some absolute maniacs have spent a preposterous amount of time and energy into revamping the reviled Marvel vs Capcom Infinite into a respectable game.
3 / 7
Nothing about Midnight Suns is my jam on paper. Card-based/deck-builder games just don’t click with my brain, Balatro notwithstanding, and Rivals aside, real talk, there’s a lot of licensed Marvel trash floating out there to be avoided at all costs. And that’s to say nothing of the fact that I was around when the Midnight Sons arc started back in the early 90s, trying to cash in on the dark, and edgy undercurrent running through all comics, which was the style at the time. Even being the exact age when edgy comics should’ve hit my teenage brain like a wrecking ball, these guys just didn’t do it for me.
So when I tell you that I fell head-over-heels in love with Midnight Suns, you know how hard that game is working to get me to care. It helps that it’s from developer Firaxis, bringing its A-game to the strategic aspects of gameplay. But there’s also some absolutely delightful deep cut Marvel lore and character work going on there between the strategy. Fighting Lillith and whatnot? Sure, I guess. Making sure Blade and Carol Danvers hook up? I will MOVE MOUNTAINS. Midnight Suns was apparently a huge flop for Firaxis, but it’s never too late to get more people on that deeply underrated bandwagon.
4 / 7
Speaking of deeply underrated. It’s hard to blame anyone for giving Crystal Dynamics’ Guardians of the Galaxy game the side-eye after Square Enix’s Avengers debacle poisoned the well. Anyone who’s actually spent time playing it, however, knows the truth. Guardians is just a damn fine third-person action title that really puts in some serious work making the Guardians feel like a caring-but-dysfunctional family that Star-Lord has to manage. It helps, too, that Star-Lord is an infinitely more likable, thoughtful scoundrel than Chris Pratt who, even when faced with a crucial, branching choice, finds a way to keep his family together. It helps even more that he doesn’t get himself in a scenario where all he has to do is wait till the goddamn Gauntlet is off and then he can combo up Thanos all he wants but nooooo, he has to get his smackdown on while everybody else is trying to save the goddamn universe from being snapped, and because of him it fails, and it’s his fault, and he is scum and you know what, I may still have anger issues about that. Let me make note of that for my therapist.
5 / 7
It feels like all the rizz has gone out of this one since Balatro took its place as the de facto card game in everyone’s hearts this year. But make no mistake, the mobile card-battler is still going strong with constant updates, and is still just as fun as it’s ever been. In fact, the game’s current season includes a crossover with Rivals, bringing some of that game’s character art to the deck, as well as introducing Galacta into the mix. Sure, you’ll be bitching about balancing issues here too, but it’s hard to stay mad at a game you can be done with during the fifth time that accursed Wegovy commercial they keep running on a loop on Hulu plays out.
6 / 7
Of course, if you’re looking to cross enemy lines to DC, you’ve played all the Arkham games, and you value your time and dignity too much to play Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad, you can actually try something a little different that won’t demand much aside from time and commitment. DC Universe is one of the few survivors of that time when every studio wanted their own World of Warcraft instead of their own Overwatch. No game survives this long without having something going for it, and in this case, with City of Heroes effectively a ghost, superhero MMOs a dying breed altogether, and the price being right–as in, free–to fool around in a big expansive superhero universe that, while it does have the usual MMO grind problems, does understand its assignment as a DC superhero simulator.
7 / 7