Hands-On: Marvel Rivals Does Right By Captain America And Winter Soldier

I’ve enjoyed every game I’ve played in NetEase’s Marvel Rivals. The comic book take on the hero shooter genre is a lot of fun, even if it takes some blatant inspiration from Overwatch. It feels less sanded down and polished than its obvious competitor, but that opens it up to chaos and fun plays that are no longer possible in Blizzard’s game. However, I do think the game will have to carve out its own space to get a leg up on the competition, and after taking the newly-announced Captain America and Winter Soldier for a spin, both are a lot of fun, but only further cement the notion thatMarvel Rivals is riding Overwatch’s coattails.

Steve “Captain America” Rogers is a tanky Vanguard hero who makes good use of his shield. His vibranium weapon is both his best offense and defense, and gives him a versatile kit for long-range throws and close-up brawls. Throwing Cap’s shield is a pretty forgiving maneuver, as it will home in on enemies or ricochet off walls and other foes if you don’t quite land your shot. It feels really good to throw your metal frisbee and watch it hit multiple enemies before it comes back to you.

But America’s Ass’ best tool is using his shield for defense. It isn’t quite as large as Doctor Strange’s, so it can’t be used to protect your entire team. But it works well enough for Steve himself to move in and out of a scrap. The best thing it does, however, was what raised my eyebrows during the Gamescom presentation: It can be used to deflect projectiles, even high-power attacks like Iron Man’s explosive ultimate. While that might sound incredibly oppressive, it’s not easy to just pop up your shield as a team-wiping ability barrels toward you. In my experience, it requires a bit of skill and precision or Tony Stark will still blow your ass up. The shield is small. So is its hitbox. It doesn’t feel like an easy get-out-of-jail-free card, which I hope means it will be an irregular skill play rather than something that renders ranged attacks useless.

While Cap may have some distinct abilities, swaths of his kit feel derivative of Overwatch heroes like several other characters in Marvel Rivals’ roster. His ultimate is nearly identical to Brigitte’s Rally, which buffs him and surrounding allies with additional health. If you were one of the Overwatch players who always thought Brigitte was meant to be a tank in the old GOATS meta days, it has finally materialized in Captain America. He also gets Soldier: 76’s sprint, who was mostly Overwatch’s Captain America stand-in before he became a Batman stand-in. So this is really just a full-circle trade-off.

Bucky also feels like an amalgamation of Overwatch heroes, albeit slightly unexpected ones. A damage-driven Duelist hero, Winter Soldier feels like Roadhog and Doomfist. He has a shotgun that fires off two shells before reloading, but unlike Roadhog, he can’t take out an enemy in two shots. He instead relies on his mechanical arm to draw enemies in close and then combos it with a Doomfist uppercut. It’s a nasty combo that if you follow up with well-placed shots can take an enemy out in a split second. But it also feels like it’s born from looking at Overwatch’s roster and trying to find ways to graft multiple hero abilities onto a much more recognizable character.

I’m still largely of the mind that Marvel Rivals’ drawing from Overwatch is fine, and I enjoy the game bringing back mechanics that no longer exist in Blizzard’s game like Adam Warlock having Mercy’s long-gone team resurrection. But it’s going to need more characters like Jeff the Land Shark that don’t feel as easy to describe with Overwatch shorthand in order to carve out its own space. I’m looking forward to seeing NetEase try to forge its own identity when Marvel Rivals launches on December 6.