65%PC

Finally a fresh hero shooter that has a ton of potential.

So far I think it is a breath of fresh air compared to other hero shooters, however there are a lot of issues that I see arising that are issues in said other hero shooters.

It seems Rivals is kind of going for unbalanced gameplay on purpose, which leads to vastly differing gameplay experiences. You either get a balanced match that is really fun, or you get unstable team compositions that make that particular match unfun and more work than it needs to be. I understand needing flexibility to keep players wanting to play and to reduce queue times, but it can be infuriating when there are no strategists or no vanguards on the team and everyone is trying to play duelist lone wolf 1v6 team deathmatch. Within a week the forums and groups on social media are filled with complaining about this and there's no easy fix. You can't make people do things they don't want to do with or without a role queue and I don't understand why people play a game like this without wanting to be flexible and play all roles.

The characters are all fun to play for the most part, though I feel the character balance is that there is next to no balance on how powered they are. Characters have mostly high skill ceilings which leads to the best players making any character feel broken, which leads me to thinking they need to buff and nerf certain characters such as Iron Fist, Hulk, Storm, and Magneto to make them feel more up to par with everyone else's potential, as some seem to go far beyond that and some seem that even at the highest level it's just better to play others, but overall you need to have this level of chaos if you are going to keep it an open queue format where there may only be 1 Vanguard or 1 Strategist amidst a large amount of duelists. I do wish there were more original ideas, as almost every ability in the game I have seen in other games like Overwatch, League of Legends, Pokemon Unite, or even Splatoon.

Having small storylines in the maps themselves, and the game overall is really interesting and adds an extra sense of purpose. I think it allows for a lot of potential within the seasons and it makes the map themes really interesting.

I find toxicity in this game to be beyond annoying. The game is still new as of this writing in mid December 2024, and yet people are treating it like everyone has played hero shooters for years and should be good at the game within the first few days of playing. Some people are still trying for the first time, and I don't get the satisfaction of the level of toxicity. There are also way too many toxic people trying to make people do what they want in quickplay. It's a casual mode! Also, when has being toxic EVER helped your team? Do people ever go "okay ill suddenly be way better". All you do is make them want to spite you and it does you 0 favors. I will never understand all of these high testosterone immature bullies. All competitive games should have perma-ban systems for them where their IP is restricted from entering the game.

Also there are many bugs so far, especially frame rate drops on Doctor Strange's portal or I even get them when making Loki clones. It seems they are slowly fixing them, but haste would be appreciated.

As of early launch, I think there's potential if the developers fix issues and find ways to implement some of these issue fixes that other hero shooters have, but there comes a point where it's not the game that is the problem, it's the player base and the 2020's climate of nothing is ever good enough and no one will ever just enjoy something. That being said, I am personally excited to see where the game goes in terms of balance changes, new characters, and new maps.

40%PlayStation 5

Too high of a skill ceiling for me to actively play.

70%PlayStation 5

Mix overwatch + TPS + Marvel. Formula actually works.
Good game that I'll definitely keep playing any day over OW2. Lots of heroes from the get-go which can seem a bit overwhelming but at least they are varied. Only few maps right now and I only like 2 of them, others are very boring/bland. Some of the heroes need some balancing. Not really fun playing against broken heroes. Monetization is fine if you are fine playing with default skins. I like OW1 and FPS better but I'm just glad this game gave me a reason to delete OW2.

80%PC

[B][/B]

80%PC

This game is very good, dare I say... Great? No, no.. it's not yet there. But it could be! If you're like me and abandoned Overwatch after the catastrophic update that was OW2, you'll find yourself a home in Marvel Rivals. It's still an abusive household, but at least they put food on the table.

Pros
+ An awe-inspiring amount of heroes on launch. It's actually ridiculous.
+ Character selection screens are night and day better than the competition. Animated characters, ability tutorials in the menu, and detailed descriptions with even examples of how to properly use a hero's kit.
+ Game settings are on par with competitors, on release. Apart from rumors of mouse acceleration being enabled with no option to disable, everything settings wise is there.
+ Hero interactions and team up abilities - Gives the game life and is another layer to game-play that 1. Feels Immersive, and 2. Allows you to theory craft a team composition
+ The game mostly just works out of the box. Some people online have had issues with performance, but on a 4070 Super, no problems here. If you have an above average rig, you'll be just fine.
+ NetEase (devs) are really stellar at following up on reports so far. It's one of the only games that I've felt the reporting tool does something.

