Review: 'Marvel vs. Capcom 3' worth every penny

I've been waiting for this video game to come out for the last eight years ever since I played "Marvel vs. Capcom 2" at the arcades. When the game finally came out, I rushed to Walmart to pick up copy at midnight. When I inserted the disk into my Xbox 360, however, the console wouldn't read the game. After frantically restarting my Xbox several times, the game title finally popped up on the screen. Was the game worth all of the wait and stress? The answer is a definite 'Yes.'"

"Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds" continues with the frantic pace of action that the series is known for but ups the ante. Fans of the series will instantly be familiar with the controls and some of the returning characters such as Wolverine, Akuma, and Captain America. Newcomers will be able to pick-up on the action with the game's adaptive "simple mode" controls for novices, but veteran players will stick with the traditional controls.

For those who aren't familiar with the fighting game, players pick a team of three super heroes and duke it out until only one team is left standing. The game is based around huge combos, flashy moves, and hyper reflexes. You can tag-out between characters in the middle of a match or have them come out and use an attack, but that will leave your assisting character vulnerable. There is plenty of strategy with changing characters since they can regenerate some of their health back. There are over 30 characters in the game and each character has three different types of assist attacks and four different special finishing moves. This gives the game plenty of variety and gives the gamer virtually endless combinations. Many fans of the previous titles will notice the developers moved from hand-drawn characters to 3D-rendered ones, which makes the game look simply amazing in action. Despite all of the chaos on the screen, the game always maintains a smooth frame-rate.

The online play is top-notch with little-to-no lag, which I didn't have high hopes for since most the time playing fighting games online is just getting destroyed by some smack-talking 15-year-old spamming the same moves with a bad connection. There are online lobbies in which the top ranked player in the group goes against everyone else in the lobby until they're defeated and have to try and climb all the way back to first. You can also play in ranked matches to try and unlock some achievements or invite up to seven of your friends into a private lobby.

There really aren't too many glaring flaws with "Marvel vs. Capcom 3". It would have been nice to include even more characters but, instead, the developers will charge everyone for future downloadable characters. I've never been a fan of paying for downloadable content since I did just drop $60 on the game, but I'll be a sucker and shell out my money. The game includes a less than stellar "mission mode" where you perform each character's moves. "Mission mode" is a great way to learn new moves but it's tedious and repetitive.

Despite what little shortcomings it has, the developers showed some nice fan service by putting in so many little touches in the game. For example, they use some memorable levels from classic Capcom video games such as "Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts" and having each character with four different costumes to choose from such as having Spider-Man sporting the black and white symbiotic suit, which is a great extra touch. You also have your own player license in the game where you can set up your three favorite teams, check all of your playing statistics, and unlocking new titles, similar to the recent "Call of Duty" games, which will keep players busy.

"Marvel vs. Capcom 3" is one of those games that has tons of replay-ability. I've been losing sleep trying to unlock all the character's unique endings in the arcade mode. I don't know when this game will be leaving my Xbox because it actually met my high expectations I've had set for so many years waiting for it to finally be in my hands. This is the first game in almost a year that I decided to purchase and it's worth every cent.