Marvel Rivals, the would-be Overwatch competitor based on Marvel IP, is starting to roll out more marketing and information, this time in the form of “Dev Talk” diaries that talk about the making of the game and what to expect.
They talk about how exactly you translate Marvel heroes into having character kits, and in doing so seem to be taking a less than subtle jab at Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. At least if you want to read it that way.
“We’ve got a pretty solid vision for our heroes and our goal is to stay true to these heroes. As we previously stated, in Marvel Rivals, shooting isn’t about guns. We’re not about to have the Hulk lugging around a rifle, Black Panther toting a shotgun, or Iron Man scrapping it out solely on the ground.”
The goal to be “stay true to the heroes” contrasts with the often-lambasted idea of giving Suicide Squad characters the same slate of guns. While it may have made sense for characters like Harley and Deadshot to use guns, King Shark and Captain Boomerang (Boomerang!) less so. The same goes with its “Mrs. Freeze” character it will introduce next season that will have access to the same arsenal, which will include things like electric and fire guns.
The idea of Hulk with a minigun or Black Panther with a shotgun seems absurd on its face, but this is the sort of thing you either have to do in the vein of Suicide Squad, or you have to go Marvel’s Avengers and make “loot” things like Hulk ribcages or Thor hammer grips. But Marvel Rivals doesn’t have loot, so it can solve that problem more easily.
If you want to be more generous you could instead view this as not necessarily taking a shot at Suicide Squad, but instead differentiating itself from Overwatch, the game it’s most often compared to for very obvious gameplay and aesthetic reasons, and one where almost all its characters have some sort of gun in their kit. So they weren’t going to jam that into a “shooting” system just because their rival has it.
Regardless, many are hoping Marvel Rivals will end up being a solid Marvel experience in a way that Suicide Squad clearly is not, but others worry it may veer a little too close to Overwatch, and others don’t trust developer NetEase based on their past games. We’ll see how it goes as testing starts rolling out ahead of a release.
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