Cons
- No ranked cross-play - I'm just going to get this small rant out of the way. Guys, it's 2024. PC gamers complain about console aim assist, and console gamers complain about PC sweats. You're scared of each-other, but you can't open your eyes to realize it. As a person who's played both platforms heavily, ya'll are being a bunch of babies. You're embarrassing yourselves. Other games have implemented crossplay and it's been totally fine. Grow up and actually, dare I say, get good? You might surprise yourself.
- It's a blatant ripoff of Overwatch. I'm not really complaining here, but at times the game feels soulless. There's only so many times you can go "Oh, that's *blank* ability from Overwatch! It's scarily similar, it's quite literally one of the closest clones I've ever seen. If Nintendo made Overwatch, they'd somehow find a way to sue NetEase.
- Toxicity is already off the charts. A month in and it's somehow worse than OW, R6S, and CoD, which is a high bar to jump. The sheer pettiness in players never ceases to amaze me. At least the reporting tool somewhat works.
- Cheating, like in any competitive online multiplayer game, is bad. I hope they crack down on this, but god please choose an anti-cheat that works and isn't detrimental to your player-base. I know that's a tall order these days, but please..
- Not many maps on release. It gets repetitive after awhile. This surprised me. I was expecting more considering the hero count, but I guess most of the dev time leading up to release was dedicated to the heroes themselves.
- Micro-transactions. Look, I get it, no-one has to buy them. I actually quite like that the battle pass can be completed post-season, but $800 worth of cosmetics on release is a tad ridiculous. I was just hoping for more earn-able items.
- and lastly, and by far my biggest gripe.. BOTS. @#%$$#$ BOTS! Bots can be found in quick play. This is inexcusable. If you have a down game or 2, you'll find yourself competing against AI. If this was clearly stated, I'd have no issue, but they cover it up and it absolutely kills my motivation to play. I'm relegated to quick play when I play with friends (no ranked cross-play), so this is especially annoying. Zero sense of achievement in a victory if you aren't sure you defeated real players.

Like any online competitive multiplayer game, Marvel Rivals has it's fair share of issues, but also is leagues ahead of many competitors just a few weeks into release. Overall, I'm impressed, and I hope only good comes from this game and it's developers.

Edit: The devs have been mostly listening, Rejoice!

80%PC

Actually the better overwatch.

90%PC

Never been a hero shooter kinda guy. PLayed maybe 20 hours of overwatch back in the day. Never been much of a marvel guy either but this game. Is actually pretty fun. I mostly main iron man or winter solider

95%PlayStation 5

Great game to relax and play with friends

85%PC

This game is Overwatch 2, but if it was good. Whilst some characters are still broken, the roster is fairly expansive, with a wide array of abilities and team ups to create the perfect team composition (although most times than not, you will have 5 people fighting for DPS and 1 healer). The matchmaking is pretty scuffed, especially in quick play, and the community can be extremely toxic at times, however, there is an addictive charm to the game that makes it hard to stop. Not for those who get hooked and addicted easily, Marvel Rivals is a dopamine inducing hellfire that will have you playing again, again, AGAIN.

65%PC

This game had its potential, the gameplay is slightly more complex, faster and interesting than OW's, but essentially falls under the same formula a tad bit differently. These are my thoughts on this at the time of S3.5.

The mods that can be played are repetitive and predictable, the map quantity is small and they're fairly unremarkable too. Just like in the pioneer overhyped hero shooter, supers are receiving too much focus, they are easy to do, too frequent and breaking the gameflow with cheap-kills. The matches are more often than not rigged, many of it like going in and knowing in the very few minutes one's gonna win or lose. The whole simplicity aspect is overdone for the sake of a more extensive player base what they can milk for years to come. It's not about balancing in its pure focus, but the lack of willingness to even things out in fairness, and deliberately making the player emotionally disaligned and tilted if it was possible with long winning-losing streaks which are designed by an algorithm which has a clear intention to deceive people and get to their wallets in their weakness.

