Marvel Rivals Had My Curiosity. Now It Has My Attention.

Everyone's favorite superhero franchise just released a first look at their new, team-based PVP shooter: Marvel Rivals. At first glance, it's an Overwatch dupe. A 6v6 objective-based game where team composition looks to be the most important factor. Honestly, this could just be what we need right now but let's break down what we can see in the announcement trailer.

Right off the bat, we're getting classic overwatch vibes (which is a good thing!). For everyone complaining on Twitter, get over it: third-person shooters are good for the soul. The HUD shows us that each hero will have unique weapons and attacks paired with passive, cooldown and ultimate abilities — good start.

Screenshot captured from release trailer.

We do also see that both the Hulk and Bruce Banner are playable in a similar way that D.Va works in Overwatch: Dr. Banner has 200 HP, a small pistol and his ultimate that turns him green, and the Hulk is definitely a tank-type hero with 900 HP and a full deck of abilities. Do you always start out as Banner and have to work your way up to turning into the Hulk? When you eliminate Hulk, does he shrink back down into a tattered-clothed Bruce Banner like D.Va?

Let's talk about graphics... I love them. It's not extremely polished, like the game's Blizzard lookalike. The art style looks like a mix between Valorant and the Borderlands franchise. It's a comic book game after all, and the black outlines to each hero give it a tiny illustrated feel which is very fitting to the franchise. If it's a Marvel game, I want Michael Bay-style effects. Big bangs and loud visuals are a must. You can never truly trust gameplay trailers, but we'll get to see for ourselves sooner than one would expect.

What I did find the most exciting is that it seems like lore will have some play, as different characters seemed to be able to link up with their close counter parts for a wombo-combo sequence the game is calling Team Ups.

Screenshot captured from release trailer.

Rocket Racoon hopping on Groot's back and going ham? Yes, please. This is finally a differentiator from Overwatch, and one that I'm really looking forward to. Other team ups that they showcased were Iron Man/Hulk and Luna Snow/Namor.

What else can we see in the 117 seconds of action-packed footage? Lots of movement varieties. Iron Man and Doctor Strange can fly, Spider-Man can swing with webs, Hulk has a super jump and smash combo, and Loki can teleport (and also imitate other characters in-game... all my Sombra-haters beware). Destructive environments? Who doesn't love that? If I can Hulk-smash through a wall to contest a hardpoint like the Kool-Aid man, I'm sold.

The trailer showed off 18 heroes and villains that hopefully the game launches with. Here's the lineup:

• Black Panther

• Doctor Strange

• Groot

• Hulk / Bruce Banner

• Iron Man

• Loki

• Luna Snow

• Magik

• Magneto

• Mantis

• Namor

• Peni Parker

• Punisher

• Rocket Racoon

• Scarlet Witch

• Spider-Man

• Star Lord

• Storm

At the end, we also get a teaser of Galactus? Would be a wild and I mean WILD character in-game based off how we've seen him portrayed in other games, but it's hard to say if we'll see Galactus in the game at launch or not. My official bet is: No -120.

I know it's a short teaser, and I know Marvel is extremely hit or miss with their game releases but it's hard not to be excited about a superhero shooter. The game will be free-to-play and available on Steam and the Epic Games store, and while they didn't explicitly announce a console release, I would bet that it's coming. What we do know is that a Closed Alpha/Beta (they've used both terms for the same event) is coming in May for our PC friends.

Color me excited, but it's also crucial that this game is good at launch, but even more vital that they have immediate plans to keep the hype going after the honeymoon phase (here's a hint: WE WANT CONTENT). We don't want yet another case of a good, free game dying off simply because the devs hit the snooze button.

We'll see what happens. I'll be looking out for more info and reviews once the beta comes out. For now, I'll be weighing my options at what hero/villain I want to main first. Initial thoughts: Magneto or Rocket Racoon

#KeepPeeling 🍌