You don't look marvelous. Review

You don’t look marvelous.

Blah! It’s a port! F! F! F!

Just kidding. But that’s usually the knee-jerk reaction when it comes to a port these days. Well, the stigma comes not without reason – a port by its very nature is scrutinized in a different way than a minty fresh game. Factors such as improvements, distance from the original release and optimization are added to the review vocabulary.

And

so we come to Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Yes, this is an old game, but it’s

still among the best of its generation. Unfortunately, its generation is pretty

old. There might be a few players out there that haven’t played it on the Dreamcast

or the PS2 and are itching to turn back the clock several years, but then again,

there are all kinds of better, newer games out there for the Xbox.

The Xbox version is a direct port of the Dreamcast version with no additions

whatsoever. In fact, go ahead and read Brian’s DC

review or Joe’s PS2 review

and you’d get nearly the same review as here. Same bright colorful graphics

with sometimes odd 3D backgrounds, same loopy soundtracks replete with some

nameless diva singing about “taking me for a ride.” Strange, but fitting.

By the phantasmagoric powers that be, the fighters of Marvel and Capcom have

been thrust together in a battle to defy all time and space or some junk like

that. An impressive pool of 56 playable characters in teams of three smack each

other around to decide the fate of the universe… or because they have nothing

better to do on a Saturday night.

The fighting system works like every Capcom fighting game ever with

various joystick rotations, chains and mega-super-whammy-bammy attacks (note:

not the real name). The medium attacks have been disavowed in favor of a more

streamlined system. The other members of your tag team can be called forth at

the push of a button in order to deliver pain by the pair or even a triple threat

of damage.

While

playing the different game modes, from Arcade, Versus, Score Attack or the well-constructed

Training mode, you will be rewarded with points. These points can be spent on

buying more fighters, obtaining new color schemes, or buying character sketches

to fill up your gallery. This point system works very well and extends the single

player appeal of the game significantly.

The port is letter perfect to the DC, but the biggest problem is the missing

online feature. Xbox Live! gameplay was purportedly promised, but is now absent.

I don’t understand why the designers bailed out on this; I mean, nobody is in

a real rush to play the game as it is. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 should have

been pushed back even further if only to deliver the key online element.

For that matter, since this was originally released, absolutely nothing new has been added despite the fact that developers have taken time to port it to new systems. There is no Xbox exclusive content or anything. The graphics and gameplay are exactly the same as they have always been.

I essentially see eye to eye with Joe’s PS2 Marvel vs. Capcom 2 review,

but in the 4 months since that version came out, the playing field has changed.

The Xbox is a more powerful system and one that is flourishing with online play,

and in fact even managed to do so with a weaker game from the same company,

Capcom vs. SNK 2: EO. Why they chose to

go online with that game and not this one is beyond me, but it makes it hard

to recommend Marvel vs.. Capcom 2.

I’m happy that the Xbox can have a full library of fighting games, but I wish

there was more to this than just the standard, vanilla port. Next to new fare

like Guilty Gear X2, Marvel

vs. Capcom 2 quickly shows its age. And that’s the whole point. Isn’t it

about time for Marvel vs. Capcom 3?