Characters even though in general are more complicated to play than in OW, and there is flying, maps are more traversable and partially destructible as well; but after a dozen or so hours in they already feel somewhat vacuous and without having the choice for the player to express himself enough. The roster could be cut substantially and abilities be given to the remaining heroes to create some interesting playing possibilites, but that's not going to happen for the skill ceiling would be risen and many'd simply leave. There's no balance between them, in some cases even the easiest and cheesiest are the strongest. Also, if the whole thing was not about one objective or escorting something and fighting in the same areas in monotony still would help on the game to not feel so stale over time. Overall the game feels shallow, but pretends to be deep.

Ranks are too much about the willingness to grind for many hours, and the paying power; where even hitregistration and damage modifiers are baked in the game, and lots of matches are set for certain wins and losses. There's some skill, just that's tied heavily to map(exploit) knowledge and dependent on teammates(which are choosen artificially) rather than being seen spontaneously many times. I refuse to play for days on end(weeks) just to get to the rank whither I belong if don't find anything meaningfully spicy on the road; and I'm already bored, exhausted and at a whim of a program code which wants to waste my time and make me frustrated what I could use to do better things where I'd see real progress and have joy. I despise this matchmaking wholeheartedly, surely the worst I've seen yet, which is on top of all the other issues this game has.

The external part is the facade which makes people believe that is more than what it is, and Marvel is the attracting factor. In reality, it's a semi-slotmachine type of game where people are atomized and regularly played around meanwhile just a partially true sense of skill and achievement is shown and given to 'em. It's not that hero shooters couldn't be truly advanced, skill based, not manipulated and of course fun in long term which I'd yet want to see; but these people behind it just like in the case of Blizzard, do not even have the intention to make this 'shooter' like that at all. They don't likely even have serious respect for their playerbase, for them may just be numbers who should be made addicts and skimmed. I don't trust them one bit, can't, whilst traces of avarice are everywhere in the game and they do not seem to shy away from obvious lies while there's open data published on the shenanigans they use to boost the financial performance of their game to the detriment of basic enjoyability.

80%PC

It's a great game.
It's not as good as 2016 Overwatch (which was a 10/10), but it's 10x better than 2025 Overwatch 2.

100%PC

This game is what every 6v6 shooter wants to be but isn't. Marvel Rivals is the perfect game in this genre, where every character is meta.

70%PC

Points deducted for not very good optimization.

80%PC

It is not just an Overwatch clone as I thought it'd be, I was pleasantly surprised to see myself get addicted to the gameplay of Rivals. The Heroes are all well done with excellent music and visuals although those visuals do not warrant the insanely high specifications you need to run this game at a stable framerate. Some of the meta could be not fun and just straight up toxic if you're playing ranked but that goes with ever multiplayer game I guess. Monetization is a bit outrageous but free to play stuff is still pretty okay if you're wiling to grind and the devs are actually very responsive to community feedback so hotfixes and updates are plenty. They even make the cosmetics out of the memes posted in the game's subreddit! Although I'll wait to see if and when Netease fucks uo the game up later if and when they do. But if they won't I can see myself popping in every now and then when a new hero is dropped to play a couple of matches. 8/10

65%PC

Gameplay: (Good) ----- Graphics: (Great) ----- Story: (Fair) ----- Progression: (Good) ----- Score: (Good)

70%PC

Matchmaking is a nightmare in diamond but strategist is much more survivable than Overwatch support

80%PC

Marvel Rivals delivers a dynamic 6v6 hero shooter experience, setting itself apart with its fast-paced combat and destructible environments. The team-up abilities are a standout feature, encouraging strategic play and synergistic character combinations. While the free-to-play model naturally leans into cosmetic monetization, consistent updates and new character additions keep the game feeling fresh. Despite occasional concerns regarding matchmaking balance, the overall package offers an engaging and visually impressive dive into the Marvel universe.

