Marvel Rivals is a superheroic work in progress

When thinking of typical superhero teams like the Avengers, many think of them when they're a fully well-oiled machine. Few think about those first few outings where they all stumble around, get in each other's way, and end up piled in a heap in a corner while the bad guys get away. The latter is the best way to describe the closed beta for Marvel Rivals, which shows the potential to be a mighty and formidable unit, so long as everybody works together. Of course, this being video games, that's often not going to happen.

Marvel Rivals is the latest hero shooter on the block, joining an increasingly crowded field most recently made popular by Blizzard's Overwatch. Players join teams of six, usually a mixture of Marvel's finest heroes and baddest villains, with the idea that these are all variants coming together to do battle. They then select from characters that are classified as either a defense-focused Vanguard, a damage-dealing Duelist, or a support-minded Strategist.

What's fascinating about character selection in Marvel Rivals is that synergy between specific heroes and villains counts for something. Sometimes, you'll see shared benefits or boosts when two characters share a team. For example, Rocket can ride atop Groot, Hela will grant a special buff to Loki or Thor, Adam Warlock can give a quick revival buff to fellow Guardians of the Galaxy Star-Lord and Mantis, and so on. These team-up bonuses are the sort of thing that comic fans practically drool over, so NetEase certainly understood the assignment when it comes to fan service.

The problem here is that only the closest of friends will take team-up buffs into consideration when selecting characters. Casual players and those who tend more to approach these games with a Punisher-like loner mentality will pick who they pick, which can sometimes leave a less organized team at a disadvantage. Granted, this sort of drawback is true of every shooter out there, but it'll be more noticeable in Marvel Rivals.

The other major component that sets Marvel Rivals apart is destructible environments. This is an ambitious idea, one that's been used to great effect in games like The Finals. With that said, it's great when it works and it's really awkward when it doesn't. I had a few instances where players got stuck into a piece of a fallen structure and got stuck, essentially leaving them a sitting duck. If NetEase can work out the kinks in its destructible environments, it stands to make sessions much more interesting and less predictable than some of the other hero shooters on the market.

The other main thing to note with this preview is that two new heroes went live in the last week: Thor and Jeff the Baby Land Shark. Asgardian thunder god Thor, as one might imagine, is a beefy hunk of meat who hits like a bag of hammers. He almost feels miscast as a Vanguard, because he can knock foes down left and right using Mjolnir as a melee bash. Naturally, he can also toss Mjolnir in front of him and call the hammer back, allowing him a boomerang-like attack. Winning with Thor means understanding the Thorforce passive mechanic, which powers up the thunderer's attacks and allows him to deal greater damage and to attack from a distance with certain moves.

Thor takes some getting used to. I'm honestly not sure how I got MVP when using him in the video embedded above. I'm pretty certain that will never happen again, because understanding the Thorforce mechanic can be more daunting than it sounds.

It's hard to know what to make of Jeff. On the surface, he's a solid Support character and will likely be the game's premier healer. He's Overwatch's Mercy, only instead of commanding the skies, he swims underwater and defies physics in the process. Jeff's main function is to keep teammates alives either by spitting out Healing Bubbles or spamming the standard Joyful Splash attack, which also heals allies. If danger lurks, it's easy to get away by diving with the Hide and Seek ability, giving Jeff a big burst of speed.

What makes Jeff an especially effective healer is his diminutive size. He's tiny, so even if opposing teams know to target him, actually hitting him is easier said than done. It also helps that Oblivious Cuteness, Jeff's passive, protects him from critical strikes. If there's a downside to Jeff, it's his Ultimate. I couldn't make heads or tails of what It's Jeff! even does, but I sure did find out that it can equally hit teammates and enemies caught in its range. I was not making friends in matches where I accidentally swallowed my teammates.

The Marvel Rivals closed beta shows a ton of potential, but it has a long way to go. Balance, as is often the case with hero shooters, is going to be a major challenge, especially since it can't just be achieved by adjusting heroes, but potentially team-up synergies as well. Bugs certainly need to be addressed, specifically with the aforementioned issues with destructible environments. Outside of that, I'm having a good time with the closed beta thus far and look forward to seeing what else NetEase brings to the game.

Marvel Rivals is coming soon to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

This preview is based on a PlayStation 5 closed beta code provided by the publisher. The final product is subject to change.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?