When Marvel Rivals was first announced earlier this year, I was pretty excited. I've been a huge fan of Overwatch ever since its launch back in 2016, and while I've not been very active since Overwatch 2 released due to some of the decisions made by Blizzard since then, I've yearned to play the same style of game since then.
Marvel Rivals is currently in closed beta, and is scratching that itch left by the original Overwatch, with its hectic 6v6 combat, impressive cast of characters, and solid mechanics. Yet, while Marvel Rivals is a ton of fun, I'm not sure it's a great game up there with the original it's clearly inspired by just yet.
If you launched into Marvel Rivals without any prior knowledge, you'd be remiss if you thought this was simply an Overwatch mod based on iconic Marvel heroes. The hero shooter is clearly inspired by its predecessor, with its identical game modes right down to the myriad hero archetypes you could clearly put alongside their Overwatch counterparts. Star Lord reminds one of Tracer with his dual pistols and penchant for zipping around the battlefield, while the new Jeff the Land Shark addition feels a bit too much like a ground-based Mercy.
It isn't just the hero and game mode similarities that make me feel like I'm just playing more Overwatch. Everything from its menus feeling like they have just been reskinned in a Rivals livery to even some of the default hotkeys being identical to Blizzard's game lend to this feeling. While a major difference in presentation is that Rivals is played in third-person while Overwatch is a first-person game, everything else feels almost as if Rivals had copied its predecessor's homework.
The biggest thing, though, that reminds me of those 2016 matches is the sheer fun and chaos I've experienced in each game I've played over the past week since Marvel Rivals went into closed beta.
Matches are fast-paced and frenetic, and thanks to the myriad characters on offer, while each might feel inspired by a Blizzard counterpart, there are also a ton of unique ways Rivals plays differently. One of the most glaring is its verticality. Maps are designed not just wide but tall, with rooftops used as cover or avenues to flank an opposing team. Multiple heroes can fly, or at least float for long stretches, making combat feel more dynamic at times. Instead of just having to worry about Iron Man raining laser bolts down on a team, what about Scarlet Witch popping into existence behind your healer, only to float away at the first sign of trouble?
Star Lord, while he can't maintain flight all the time, can still zip around the map using his jump jets to his advantage to get the drop on a cluster of enemy players, and Storm uses her ability to float to both empower or speed up a team Lucio-style, all while flinging bolts of lighting and wind at enemies.This verticality helps make combat more dynamic and three-dimensional than Overwatch before it, but it also presents a challenge to healers who have to not only keep an eye on their allies in front or behind but also above them.
My favorite hero so far, Doctor Strange, is a weird mix between Reinhardt from Overwatch and Zenyatta, firing off bolts of magic while using his impressive shield to cover allies from hails of enemy projectiles. I've also come to rely on the shield when enemy players use their alt attacks, like Wanda's Reality Erasure or Iron Man's Invincible Pulse Cannon. Both deplete the shield immediately, but Strange still stands to fight another day, along with any ally who took cover with him.
I've also enjoyed playing Strategists, Marvel Rivals' versions of healers, and support roles during my time in the beta. Luna Snow is a fun, fast healer who also has the ability to deal out damage herself, while Adam Warlock feels a bit like Ana from Overwatch, his single target blasts with his golden staff dealing pretty great damage. In fact, it's the fact that no hero feels entirely helpless and is required to stay in the fray that elevates the Strategist class over many of the healers in Overwatch. As a Mercy main, too many of my matches have simply been to follow behind a tank or keep a Bastion turret alive while sticking to the background, swapping to my gun only at greatest need.
Marvel Rivals' support heroes feel like heroes unto themselves, capable of taking over matches and becoming legitimate threats all on their own. Mantis' healing ramps up with the damage she deals, while Rocket Racoon can litter a battlefield with bouncing orbs, dealing damage and healing all in one. Nothing ever feels one note, which adds depth to each hero you can choose from.
This depth is only deepened with its Hero Team Up Abilities. These are passives that encourage players to coordinate their hero choices and are a great nod to the relationships built across Marvel's comic book canon. Team Ups such as Rocket Racoon climbing onto the shoulders of Groot, or Wanda and Magneto's Metallic Chaos, which infuses Magneto with chaos energy to enchant his greatsword to deal out damage, can add an edge in combat, especially against a team that isn't as well coordinated. During hero selection there is also a way to telegraph to your group that you'd like a Team Up composition, and I'm glad there is that non-verbal feature works for those, like me, who don't do voice chat with PUGs.
All of this is built into a pretty tight gameplay loop. Combat feels good and impactful, while the UI clearly communicates what's going on. Visually, Marvel Rivals is stunning, especially if your PC is capable of using Unreal Engine 5's Lumen raytracing features. The stylized comic book look lends itself well to Rivals - I really think the developers have done an outstanding job with how the world looks. It's vibrant, colorful, and it stands on its own compared to Disney's MCU. Unlike games like Marvel's Avengers, I don't feel like I'm playing with the B-Team Marvel lineup.
However, it's not all rosy in Marvel Rivals. Balance is a real issue, with some heroes just feeling so much more powerful than others, capable of taking over matches all on their own. Venom is clear example of this, with the villain capable of taking out a team all on his own, while a character as powerful as Magneto is in the comics feels completely useless at times in a fight. Since there is no role selection before you queue for a match, there is no guarantee you're going to be teamed up with a balanced group of players, either, which makes some matches frustrating.
It's also easy for an opposing team to simply drop into a four DPS, two Strategist composition and completely steamroll your face, despite having tanks and healers to try to stem the tide. This happened to me multiple times last night and it can feel pretty demoralizing not being able to make any headway because there is just so much damage being dealt your way.
This isn't helped either by just how incredibly busy Marvel Rivals can get in the heat of combat. While the UI is clean and portrays information clearly, the same cannot be said when trying to distinguish what is going on in battle. It honestly felt a bit like a Final Fantasy XIV raid before you turn off other player effects to clean things up. I love the fact that everything feels over the top, but it might be a bit too over the top when you've got twelve players all fighting in a constrained lane or trying to capture the same point.
There are also clear performance issues to clear up as well. Despite using features such as DLSS to eke out extra performance, even my RTX 4090 would buckle under 40 fps during some of the busiest moments. This makes everything feel incredibly sluggish, and has a real impact on gameplay, especially in a competitive shooter where responsiveness often separates those who are pushing the payload and those who are watching their kill cams.
Rivals needs to address the balancing issues before launch, which they should have time and plenty of telemetry from this test to iterate on. While they can be somewhat forgiven right now during a beta test - this is what the test is set out to determine, after all - it could rub players the wrong way once Rivals fully releases this year.
I am hopeful, though, given where Rivals is currently at. It's an incredibly fun shooter that reminds me of the best times I've had in the genre. I find myself thinking about Marvel Rivals when I'm off doing something else, my mind itching to sit back down and hop back into the Marvel Multiverse to sling spells and push the payload through Asgard. The bones are good in Marvel Rivals, thanks to the fact it's clearly being inspired by one of the best examples in the genre, yet it's different enough to feel like it's not a straight copy of Blizzard's homework. It'll be interesting to see how things progress the closer we get to its eventual launch, as well as what kind of legs it has when it's finally out in the wild.
Full Disclosure: Access to the closed beta was provided by PR for the purposes of this preview.
