![Marvel Rivals](https://images.pushsquare.com/4f6338e11caeb/marvel-rivals.900x.jpg)
Marvel Rivals isn’t quite what we were hoping for. In a time when hero shooters are questioned and criticised, we can’t deny that the Marvel meets Overwatch pitch is intriguing. Taking your favourite heroes like Spider-Man and Doctor Strange and then pitting them against each other in 6v6 modes is a slam dunk on paper. Yet after our time with the closed PS5 beta, Marvel Rivals serves more as a sign of what others in the genre do right, rather than how it’s pushing things forward.
“Overwatch clone” is a term freely and lazily used to describe pretty much any hero shooter these days, but never has it been more apt than with Marvel Rivals. Similarities are to be expected of course – it’s only natural for a crowded sub-genre of shooter – but what we have here is honestly baffling. Musical cues, match commentators, hitmarkers and their accompanying sounds, and even map design are all eerily similar to what you’ll find in Blizzard’s touted shooter. Wherever you look or listen in Marvel Rivals, the Overwatch influence is there.
That extends to the roster of heroes, which is like NetEase Games took the afternoon assigning superhero personas to Overwatch’s roster. Star Lord is a mix of Tracer and Reaper, the Punisher is Soldier 76, Bruce Banner is D.Va... The list goes on. Surely then as something so closely influenced by a hallmark of the hero shooter genre, Marvel Rivals is a competent take in itself? That, we're not so sure on.
![Marvel Rivals](https://images.pushsquare.com/0aee6b673b945/marvel-rivals.900x.jpg)
After just a couple of rounds the fatigue of this take had already worn on us. Marvel Rivals may have the appeal of playing as your favourite heroes and villains from the Marvel universe, but the core gameplay loop is uninspired and lacks the tactile and premium feel of a game like Overwatch. In all honesty, there are times that Marvel Rivals feels like a direct port of a mobile release.
The one unique aspect of the core gameplay is the synergy system. Each hero will have an applicable team-up which will buff them, so it makes sense to partner up the likes of Groot and Rocket, or Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Bruce Banner, or Hela and Loki. However, this in itself introduces a wild balance issue, which would see a team destroyed in a matter of minutes, or wracking up 20+ kill streaks.
![Marvel Rivals](https://images.pushsquare.com/be142d501ebb5/marvel-rivals.900x.jpg)
To give the benefit of the doubt, we are in the early meta-less window of Marvel Rivals’ existence where everyone is figuring things out as they play. As the meta establishes itself, team-ups and counters will become all the more apparent. But in our first handful of hours, there was a lack of readability, even to the point of taking in damage with death often coming as a surprise.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. Marvel Rivals is a nice looking game, and the character designs are all very cool. With awesome skins already available through the beta’s levelling system, and the potential for new heroes to be added to the roster, there are strong foundations for post-launch support. We can envisage Fantastic Four characters and maps being added into the fray once the inevitable movie hits cinemas in 2025.
![Marvel Rivals](https://images.pushsquare.com/390448b2475b4/marvel-rivals.900x.jpg)
However, Marvel Rivals lacks a certain fun factor — at least in our opinion. Say what you will about Concord, but to us, that game feels good to play, and the core gameplay loop is always easy to engage with. After a handful of hours with Marvel Rivals, we're not eager for one more game, but are instead reinstalling Overwatch 2. If anything, this new hero shooter feels like it needs more time in the oven, because as it stands, it's copied over the basic principles of the genre, but it's forgotten all about the magic.
Have you been checking out the Marvel Rivals closed beta on PS5? Swing into the comments to let us know.
Comments 66
“ If anything, this new hero shooter feels like it needs more time in the oven, because as it stands, it's copied over the basic principles of the genre, but it's forgotten all about the magic.”
Hmm…that actually does sound like my same assessment of Concord.
So this game is bad but concord is great cuz its sony published hmm ok
It's a strange predicament here. Temu GotG is more fun (according to this site), but the game part of the game with actual GotG is derivative. My head hurts.