90%PC

As someone who has been disinterested in the MCU since iron man 2 and with limited interest in the hero shooter genre, the fantastic art style and solid gameplay loop in this game was able to break through all those past barriers and get me addicted. A fun shooter with a lot of visual splendor.

95%PlayStation 5

LEGENDARY!!

80%PC

Runs well and feels good. All the characters are unique and every character feels viable in at least casual play. No character is particularly OP some are definitely stronger than others. Overall a lot of fun. Looking forward to playing over time.

70%PC

I want Venom to sit on me

80%PC

I came into this game not expecting much. I typically don't get into shooters, especially competitive ones. But this game is simply very fun. The heroes are translated well from comics to the game, the abilities are fun to use. It's more complex than Overwatch, by proxy of there just being more things going on. But I haven't had as much actual fun with a competitive shooter as any other I can think of, and have sunk a ton of time queuing up with friends night after night. If only the online scene wasn't as toxic as they are in the current year.

85%Xbox Series X/S

One of the best Hero shooters, definitely superior to Overwatch (2).

50%PlayStation 5

O visual do jogo é lindo com esse estilo animado mas acho que morre aí por que a voz é em inglês e ele ser em 3° pessoa é desnecessário pois só tampa a tela em prol de você pode ver o personagem que não muda nada, e em defesa dele alguns personagens são bem divertido de jogar enfim fico pensando se vai sobreviver bastante tempo com o seu sucesso.

50%PC

very bad internet connection

80%PC

Strong

90%PC

Season 0/1 battlepasses, Diamond Rank

30%PC

C'est Overwatch avec les héros de Marvel, deux de mes kryptonites.

100%PlayStation 5

This game is like a drug I fuckin swear!!! I fuckin love this game so much personally goty for 2024 and love how much the developers respect and love the community! having all character be free and not needing to buy some battle pass or something is incredible!! loving everything about this game and am very excited to see where it goes, now give me my Ultron!!!!

20%PC

I am not having fun in this game. I can't even describe it, but I just don't like this game at all.

100%PC

fun

80%PlayStation 5

Amazing hero shooter with big roster, lots of updates
Needs more mode variation

85%PC

Marvel Rivals (as of season 0) is an amazing, fun game that revitalized my interest in hero shooters. This game gives me the same feeling Overwatch gave me during 2017-2018. The art direction and design of the characters are amazing. Each character looks like a comic book character and their abilities make each of them fun and unique. Take Psylocke as an example, she plays extremely close and does a lot of burst damage or Luna snow who is insanely fast and heals which makes her perfect for the backlines. The game does have quite a few downsides and even things worse than Overwatch. Firstly, the monetization model isn't something im a fan of. I don't like buying one skin which costs more than 20$ cad for one character. To be fair you can earn in game currency but it would take a very long time to get even one skin. I will say that the cosmetics in this game are phenomenal with each skin looking unique and having a unique highlight intro. I will say I bought the Comic Accurate Psylocke skin and it costed me 16$ CAD after I earned 600 currency after 10 hours of gameplay (the skin costs 1600, hence 16$ CAD for 1000 currency). Another thing I don't like is the performance. The game is a Unreal Engine 5 game so I have to run it using DLSS, even using DLSS I get only 120 FPS and it drops frequently. Because of the drops I have had to use Frame Gen as well to get a stable locked 160 FPS.

As of season 1 this game got even better. The 2 new heroes added are insanely fun and Invisible woman is my new main. The battlepass not expiring is such a nice thing to have as well. I've played over 40 hours of this in a month, at this rate it will be my most played game ever by mid 2026.

85%PC

yess burn overwatch down!!! we dont support blizzard here play this and enjoy a good hero shooter

80%PC

I'm having a blast playing this game. Brought the fun back into mulitplayer gaming for me.

90%PC

Hero shooters are a dime a dozen, however, Marvel Rivals is a great addition to the genre. Overwatch and Blizzards sketchy practices left me suspecting them of some poor business and moral practices. Marvel Rivals has been a lovely return to the genre with some exceptionally hilarious gameplay and challenge.

