All good things must come to an end as the confrontation between Marvel and Capcom partnership is an example of that.
Overview
The final episode of the Marvel/Capcom teaming appears via “Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes”. The suppose ‘storyline’ of this one centers around Ruby Heart, whose send her ship to an island where a monster named Abyss, who holds a luxurious treasure with secret powers…and somehow the Capcom and Marvel people are put in the middle just for the hell of it. Great plot, isn't it?
Graphics 6/10
The new fighters making their 2D debut are quite cool, it nice to see Jill Valentine, SonSon, and Marrow making the rounds, but they are quickly overshadowed by the sheer dozens of other fighters who have return for the final game. We know some of the fighters have not been seen in fighting games since for years and their age and styles shows. Some of the special/super moves’ executions do expose how bad the pixels look in some cases. The final version of Abyss is a nightmare to look at, as if Capcom asked a 10 year old to draw an evil blob of tomato soup. All the stages are now 3D and are nice additions, but the majority of the stages look like they don’t belong in the atmosphere of this game and to have the stages each get a second version of themselves by simply changing the coloring or palette swapping objects in the background is not that amazing. At least the coloring is nice.
Gameplay/Controls 9/10
To further enhance the gameplay, Capcom boosts the team up another to make it a three member affair. It’s really surprising what kind of action can happen within 99 seconds and it goes by fast. The super meter now goes up 5 levels to give each character a shot on performing a super. One of the biggest changes that force anybody to somewhat relearn their skills was the button setup. It was the still the six buttons, but this time since their three people to a team, Capcom had to change it to make it easier to call out teammates for offense, defense, or traps. It was put down as two punches, two kicks, and two partner assist buttons. The middle strength was taken out, but still there by simply tapping the light button twice and they would come out automatically after the light attack came out when doing combos. Other new features because of the team buttons are triple team supers, teammate switch supers, and ‘banning’ your opponent out of battle brings a lot more offerings of tactics. After a couple of matches, you won’t have any problems with the new button setup.
The computer AI is probably at the dumbest level it could ever be. In some small events, you will have battle one CPU team that is expert like, but that’s about it. The boss, Abyss, can is wicked easy with simple patience and timing. The only real challenge you’ll find will be against human players, which is sad really. While the battles to reach the final boss take a long time, you won’t want to fight the CPU for it lack of effort in trying to beat you. You’ll be dying to get someone to join in with you.
Sound/Music 4/10
This is the thing that’s eating MvC2 inside. If you’re going to end the series on good terms, make sure every detail of the game does not get crap on. The music wins top honors as the most uninspiring, unfitting, and cheesiest tracks you will ever hear. It will be one of the few times you wish the arcade cabinet had a mute button to stop the music. The sound bites are crisp and are heard actually like they should be, whether with a fireball, a fist, a scratch, or so on. The fighters’ talks are mostly from their original debuts, but it nothing to cry about. There are too many things to notice.
Replay Value 9/10
The arcade has a good time-release/experience gadget input in the system. It starts off with an initial small cast of Marvel/Capcom heroes available. As time passes by and people keep playing on that machine, experience points are gathered and when it hits a certain amount of levels, either new fighters or new stages will become unlock. This keeps the game’s life span alive a little more each time and with over 50+ fighters opened to play after the unlocking is over, an unbelievable combination of teams can be made in any way you want. The only reason why this game does not get a perfect 10 is because with the known recent findings of infinites (i.e. Magento) and ‘top tier’ fighters (i.e. Sentinal, Storm) found, it defeats the purpose of having fun as some ignorant people just think its cool to kick everybody butts with the same tactics and moves. However, this is one of the bigger games to have 2 players versus with.
Overall 8/10
Even with the dreaded music, funky animation, and it being a bit unbalance, the constant clash of gameplay serves it purpose and finish the partnership of Marvel vs Capcom on a good note. I would say this is the best fighting party to play with everyone. If you can skip the all the negatives I had talked about, you won’t find a greater tag team fighting game then this.
- by Mr. Boombada
