Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 Ultimate Review (Xbox 360)

Marvel and Capcom have a pretty substantial history together. Fans waited over a decade for the release of Marvel Vs Capcom 3 this past February. Just nine months later Capcom has released the first, and supposedly only, expansion to the game. Can twelve new characters, a series of revamped stages and balance changes convince you to fork over an additional $40?

Don't expect a complete departure from the established MVC 3 formula when it comes to the Ultimate version. If the price point didn't give it away UMVC3 is an enhanced version of last winter’s long awaited brawler. The gameplay is essentially the same with two teams of 3 fighters facing off on a two dimensional plain. Like almost all of Capcom’s fighting games your team of fighters can pull off light, medium and heavy attacks as well as a range of special moves. For basic players the goal always seems to be “learn when to block and what basic attack or special move is right for a given situation”. For advanced players Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 offers up neat tricks like air juggling, advancing guards and the ability to pull to chain hyper combos.

One of the biggest draws of UMVC3 is its selection of characters. Sure you’ve got everyone from the previous entry but that’s not what returning fans will be looking forward too. It is the 12 new characters that will be the instant draw for returning fighters. Six new combatants have been added to both the Marvel and Capcom sides. Some of them are fan favorites like Nemesis from Resident Evil, Frank West from Dead rising or Strider Hiryu who returns from Marvel Vs Capcom 2. Others like Rocket Raccoon, Nova and Firebrand aren’t exactly household names and their inclusion might be perplexing to casual fans of either company. While playing the game for review we explored all 12 of the new characters. Rather than breaking them all down let’s explore some of the ones we found the most effective or unique.






Rocket Raccoon strikes an interesting balance between novelty and bewilderment. His small size can give you the advantage when fighting against a projectile character like sentinel. His over the top supers are always a crowd pleaser, especially when playing with a room full of friends, as he pulls out a giant chain gun to finish his opponent.

Phoenix Wright is perhaps the most complicated character in the entire game. His basic attacks and movement speed are weak & slow but he is able to enter a special “turn about mode” by collecting evidence. Essentially playing Phoenix comes down to performing the evidence collection move enough times to fill your evidence meter before your opponent has the chance to kill you. If done correctly Phoenix has one of the most devastating Ultra combos in the game.

The new characters aren’t the only ones with fresh moves. Capcom has also provided existing fighters with new moves as well as other minor changes. Street Fighter poster-boy Ryu has received a few new moves including a more powerful dragon punch and a rapid fire version of his classic Hadoken. Flying demoness Morrigan can no longer spend as much time in the air and has a few new moves as well. One of the most important improvements is the removal of infinite combos that were discovered shortly after the launch of the original MVC3. If you’re attached to any fighter in particular you’ll want to practice with them a bit upon booting up UMVC3 as all fighters have received some tweaks.





Rounding out the package is the inclusion of Spectator mode and 9 alternate stages. The stages range from cleaver to downright confusing. The best of the redressed stages being “Days of Future Past”, a reskin of the Metro Stage, set in the future X-Men timeline where mutants have been outlawed. On the other end of the spectrum are stages like Demon Village, the Ghost & Goblins stage, which is now completely in Black and White. This is supposed to be a homage to the original Gameboy but the lack of color does not do the game any favors. The inclusion of Spectating works exactly as you would expect it to. You either search for a match through the server browser or join a lobby in progress. From there members of the lobby take turns watching fights and participating against the victors. The netcode requires about half a minute to sync everyone up but once it starts there is no sign of lag.

With all of these new features, characters and changes is Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 worth it? If you played the original and have a group of friends to play with, or enjoyed taking the game online then the answer is a simple yes. If you purchased Marvel Vs Capcom 3 but put it down after a few weeks than you might want to skip out on the most recent release. For fans of the first game Ultimate Marvel is an excellent expansion and a bargain at $40 but don’t go into the game expecting revolutionary change. This is an incremental update with a lot of fresh paint. Capcom will continue to support Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3 via DLC with the release of the “Heroes and Heralds” mode in the coming weeks.




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