Marvel vs. Capcom 2

"Could have been better, could have been worse. A port that didn't fully live up to the original..."

EVERYONE has played the original Marvel vs. Capcom for the arcade sometime throughout their lives. Or at least, some type of "Capcom vs" game.And if you haven't, then you have been purposely avoiding every game room and arcade on Earth. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was ported over from the Dreamcast (R.I.P.) onto the Playstation 2 and the Xbox.(Capcom had no love for Nintendo back then). This port of a classic game comes with the same thrilling gameplay, the same standard arcade graphics, and horrible, ear drum bleeding music.

Graphics - 7/10
A direct copy of the Dreamcast version. They may look cartoon-like and cheesy at times, but that's the way arcade games come. The effects do look very nice though. All the character's specials look cool and unique. Every time a character uses a special attack, the background changes to a specific scheme for each character, all of which are nice eye candy.

Sound - 6/10
A little bit of good, a bit more bad. The stage music for this game is alright, but the main screen and menu music is atrocious. They play this awful song that says "Gonna take you for a ride" over, and over, and over, and over gain. It never ends. What they should have used was some tracks that have more of an aggressive sound to them. Some songs with a hard rock sound would have fit this game well. That "take you for a ride" song gives off a rather joking appeal to it, and a more aggressive tone would have made the action a little more intense. As far as other sounds go, I have no complaints. The attacking sounds have a nice flow to them, and everything is in unison. When someone gets hit, they groan, or if they're the one attacking, they shout. All the taunts sound very nice. Some of them are kind of lame. Especially Captain America's. "Good Work Soldier". Kind of cheesy. But overall, pretty good.

Gameplay - 8/10
In the first Marvel vs. Capcom game, you could use only 2 characters on a team per match. In this game, you are now allowed to use 3 characters on one team. A nice little upgrade. The more characters = longer battles = more fun. This also allows you to incorporate more of a strategy into the character's you choose. Some character's attacks may be more effective based on one opponent's fighting style. (Example: Venom's Venom Fang is very useful for avoiding Iceman's Ice Beam and attacking at the same time.) Another new feature, is when your special meter reaches its max, you can call your entire team out and do your specials simultaneously, causing MASSIVE damage. And if you're getting in a jam, you can call one character (either teammate) to come in and perform an attack for you. Or, you could simply switch characters. In single player mode, you battle through each round, 3 characters to each computer's team. Eventually you make your way to the main boss of the game. A villain named "The Abyss." The fun gameplay of the original game is one thing that remained a constant in this port.

Controls - 8/10
It's a very simply control layout, and you should be used to it in no time. The specials are simple regulation of the directional pad in regulation with the black and white buttons, or both triggers. (L + R)

Replay Value - 6/10
There are a variety of characters, costumes, and stages to unlock. It's fun to go back and make them available to you. After that, the game becomes useful mostly for two player mode. It can be fun to just back and play the game through on single mode just for kicks though.

Buy or Rent
I would recommend that you rent the game first before going out and buying it. The style of this game just might not be appealing to certain people. Some people are addicted to this kind of game, others are only a casual fan. So rent it first and see if this is your style.

Final Thoughts
This is a very fun game, but has a few blunders in it that will keep it from being everything that it's original was. The atrocious music, and even the overall selection of characters. They picked overall good characters to be in this game, but some of them are just ridiculous characters that have no business in this game. However, that doesn't take away from the fun that this game is. I recommend you give the game a try, and see what you think of it!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/04