Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite review

Reviewed on: Xbox One

Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is the first game in this Capcom franchise on the current generation of consoles, and also debuts a story mode, confusing and not at all exciting. The game places a strong emphasis on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and, as part of that, brings the Infinity Stones back to the gameplay!

Story

The story of Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite is as crazy as you would expect from this collision of universes. The writers had to work hard to try to give some meaning to everything that happens in the game. When it does manage to make some sense, the story still doesn’t turn out good.
In some good moments, we can recall the fusions that happen between characters from the two universes. The main villain is Ultron Sigma, a merging of the artificial minds of the Avengers’ robotic enemy and the eternal villain of Mega Man X. A very cool idea, a rather cheap boss with a long life bar, just like the classic games. But it isn’t only this character that shows this fusion of different universes. We have B.O.W.s with symbiotes, a Monster Hunter subordinate to Black Panther, and NY has become New Metro City. That is, Mike Haggar is Spider-Man’s mayor, and also the fight of Hulk and Ryu against a giant monster.

But these high points end there. They aren’t treated with time or calm, they are quick things, which gives the impression that the story is in a hurry to take you to the end. Something that leaves you confused is that the characters meet and sometimes it seems they have known each other for years, in a totally random way. One example is when the web-head meets Chris from Resident Evil, and it seems they have known each other for years.

That would be the least of it, were it not for the general lack of attention to the story (the Capcom characters seem to be part of the same universe), leaving many holes, things untold and left behind, which leaves the “Story” mode totally unexciting; you can hardly play it all the way to the end in one go. Not to mention that for most of the plot, you are fighting Ultron Sigma’s minions. It was the first time MvsC has a story mode, and it wasn’t very pleasant, but there are great factors in this game. It is worth remembering that all characters were reused from MvC 3, except the new ones.

Gameplay

By far the best part of this game, along with the sound effects, several gameplay changes that will certainly please MvC 3 critics, while at the same time being somewhat welcoming to new players.
With the return of the light punch/heavy punch and light kick/heavy kick structure, something that aligns with almost any other 2D fighting game, making it more intuitive. Instead of three, you now have only 2 characters in the battles, you now have shortcuts for specials and an automatic combo, something that helps beginners, who just press the light punch button 5 times next to the opponent and it executes a full “Air combo”.

The game is a lot of fun to play with friends or against the CPU, or even online, the commands flow very well and the soundtrack helps a lot.

After many complaints about the lack of Arcade mode in Street Fighter V, it seems Capcom learned, delivering a well-stocked game both online and offline. Besides story mode, we also have the great Arcade Mode, Versus Mode against another player or the computer, Training, Mission Mode with many tasks that are great for learning combos with all the fighters, a gallery, concept art, listening to character voices, plus online mode, which features a battle lobby, casual matches, ranked matches and more.

Conclusion

MvsC Infinite should please fans of the series, and leave the more demanding ones with a flea in their ear. Despite the reuse of all the characters and combos, the game at its best can entertain for a good while. And yes, since the X-MEN are missed in this series, this MvsC has the weakest roster of the series. Improved graphics compared to the previous one, well-crafted sounds, and fluid gameplay make it a good choice for a “little fight” against friends.

FINAL VERDICT:

Narration: 5
Audiovisual: 8
Gameplay: 8

Xbox One version