Plot & Basic Gameplay

Capcom has really pulled out all of the stops for this game. The "Vs." series has always been about insane fighting and super-screen-filling hyper combos, but MvC 2 really takes it to the next level. Incorporating 56 (!) characters from both the Capcom and Marvel universes, this game easily has the most replay value of any fighting game I’ve ever played. On the Capcom side you’ll find every character to ever appear in a "Vs." title, plus a few Darkstalkers characters, and several brand new fighters to mix things up a bit (Sonson, Ruby Heart, Jill Valentine and a Servbot are ready to rumble for Team Capcom this time around). The Marvel team is equally impressive, with every single character that has ever appeared in a Capcom Marvel game checking in for combat. This includes the entire cast of the original X-Men: Children of the Atom as well as the "Marvel Vs." games. Capcom’s also thrown Cable and Marrow into the pot this time around. Gameplay has been tweaked majorly, and for once, the DC controller is almost up to snuff, because the game requires only 4 attack buttons rather than the standard Capcom setup of 6 buttons. The 4 face buttons control light punch, light kick, and hard punch and kick. For those lamenting the loss of depth, the medium attacks are still in the game; you merely need to tap light punch or kick twice, and the second attack will be the medium hit. The 2 shoulder buttons can be used to call upon your other team members for quick jump-in attacks (like the buddies in MvC). MvC 2 gives you a team of 3 characters to play around with, and pressing both shoulder buttons at the same time (with the requisite 3 levels of your super meter built up) triggers an incredible 3-character simultaneous hyper combo, which generally fill the screen with mad pyrotechnics and inflict anywhere in the neighborhood of 50-100 hits.

Graphics

This area is a bit of a mixed bag, since you’ll notice incredible animation and detail on the more recent characters (MvC and the new additions to this game being the most obvious), while older characters (especially the holdouts from the original X-Men game) are starting to look rather dated by comparison. However, this slight discrepancy (you still get arcade-perfect animation on all 56 fighters) is more than made up for with the absolutely incredible backgrounds. Capcom has managed to seamlessly blend the look of their 2D artwork with 3D elements like moving icebergs and swinging bells to create the most beautiful environments I’ve ever seen in a fighting game… Dead or Alive 2 included.

Sound

Here’s the area where MvC 2 takes a huge hit in my book. While the sound effects are well done, the music is so out of place that it actually negatively impacts the game. This is some seriously lame, completely mismatched elevator tuneage that Capcom, for whatever reasons, thought would go nicely with the onscreen action. Well, they failed. The extremely mellow, light, lounge-type music tracks are jarringly out of place in a game about hyper-insane fighting action. Usually I can swallow bad music, but in this case, this game actually loses a full rating point because of the horrible choice of music.

Control

About as good as you can get with the standard DC controller. The D-Pad hurts my thumb after a few hours of play because the quarter-circle motions are still somewhat difficult to pull off, and of course, the DC pad is lacking an adequate number of buttons for all of the available configurations… but none of this is Capcom’s fault, so I’ll just say that they did the best possible job with the available resources.

Fun & Replay

This is easily the best game in the "Vs." series. The replay value is extremely high, especially since you have to unlock over half of the characters by earning points to "purchase" them. You earn the most points by playing through the entire game, and you’ll need to do this many, many times to unlock all 56 characters.

Bottom Line

Even with the lousy DC controller and horrible, horrible music, MvC 2 is currently the best value you can get out of a fighting game. Capcom’s 2D magic and 56 characters add up to a game you’ll be playing for a very long time.

Graphics: 10 (some of the older characters look bad, but the new ones make up for it) 10 (some of the older characters look bad, but the new ones make up for it)

Control: 9 (Capcom did the best they could with the stupid DC controller) 9 (Capcom did the best they could with the stupid DC controller)

Sound: 6 (effects are good, music is quite possibly the worst I’ve ever heard in a fighting game)

Replay: 10 (Over 25 characters to unlock, and literally hundreds of different team possibilities will keep this game fresh and exciting for years) 10 (Over 25 characters to unlock, and literally hundreds of different team possibilities will keep this game fresh and exciting for years)

Overall: 8 (This game deserves a 9… a 10 for Capcom 2D fanatics, but that damn muzak actually has a noticeable negative effect on fans of the series)