Marvel Rivals review: So what if it’s an Overwatch clone? It’s still a blast

By Tomas Franzese Published December 16, 2024

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Are “clone” games such a bad thing? That question always looms in the back of my mind when I’m playing Marvel Rivals.

NetEase’s new hero shooter is the most fun I’ve ever had with the genre, largely thanks to how deftly it utilizes all its Marvel characters and locales to create a game with tons of personality. Sure, it’s not a very original game; everything from its modes to the individual abilities of some of its heroes have direct correlations to Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2. The similarities overlap to the point that I’d call it a clone, a word I don’t throw around lightly in an industry that thrives when games build on ideas from each other. It’s the Ben Reilly to Overwatch’s Peter Parker.

While calling Marvel Rivals a clone might sound damning, the reality is that it’s the best multiplayer game I’ve played in a long time. It unabashedly follows the path that Blizzard trailblazed to do something I’m shocked took this long to happen: a hero shooter with actual comic book superheroes. The Marvel IP gives Marvel Rivals the pizzazz that other uninspired hero shooters like Concord didn’t. With how smooth its launch has gone, I’m not surprised Marvel Rivals has captivated millions of others like myself. There’s a great chance it’ll appeal to you, too.

Marvel Rivals is a multiversal brawl between heroes and villains from the Marvel comic book universe. This conflict was caused when two versions of Doctor Doom (regular Doom and Doom 2099) started a brawl that tore at the fabric of reality. Now, teams of Marvel characters are constantly sparring, with the eventual goal being to defeat those Doctor Dooms. Like most games of its ilk, Marvel Rivals isn’t very narrative-forward; that said, it does reward dedicated players with lore snippets that dole out both character and location backstories.

There’s more depth to Marvel Rivals‘ multiverse and in-game lore than I expected. It’s something I appreciate given the large tapestry of the Marvel multiverse that NetEase was given to play with. It’s a key example of how Marvel Rivals has an edge other hero shooters don’t thanks to its source material link: I immediately care about who I’m playing as and am interested in learning more about what’s happening.

That same level of care is applied to character designs and animations. Marvel Rivals is a gorgeous game. It combines the crisp colors of comic books with a tinge of anime style to create distinct but memorable versions of characters that have been around for decades. Marvel Rivals‘ designs have a maximalist style, with overexaggerated muscles, stages that fall apart when powerful abilities are used, and visual spectacles when ultimate abilities are pulled off.

Each playable character looks vastly different from the others and sports a variety of special abilities that aptly fit their character. Pre-match dialogue adds more flavor to these interpretations of characters like Captain America or Iron Fist, although the fanbase’s immediate love for Jeff the Land Shark has made him an instant favorite. These are the elements that keep me around in Marvel Rivals.

Marvel Rivals strictly fits the definition of a hero shooter. Players pick a hero with special abilities and then must work together with a team of five others to capture a point on the map or escort/defend a payload as it travels from one side of the map to the other. While it is possible to just run and gun to kill other players (and trust me, plenty of people do in Quick Match), smart team play and usage of abilities is required to be the most successful at Marvel Rivals.

It’ll be up to NetEase to balance things out as post-launch updates continue.

Characters are split into Attack, Support, and Tank roles, called Duelist, Vanguard, and Strategist in Marvel Rivals. Duelists will be the ones dishing out the most damage, Vanguards will try to soak up as much damage as possible while protecting and buffing others, and Strategists will heal their teammates and debuff their opponents. The ability kits of certain characters will feel quite familiar to Overwatch 2 players, which doesn’t help with its clone accusations.

Loki’s ultimate ability copies another player’s abilities like Echo, Magneto can create a giant shield like Reinhardt, and Rocket Raccoon mixes damage and support like Baptiste. Thankfully, other Marvel Rivals characters do have some abilities that feel unique. Doctor Strange can open portals that can send players far across the map, while players can swap between Cloak and Dagger at any time to swap between one of the game’s best healers (Dagger) and a debuff-focused offensive character (Cloak).

