Marvel vs. Capcom 2

"If you have to have one fighter for the DC, be sure to pick this one up!"

The sequel to Capcom's well-known title, Marvel vs Capcom has arrived! As you can already tell, everything has taken an upgrade. Graphics, number of characters, options, etc. Number of characters espeically. Good god, this is the hugest fighter ever made! Even I, a Marvel nut, and a pretty good Capcom fan, have no idea who the hell half these people are!

Graphics: 10/10
These are some damn pretty graphics. The Street Fighter characters were obviously the models used from Street Alpha 3, though. You can tell because they are so small. All of the marvel characters are over twice their size. And some characters, like Juggarnaut, literally take up half the screen. The hand-drawn characters look awesome, and its surprising that you can have so many on-screen at once with such detail and still maintain a solid 60 FPS speed. So, for 2d graphics, this gets a big fat 10.

3d graphics-wise, its still very good. Even though this is a 2d game, Capcom put in 3d backgrounds for some levels. They look very nice. It really makes you commend Capcom for doing it on the DC and not the PSX. Also worth noting, the final boss has 3 forms, all of which are beautiful. The first form is a 3d knight, which looks very well done. The second is some weird alien creature, which looks interestingly designed. Then, the final is an orb hidden beaneath a giant lava creature which literally takes up 2 horizontal screens and 1 and a half vertical screens to cover.

Gameplay: 9/10
This is the only thing which kinda disappointed me about the game. In Marvel vs Capcom, it took the best aspects of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Marvel Super Heroes and merged it into one spectacular game. It was fun controlling Ryu and using your Street Fighter skills to beat an enemy, then switching to Spider-man and using the skills that you got from Marvel Super Heroes. But here, its just not that way anymore. There are so many characters now that there is no more set ''style''. Secondly, the game focuses WAY to much on Super Moves. I found that out when I found my friend using Cyclops, Iron Man, and Cable instead of the classic characters we all love like Ryu, Akuma, and Wolverine. I stared at him strangly as we fought. I of course kicked his ass because I had played Street Fighter Alpha 3 to death. However, he just stood there taking the hits with a grin on his face. Then, he press R and L and suddenly all 3 of his characters jump out and do a super huge move which kills my character. I manage to kill his Cyclops, but then he builds it up and I'm killed again by a super huge wave. In short, the game became simply choosing every character's projectile style and building them up. I'm not saying its bad, in fact, I still love it. But, after the awesomeness of the original, I'm left a bit disappointed.

Control: 8/10
Well, the control works amazingly well for the Dreamcast control, I will give them that. However, since I use prodominately Street Fighter characters, there are no shoulder buttons for me to do my more powerful attacks with. I don't like the four button system. I want my hurricane kick done with R, damnit! Oh well...only people who havn't played it on the SNES or Playstation will really feel deprived.

Sound/Music: 3/10
AAAAGGGHHHH! What the hell did you do Capcom!?! Dear god. I mean, I'm all for trying to break away from traditional game music, but.....AAGGGGHH!!! This is the worst music I have ever heard. I mean, this is on par with the rap music they played on the Knuckles levels of Sonic Adventure/2! Dear god! Why Capcom, why?

Replay Value: 10/10
Like I said, this game has the most fighters out of any game in exsistence. To get them you must beat the game and earn money to buy them, as well as their extra costumes. However, there is a catch. You cant just beat the game once, get a couple thousand bucks and repeat. Not only do the guys become more expensive, but you get less money. You must go on harder difficulties to get the money you need. And even then, you'll be playing this a LONG while to earn enough money to buy even half the characters. So, if you want a really big fighter, here's your game!

Personal Tilt: 9/10

Overall: 8/10
I'd like it to be higher, but I just cant give it more than an 8. I'm sorry. This would be an incredibly good game had the music not dragged it down. Also, there is just something wrong about the game. On the one-hand, it has a very nostalgic feeling. However, it feels hollow. The deepness of the original isn't there. Its now all about Super Moves. There's not enough pure skill like in the original. And, although I hate to say it, it became a button masher. *sniffle*

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/03, Updated 01/23/03