Reads like someone who is a big overwatch fanboy and doesn't like another game potentially stepping on it's toes.... especially one with a big brand behind it that could potentially replace it
but its going to get more players than Concord
this reads like such a fanboy article having actually played concord i would say that game lacks the fun factor and how does Concord push the genre forward?
Aaron logs off for the night, the red sniper dot vanishing from his forehead.
I’m here with you, Aaron, lamenting the beta for Concord’s negative reception. This Marvel title looks like F2P dross. A shame this will likely be millions of times more successful.
A hero hero shooter, you could say.
Being Overwatch with Marvel characters alone is enough to carry the game.
It’s Marvel. People are gonna play it no matter what.
Having put more time into it, your not wrong about it being a copy and paste of OW right down to it's modes. It's much more like OW then Concord. However I'm finding it really fun, it's really chaotic at times plus destructible environments adds some strategies to matches.
I don't agree with it feeling like a mobile game though, it has good presentation with great visual flourishes in the character menus.
Well now you ruined it for me and I will say nothing about Concord anymore. But at least there is Marvel Rivals which I also won't play but will have a strongly negative opinion about.
@Czar_Khastik you could’ve just said “what you will about concord…”
i don’t care, overwatch needs competition so i’m playing rivals, and hoping concord succeeds regardless. tired of the stale ass FPS, the genres been stale for so damn long. idc if the market is oversaturated , keep trying until there’s a new hit .
for the most part it’s been the same top handful of multiplayer games for YEARS , meanwhile single player games always get a new flavor of the month
the only thing that intrigues me is that it's a Third Person Shooter which I usually prefer to First Person Shooters.
Steam seems to think differently. Let's not turn this into a hit piece article to make Concord look better than it is because Sony published it.
Huge missed opportunity by PS by not having the person who gave Concord a 3 write this so we could get a nice comparison. This person seems to prefer Concord to this which makes this either a 1 or 2 out of 10. Will probably make billions.
Sorry, but having spent time with both the Concord and Marvel Rivals betas, the latter is unquestionably the better game.
Removed - flaming/arguing
I quite like Marvel Rivals personally, and I could see myself keeping it installed and playing it quite often.
The controls feel a bit weird, it reminds me a lot of Naraka Bladepoint, which I suppose isn't hugely surprising because its NetEase.
But personally I like the artstyle and the abilities. I think it's going to be pretty popular.
Trying to push Concord I see.
@DarkCvrle I was about to post the same thing seems like their might be an hidden agenda to try too tear this game down because the beta was more successful than Concord which is a Sony game
I've watched a streamer play Marvel Rivals during the closed beta, and it honestly looks more interesting then other hero shooters
@Psnfanboy79 We've been plenty critical of Concord, too. This is just the author's opinion — there's no agenda or calculated plot to promote one game over another.
Removed - unconstructive feedback
Just watched some gameplay on YouTube and I now agree with the article about it being an Overwatch clone. From the map layouts to how the game plays, if that gameplay was shown to me without me already knowing it's a new marvel game I would have thought it was Overwatch with a Marvel event.
Atleast Concord is trying to do it's on spin on things instead of copy and paste with a change of skins.
Is it still possible to access/join the beta?
@Yousef- It was right there but I didn't see the forrest from all the trees
@get2sammyb
Here's my problem with that statement. You say that this write-up of the game/beta is one person's personal opinion, yet it's not presented that way:
Oh, and my personal favourite, in regards to your statement:
I've noted and voiced my opinion on Hookshot's constant insistence on using "we", "our", "us", etc, when it makes no sense whatsoever to do so, which you've just proved 🤷
This has the IP though, so it will make money.
Eh I'm sure that people who criticize Marvel Rivals are just haters so it's fine!
@yazzika If you watch a twitch stream for a hour, I believe you can get a key like that.
It doesn’t matter if this game is mid. What matters is that any kid who loves Marvel is going to love this game.
They will only care that they can be their favourite superheroes and fight other superheroes.
… and they likely don’t even know or care what an Overwatch or Concord is. 😅
@Markatron84 yeah, the ‘our’ and ‘we’ terminology on the hook shot sites does not work for personal takes like this.