There are 33 heroes to choose from in Marvel Rivals at launch, so there’s bound to be at least one that appeals to you. My favorite is Iron Fist, who bucks hero shooter archetypes by using a melee focus that’s amazing at bobbing and weaving in and out of enemy lines to take down the weaker Duelist or Strategist characters. Learning when to press forward and attack and when to retreat and heal as Iron Fist actually helped me get a feel for Marvel Rivals‘ game flow.

That was helpful, as one of the downsides to Marvel Rivals is how chaotic it can get at times. Its sound design isn’t as crisp as Overwatch, and currently, there are over twice as many Duelists as there are Vanguard and Strategist heroes combined. That leads to the first few matches being an overwhelming flurry of sound bites and attacks that are hard to parse. Right now, Marvel Rivals‘ solution to this is to make healing pretty overpowered, but that leads to frustrations of its own as a solo player. It’ll be up to NetEase to balance things out as post-launch updates continue.

As a live service, Marvel Rivals has set the stage for itself quite well. It had the smoothest live service launch of any in recent memory, with no real server problems to speak of in its first couple of weeks on the market. I’ve never disconnected from the game, can always queue into matches in any mode within five seconds, and rarely experience any lag spikes. From the get-go, NetEase has made playing Marvel Rivals a smooth experience, making it a lot easier to enjoy than some live service titles out there.

Marvel Rivals is also robust in terms of free-to-play content. There are also many different achievement-driven progression systems and modes to try out for free-to-play users. Quick Match is best if you just want to play a few short games for fun, Competitive is for players who want to learn to play with a team and rank, while the Kill Confirmed-like Conquest is the best mode for those who just want to play Duelists and rack up a lot of kills.

There’s also a Practice vs. AI mode, and more appear to be on the way for free, including a 4v4 one in its Winter update. It’s possible to have a great time with Marvel Rivals without spending any money on it, although the game gives players who want to pony up plenty of options. The battle pass offers the best bang for your buck as it features several outfits, emotes, sprays, currencies, and the like to unlock, albeit slowly.

Then there’s a cosmetic shop full of outfits for the heroes. I’ve found many of these tempting to buy, especially ones based on comic books or MCU movies. I dropped $20 of my own money on Marvel Rivals and used it to buy the battle pass an Iron Fist’s Swordmaster outfit bundle. The Battle Pass is worth the money, but the Outfit Bundles feel pretty expensive at around $16 of in-game currency when not discounted. Marvel Rivals does a great job at making its microtransactions appealing, which is both a boon for those planning to spend money and a bane for those who hate expensive extras in their video games.

Many of Marvel Rivals‘ gameplay ideas aren’t original, but giving the Marvel coat of paint gives them a distinct identity. Shooting a bow-and-arrow as Hawkeye in Marvel Rivals feels much more appealing to me than getting eliminations as Hanzo in Overwatch 2. Laying down sea creatures to act as turrets as Namor feels different, at least visually, from Torbjorn building mechanical ones. Meanwhile, I feel like I’m getting a play experience that can’t be found in other hero shooters when controlling a more unique character like Spider-Man or Iron First. Marvel Rivals exceeds expectations as a clone game because it has a special identity of its own.

Marvel Rivals feels every bit as good as Overwatch.

Live service games like Marvel Rivals need to give players a reason to keep playing outside of grinding for experience, and many struggle to do that. To solve for that, NetEase used a gameplay formula and IP it knew would resonate greatly with players. Yes, Marvel Rivals can be overly chaotic at times, but having a base level of familiarity with the gameplay concepts at play makes it easier to work through that. Clone games are coming into vogue again, and Marvel Rivals helped me understand why: looking and feeling like something players already love gives your game a greater chance to resonate immediately with players. It’s not a guarantee of success, though; the failure of games like Concord and XDefiant show that.

By utilizing the Marvel IP as much as possible and ensuring that the game had a robust and healthy live service release, NetEase gave Marvel Rivals the chance to start on the right foot. More crucially, it’s just fun enough to make me want to stick around, regardless of its progression systems. If a developer is going to release a copy of a hit game, they will need to be just as good as that game, if not better. Marvel Rivals feels every bit as good as Overwatch, and its tribute to Marvel history is enough to give it an edge for now.

Digital Trends tested Marvel Rivals on Xbox Series X/S.