Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PC) Review

In all honesty, the original was not something as visually enjoyable as one would expect from the "combined" hand of Capcom and Marvel, with the result looking a bit like it belongs somewhere between the PS2 and PS3. That being said, it's certainly not ugly or anything, and everyone, from the yellow spandex-wearing Wolverine to the sexy (and bouncy) Morrigan, looks the way they're supposed to.

Yes, fans will surely love the attention to detail, although the animation has seen better days in the older 2D titles of the franchise. If there's something that hasn't changed at all, it's that, just like the very original, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is full of over-the-top special moves and firework displays - so those used to less flamboyant examples of the genre will actually find these to be a bit too much. Why all this talk about how this looks, though?

Well, the thing about the series as a whole is that it always leaned more towards the 'style' rather than the 'substance' side of the scale. None of the games were bad, or even mediocre, but to tell the truth, they weren't fighting masterpieces either. That has a lot to do with the depth at hand, or, to be more precise, the lack of it. This is, in many ways, a typical example of the genre, and one that, apart from the popular cast members and flashy action, doesn't really have anything more to offer.

Even the core of the game, which revolves around the various tag mechanics that lets players swap between their heroes of their team in an instant, or even pull off team specials, are nothing that exciting, although they definitely mix things up a bit, and are, once again, superfast. If there's one big flaw in terms of gameplay alone, that would be the existence of some pretty "easy" to use infinite combos that can make the already challenging matches against the pros of the multiplayer even more so.

Now, in regards to the Ultimate version, it's not as much an update as it is a full edition kind of deal, since it includes all previous DLC content in one neat, and relatively nicely priced, package - with no additional modes, unfortunately. As for tweaks and fixes, a general rebalancing makes things a lot better, although some characters are still a bit better than the rest at what they do. Sadly, the netcode is currently pretty laggy, and the matchmaking can take up to 10 minutes at times.