90%PC

I was very pleasantly surprised, as I didn't think it was still possible in late 2024 for someone to release a very good hero shooter (lmao concord). Not only impressive is the number of characters licensed from marvel franchise, but simply the gameplay, it sincerely reminds me of the golden days of overwatch. The gameplay of each character is different and fantastic, you can see that the game takes handfuls of characters from blizzard, some dps are just power house combinations of several characters from overwatch, wow. It's cool that there's already a small battlepass at the start in season 0 and twice as big in season 1, we have a lot of achievements to do, flawless integration with steam and the option to play ranked games where the level is pretty good at higher ranks. It's not a game I'd want to play solo, but really playing in 2-6 people is phenomenal. In addition, I finally found a game I can quietly play every once in a while with my wife because she also really liked it, with the same feeling we just had with Overwatch - this immediately raises my rating upwards, especially since the game is free. I think the game need a lot of changes for ranked, maybe adding role queue or just solo queue mode. For now I feel like I either stomp or get stomped most of the times, but I've also had very close games with big tension that gave me satisfaction from a win. I think all these people who are giving this game bad reviews are just mad they dont have a team to play with. We are having a lot of fun with friends on discord in it, doesnt matter if quick play or ranked play. I'm very impressed with how well optimized this game is considering how many things are happening simultaneously on the screen. Indeed, some people complain about crashes, I personally for the entire game maybe had them twice, but well, the game runs great for me. Head hitboxes are a little broken, some characters need balancing, but the game is just mega fun and you constantly want more! Sometimes I have such focus in the game that a 5-10 minute game feels like it lasted three times as long. As it is in any online game it is quite toxic, most people want to play dps, but it has its charm. I'm glad developers hear what community needs making adjustments (at least for now lol) and adding new content from time to time, but its disgraceful that you cant spell anything that is against china, censorship is for insecure people. Anyway I have to admit that asses are done beautifully in this game. I will definitely stay with this game for a longer time returning to it every now and then. HELA FTW!

95%PC

Absolutely amazing, but has awful optimization for the non 5% of pcs. Awfully long loading times

65%PC

Ehh a fine game but, chinese, I'd say worse than OW2 but also better in some aspects. Overall worse though. +50%

The heros aren't powerful enough but the game is fun. +5%

Yep yep it's pretty good, the character variety makes it fun. +10%

I'm done with it, I don't care for it, it was cute and all but fuck all that noise.

40%PlayStation 5

Another boring and awful competitive multiplayer game that only people who've played 2 games can enjoy.

75%PlayStation 5

Multiplayer / Free-to-play

30%PC

Marvel rivals est un hero shooter assez classique, avec ses personnages iconiques aux gameplays variés. Cependant il est présenté dans l'enrobage nauséabond qu'est le jeu-service. Des menus absolument infâmes, un launcher rempli de pubs, des monnaies-arnaques, une interface générale horrible. Le jeu n'est pas très beau ni bien optimisé, et le feedback manque encore. Malgré tout, la prise en main facile et le cast sympathique donnent envie d'y croire. À voir donc comment il évolue au fil des patchs.

100%PlayStation 5

Jogo com gráficos muito bonitos e extremamente bem polido, com uma ótima gameplay e personagens icônicos(tanto os mais antigos como os mais atuais).

15%PlayStation 5

Free to play Overwatch 2 clone with Marvel characters (same UI, art style, map design and objectives)

Pros:
- Heroes are a bit more complex than their Overwatch counterparts.
- Heroes looks good.

Cons:
- Combat feels clunky and not as fun as it Overwatch.
- Unbalanced, dominate or be dominated (hero combinaison issue or matchmaking not sure).

80%PC

A strong contender for dethroning Overwatch if the devs don't pull any dastardly moves down the line.

75%PC

An acceptable Hero shooter, it doesn't come anywhere near the highs of OG Overwatch for me in terms of design or gameplay. But a welcome easy shooter you can ease in and out of in your spare time.

80%PlayStation 5

Better overwatch, if you love marvel you will like this game

70%PC

the ladies are hot, not-woke :D