Video and Picture Preview: Marvel vs Capcom 3 (#e3)

Phire and I had a couple of Marvel vs Capcom 3 matches to close out E3. We were literally the last two people that played MVC3 on the final day of the expo. Earlier in the day however, we did get to record two of our battles against each other. Phire’s definitely a more refined player, as his time with TVC seems to have carried over to MVC3 without much of a hitch. By the time we started playing each other, I had only played about four or five matches. I think I started getting the hang of it all midway through the first match we had.

Up top is the two match battle Phire and I had, while down below is the match I had that opened E3 on Wednesday. As you’ll notice in the second video, I was pretty much playing like a total scrub, but oh well! It was a blast each time I got on the sticks to do battle.

Here’s a very brief rundown on most of the characters that were featured in the playable demo of Marvel vs Capcom 3:

Captain America – retains a similar feel to his MVC2 counterpart. His cartwheel move seems to have been removed (just discovered its button sequence….which is why a four attack button scheme would have been a better suit), while his Shield Slash attack also hits your opponent on the way back. Final Justice was no where to be found as well.

Hulk – feels much slower, even less of a threat than he was in the previous installment. Gamma Crush move seems to have been turned into a fireball or half circle motion, instead of a charge command.

Iron Man – a bit faster this go around, though has a longer delay between the input of his special moves and its execution. His Proton Cannon can now be shot at a 45 degree angle.

phire’s perspective- fighting Ironman is no fun. There’s a weird lag on his repulsor blast and unibeams but he can still control a screen way better than most of the roster at that point. His 45 degree proton cannon is a mean anti air. Also proton cannon forming also hits you into the beam just like the old days. Joy

Chris Redfield – not the most agile combatant, but has a lot of ranged maneuvers that are based off his guns. One of his super moves will blast forward, then he’ll aim upwards, finishing with forward blasts. Entertaining character, though I miss Jill Valentine.

phire’s perspective-  Chris is an animal. I can see why Wesker hates him so much. Chris is like Cable except he has a mean rush down game. He can play keep away, he can run up and punch you in the face or knife you.  Chris does whatever he wants when he wants it. I like Chris more than I like Jill.

Dante – supposedly someone discovered an infinite for him two days into E3. Loser! Anyway, excellent range on his attacks. A good “keep away” fighter with a food anti air.

phire’s perspective- Dante is probably gong to be the Captian Commando of MvC3. His anti air is just as big as the ground spark that we all know and love. Dante isn’t fast but he does do damage. He’s sort of a keep away character with some rush down elements. One of his supers put him into a demon mode where I assume he does more damage.  He has some attacks from the game (Devil May Cry) also his launcher has the longest range of any launcher I have seen thus far. The infinite is saw involved simple air combos ended with his launcher then since his launcher has insane range an off the ground combo ending with his launcher to pop them back up for another air combo. The kid doing it messed up the timing a bit but trust me it’s there. 

Deadpool – quick on his feet, but doesn’t seem to be a major damage dealer. Another character that can keep his adversaries away from him, through air projectiles or ground escapes.

phire’s perspective- Deadpool has some attacks that were in TvC (Tatsunoko vs Capcom) on a character known as Hurricane Polymar. One of his jump kicks is a dead rip from that game and some of his low moves.  From what I’ve seen at E3 he has bad match ups already and needs good assist support. It’s no coincidence that everyone that picked Deadpool,lost. He had a tough time closing the distance on ranged characters such as Ironman, Dante and Chris.  His super move which has him firing his machine guns is very combo friendly, I didn’t have enough time to experiment with his secondary super which is a rush type move. I love the character design of Deadpool, his back step is a moonwalk.

Ryu – did not play as. Seems like the same type of annoying character that he’s always been, with a decent amount of speed and a pretty good amount of power behind his attacks.

phire’s perspective- I hate Ryu with a burning hot passion. He will be so flowchart-able in this game. All the non-sense he can do in TvC he can do in this, they also made his super fireballs bigger.

Morrigan – did not play as. Speedy little she-bitch, though her super move lacks acceleration when its initially deployed. Maybe it was just Phire playing her the way he did, but she seems like a legitimate threat.

phire’s perspective- Practically the same as she was in TvC. You can use her angled dashes to come in low or go overhead for mix ups. You just rush down with her so if you want to run Morrigan play TvC and learn her. She was my best character at E3 and I won matches just mixing up her dashes because she’s so mobile. Her missiles did decent chip damage and she’s good and some keep away games. She has trouble getting people off of her. (Umm that’s what she said?)Her launcher is the down heavy punch from MvC2 or her TvC launcher  that upward spike looking move.

Felicia – did not play as. Yet another quick on their feet character. Wasn’t overly impressed with what she offered.

phire’s perspective- I wasn’t too impressed with her. She has some potential with her super that calls out another mini-Felicia that attacks randomly. It could cross up folk so it’s semi useful. Her other super which has her rolling into a ball and rushing can be comboed into but that was always the case since MvC2. Her launcher is her hard kick from MvC2 which has some pretty cruddy range.

Wolverine – did not play as. Again, another quick moving character. He seemed a bit more buffed when compared to his pretty piss poor incarnations in MVC2. Was definitely the fastest of all the playable characters, and seemed to be able to put on a pretty stellar pressure game.

phire’s perspective- Wolvie was fast as all crap. The standard Wolvie bread and butters worked. Outside of that I wasn’t too excited to see Wolverine again. He does allow you to put good pressure on people but it’s boring pressure.

As with MVC2, you will be able to select three characters, with each character having three different assist attacks that they can perform. There’s plenty of depth to be had with such a system, as you can once again find a character with a sickeningly useful assist attack, and solely use them as your set up man/woman. Snap-back attacks return, which allows your fighter to deplete one level of their super meter in an attack that blasts your opponents character away, auto tagging in another fighter in his stable. You can use this tactic to kick off a fighter that has full health, and force in one that’s on the brink of death, finishing them off. You are able to tag your characters out in mid air, during an air combo, setting up for some sick mix ups and such.

The only concern I have so far with Marvel vs Capcom 3 is the learning curve. The control structure is way too daunting for a beginner to the series, as well as the fact that you have to double tap weak, then double tap medium then hit strong or finish the combo off in a different way. While it may seem like a simplified control structure when compared to MVC2′s four attack buttons and two assist buttons, the intent of making MVC3 easily accessible to newbs and vets alike just doesn’t work at all at this stage of the game. That’s not to say the game is a total wash, because quite frankly, Capcom provided one of the best playable demos on the floor this year. But at this point in time, the control system is not an inviting one for all gamers from all walks of life.

Regardless of the accessibility concerns this early into the development cycle, the future looks blindingly bright for Capcom’s crossover colossus, Marvel vs Capcom 3. There were only a few playable titles at E3 that could come close to what Capcom presented. I did hear some rumblings about MVC3 being playable at the next New York ComicCon convention, though it’s not confirmed just yet. Whether it’s present or not, we’ll keep you all informed of its progress, right o through to its early 2011 release date. For the time being, here are even more pictures of Marvel vs Capcom 3 at E3:

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