It is likely confusing to people who don’t know this is their style. New people to the site will think it’s the opinion of the entire website, not just one writer.
Why not let contributors have their own voice when giving their personal takes?
@Markatron84 That's a house style. We write reviews the same way but it doesn't mean we'd all give a game the exact same score.
@StylesT come on this is worse than overwatch in pretty much every possible way I uninstalled after a few hours
@get2sammyb we get it’s the house style but in our opinion we think that changing it sometimes is acceptable so that the personal opinion of your writers is better expressed to your readers.
Maybe consider it. 😇
Too bad they didn't make it a Smite clone. Having MOBA modes where you're smacking around AIM or Hydra goons, while building up to big team fights of classic heroes and villains would be super cool to me.
But then... I liked Paragon, Titanfall, and Battleborn, so what do I know? Lol
@Toot1st That's your opinion ...I couldn't comment either way as I have no interest in these types of games and haven't played this ...and have only played the original Overwatch briefly years ago and didn't think it was anything special ....but I've seen plenty of people say this is basically overwatch with marvel skins ....which is plenty more appealing to me... especially with all the characters that could potentially be used
@get2sammyb precisely. So why stick to a "house style" that contradicts that fact? A house style that, judging by the comments above this one, I'm not the only one confused/irritated by?
@W0rl0ck Ah thank you. I will never ever do that. Not even for GTA VI
@Pigrotto same here... very thirsty for a good third-person shooter. I've been playing Factions (TLOU) for years. Drop into PuBG every now and then. I prefer graphics that are more true to life, but I'll give Marvel a shot because there just aren't many options out there.
Well hopefully it leads to Overwatch's demise even though I have no interest in playing it.
On Twitter most of the videos I've seen haven't been gameplay but the menus (they're fluid and look nice) and the character art (they're beautiful).
@MrMagic i really hope it does
An unremarkable game like Overwatch with an unremarkable Marvel skin. How unremarkable.
@Lup well they push square, not concord.
But Concord is an amazing game according to Push Square, you aren’t helping yourself here guys lmao
"Say what you will about Concord, but to us, that game feels good to play".
I got bored after trying half of the 'heroes' in less than 2 hours. Concord if anything should be at least delayed for more content if it's going to be $40. Also look at the Steam beta numbers, they will have to make a free to play version sooner than later to keep it alive.
Played it for a couple hours. Pretty rough around the edges. Still fun as hell.
“musical queues”
I think you mean “musical cues”.
I'd rather play Marvel Avengers again. Superheroes within shooters shouldn't exist. No thanks
I still think Marvel Vs Capcom 2 will do better than this. It will most likely be back at EVO too.
So you'll praise Concord (an exclusive PS5 hero shooter) but talk smack about Marvel Rivals? Jog on. Keep that same energy lmao
This reads and feels like a hit piece in response to other news outlets claiming Concord was underwhelming. Especially considering those same outlets are praising Rivals.
@yazzika Daily Twitch drops or get an invite from someone already in.
It’s really hard to read the two previews for these games and come out of thinking you’re not being paid.
@StylesT a less polished less team work focused version of overwatch, the only thing that makes this game stand out is the marvel characters
I don't really have a horse in this race as I absolutely hate this style of game and wont play any of them.
But reading the constant conspiracies and shouts of 'unfair' every time a reviewer has an opinion here is pretty disappointing and says a lot about the kind of people this site has attracted to its comments sections.
Lmfao I will never read any of Aaron’s reviews or preview ever again, seriously, how tf you hated and despised Marvel Rivals but just a week ago you were praising Concord!?
I understand this is a PS Blog but at least tone down the fanatic obsession with the brand.
The hate boner from gamers for Concord really is something.
@Toot1st Uh huh ...then don't play it
@OmegaStriver It ain’t that, this same reviewer who seems to despise hero shooters that isn’t Overwatch just praised another hero shooter that isn’t Overwatch mere days ago.
Why do all these pvp shooters all look the same? Even exact sane looking levels..booooring
@StylesT i wont?
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