TThe history of video games is, in some ways, a history of subtle iterations of other people’s ideas. The interstellar success of Taito’s Space Invaders spawned an entire shooter genre, with titles like Galaxian, Phoenix, and Golf taking the basic idea and adding new features. Then in 1984, Karate Champ started the fighting game craze, and Tetris gave us the falling object puzzle game. This is how things have always worked. Adapt, expand, and pass the baton. However, there is a subtle but deep gulf between imitation and inspiration, and not every title can cross it.

Chinese mega-publisher NetEase’s latest live service game, Marvel Rivals, is an Overwatch featuring Marvel characters. It’s more than just an elevator pitch. that’s right What is it? Colorful cartoon characters with varying skills gather in a series of sci-fi arenas for team-based combat in a handful of play modes. The Punisher, a vanilla guy with a machine gun, is Soldier 76 from Overwatch with a Bastion flavor. God-like healer Adam Warlock is a male Mercy. And the Hulk, as a fist-thumping tank, is just rampaging through Winston, the hairless gorilla. Also provides gaming site GamesRadar handy guide Show players which Marvel cast members most resemble their Overwatch favorites.

Many of the genre’s well-worn tropes and abilities have at least been remixed to suit the Marvel universe, and playing as these familiar legends adds an undeniable charm. From bludgeoning enemies with Thor’s hammer to sending exploding acorns flying as Squirrel Girl to slamming Captain America’s shield into Black Panther’s body armor, Rivals captures the comic dynamics of this famous cast perfectly. so much so that the large-scale skirmish seems like the most exciting scene in the movie. X-Men ’97 cartoon. It’s also great that all 33 heroes are available for free from the beginning. Of course, there’s also the Store and Battle Pass, but for now these only give you alternative costumes, emotes, and other accessories. And completing daily missions and seasonal story objectives will give you currency to buy this kind of stuff without paying a penny.

Additionally, the game has a big new feature, Team-Ups, which unlock additional hero abilities when at least two players on the same side select complementary characters. There’s a symbiote bond between Venom, Spider-Man, and Peni Parker that allows the latter two to channel the former’s alien powers, and allows Hela to heal and resurrect Thor and Loki in Ragnarok: Rebirth. I can do that. Kinship can greatly facilitate tactical play.

But Rivals in many ways reflects key tenets of the bible of hero shooter design. In other words, for every positive there is always a negative. The sheer number of Marvel’s super freaks and their team-up powers make the game feel very unbalanced at times. Characters like Storm and Iron Man are difficult to counter when they can stay in the air for the entire match, picking off enemies from a distance and avoiding most of the incoming gunfire. Big guys like Venom and Moon Knight tend to completely dominate the area they’re fighting, often at the expense of melee-based combatants who need to get close to deal significant damage. I never expected Wolverine to become one of the most nuanced and sophisticated characters in Marvel’s cast, but here we are.

This game is definitely luxurious in both look and feel. The user interface design regarding the menu system and information screens is excellent. Destructible locations shine in detail. And the characters are also beautifully reproduced. However, here too there are drawbacks. Amidst the chaos of a superhero riot, with explosions, magical attacks, and “hilarious” banter all at the same time, figure out what you’re hurting and what you’re hurting instead. It’s difficult. you Until it’s too late.

These characters will definitely receive buffs and nerfs in time to even out the balance, and players will begin to learn how to combine team members more strategically. But even if the balance issue were resolved, what we’re left with is the equivalent of a changeling in video game folklore, designed to trap those who loved the original. A supernaturally accurate replacement. The question is, can you really blame Rivals for getting too close to Overwatch and potentially getting a restraining order? As the failed hero shooters Hyena, Concord, and xDefiant recently demonstrated, the brutal economics of the live service market demand absolute loyalty to established norms. It’s also fine to tag large global licenses.

Rivals, like many other highly polished and highly focused franchise expansions, is entertaining, gorgeous, and well-made. However, its presence bodes ill for the mainstream gaming industry and the people who work in it. To be successful, especially in the live services sector (where there is a lot of investment), he says, there is no need to expand or challenge other genres. All you have to do is flip a few low denomination coins based on your innovation concept, replicate it and refranchise it. On the other hand, studios that launch new ideas and original characters are doomed to failure. Millions of dollars are lost, jobs are lost, and the game is over.

Rivals is packed with Stan Lee superheroes, but its message about the game’s all-out Funko Pop-ification is as dark as a Charles Burns graphic novel.