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By Contributing Writer Jimmy Payne Rating: Good Marvel vs. Capcom is a great example of a dying breed: 2D fighting games. Even though it has plenty of flaws that prevent it from being an excellent game, it's still fun, and it will still keep you interested for at least a few days. Marvel vs. Capcom's graphics are impressive. Not impressive in a Soul Calibur sort of way, but impressive nonetheless for a 2D fighting game. The colors almost never bleed into each other, and all the little details that Capcom added can be seen very easily. I was also pleased to find that there's not a lot of slowdown, which is impressive considering how many sprite-based animations are running at all times in the game (something that the PlayStation has a hard time handling). Another thing that I really liked was not just the amount of characters that were included in the game, but the amount of personality each of them offers. There are plenty of Capcom characters besides the Street Fighter characters, and there are plenty of Marvel characters besides the X-Men. Most of the characters trigger happy memories of either playing games or reading comic books. It's a dream come true to be able to mix and match these characters in team-based gameplay. The sheer amount of personality that Marvel vs. Capcom has to offer is more than enough reason to give it a look. The gameplay can be summed up in one word: Fast. People who haven't played many 2D fighting games might be overwhelmed when they first start playing this game. All the moves seem to be executed twice as fast as they were in old games like Street Fighter 2. The ability to have more than two characters on the screen at once makes it seem like you're not in control of the action at times. A lot of the time, there's so much taking place on the screen that you don't know whether to think to yourself, "Wow, that's cool!" or "What the hell is going on?" As if the gameplay weren't already chaotic enough, you and your opponent have the ability to call upon another character and basically make everything go crazy, thus hurting your opponent severely. These moves might have been awesome if it weren't for the fact that they cause way too much damage. Sometimes there's no point in defending yourself because the minute your opponent hits that move, the match is over. Needless to say, these moves really disrupt the balance of the game. Like most of Capcom's fighting games, Marvel vs. Capcom is far from innovative. There's not a whole lot of difference between Marvel vs. Capcom and all of Capcom's previous "Vs." games, other than the wider selection of characters to choose from. The standard gameplay formula that Capcom has been using for years is still fun for a while, but it's getting more than a little stale. This game's only disappointments are its lack of innovation and its unbalanced super moves. If it weren't for these things, Marvel vs. Capcom could have been a must-have for fans of 2D fighting games. Send your thoughts on this review to jimmy@mastergamer.com
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