by Justin Lakso ‘25

Marvel Rivals released in early December of last year to a massive audience of players looking for a revitalizing take on the Hero shooter genre. The game was met with great acclaim from fans of all skill levels from casual to champion, and it’s easy to see why.

The gameplay consists of two teams of six players each attacking or defending a certain objective, such as a payload. Attackers must escort the payload to a certain point, and defenders must prevent the attackers from doing so. This may sound simple on paper, but the real complexity comes from the different playable characters from everywhere in the Marvel universe. There are three main roles in Rivals, namely Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist, which all come with different abilities. Vanguards are tanky and great at taking space for the team, Duelists deal high damage and are often incredibly mobile, and Strategists supply healing and other supporting abilities to the team.

Every character also comes with different abilities that are accurate to their superhero source material. Spider-Man can move around the map at lightning speed with his web sling, Loki can make clones of himself which he can swap between, and Doctor Strange can create portals between two locations to allow his team to quickly reposition and flank the enemy.

A well rounded team composition is essential to winning, which is further highlighted with the Team-Up feature that grants enhanced abilities if certain characters are paired together. For example, Rocket can ride on Groot’s back and supply him with more healing, making Groot even better at taking space. This is an amazing feature which doesn’t appear in other hero shooters, making Rivals stand apart from its competitors.

Another benefit of Rivals is its hardworking development team. Chinese studio NetEase Games is very intent on catering to their target audience of Marvel comics fans and gamers alike. The casual players simply want a fun experience playing as awesome looking superheroes with their friends, while the competitive gamers want every character to feel equally powerful for a balanced ranked experience.

NetEase delivers on both fronts. Anyone can pick up a simple hero like The Punisher and perform well in casual play, while the people spending eight hours a day on the game can grind through a fair ranked experience where they can ban characters who are too strong. NetEase supplements this with frequent updates that introduce new heroes, most recently the Fantastic Four.

Marvel Rivals is a must play for long time fans of hero shooters such as Overwatch as the gameplay is similar but improved in all aspects. This combined with frequent updates ensure the game will be a long lasting success for both casual and competitive players alike. It’s perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Grade: A