Hand-On: MVC3 First Look

This is a new type of article I will be publishing like Character Analysis. Hands On describes my experiences with the game for the first time. I will give an unbiased opinion of things as best as I can and acknowledge that I'm not a master at whatever I get to play right now.

First thing of course is the game box. I got the Collector's Edition for the XBOX 360, which comes in a durable steel case with artwork on the outside and inside covers. The game manual is one of the most informative and beautifully designed I've ever seen, which gives you all the fine details of the game.

Now onto the main menu, you are treated to a 3D Still Scene with Wolverine and Ryu fighting each other. The Comic Book feel persists throughout the game as all the words are in Comic font. You have five options: Offline Mode, Xbox Live, Gallery, Options, and your License Card(you have to push RB to display).

Offline Mode - This is the main gameplay mode where you can play like the Arcade where you play your team through six stages before fighting the end boss. The popular Versus where you fight a solo battle with the computer or friends. Training where you get to wail on a fully controlled NPC while learning the moves of your characters. Mission Mode that gives you certain conditions to clear with each character.

These options are accompanied with another 3D Still Scene of Dante and Deadpool staring each other down face-to-face with guns and swords at the ready.

Xbox Live - What makes multiplayer multiplayer. Ranked Matches where your victories affect your rank, Player Matches which doesn't affect your rank, Search/Create Lobby...These are kind of self-explanatory, and view the progress of you and other players in the Leaderboards. Morrigan and Iron Man take the fight to the skies in this 3D Still Scene.

Gallery is where you get to view the profiles, endings, 3D Models of all characters you've cleared Arcade Mode with as well as movies, artwork and sounds of the game.The background is Chun-Li ending her Spinning Bird Kick against Cap's Shield.

Options where you adjust everything that affects the game. Thor poses dramatically as Amaterasu scratches her ear for this menu's background.

Arcade Mode - For the veterans of MVC2 and other fighting games, this should seem oddly familiar. Arcade Mode has only six stages to fight through instead of seven in MVC2 before facing off with the final boss. Like MVC2, your team squares off with a randomized team of three with the AI getting progressively harder with each match. Unlike MVC2, should you lose and have to rematch, the team doesn't randomize again, you have to fight the same team that won before.

Some things I've noticed while playing is several bugs that were in MVC2 in terms of combo transitions like doing one air hit then going into a ground combo have been fixed. However pressing the special attack button which launches the enemy into the air, pressing the up button at the same time, you jump up with them. There is a learning curve on how to attack with this as I've jumped passed the opponent on several occasions and a serious learning curve when using the Team Aerial Combos as you can jump passed them again.

All-in-all, I've played as Deadpool, Captain America, Wolverine, Wesker, Taskmaster, Dante, Magneto, Haggar, Viewtiful Joe, and MODOK. The first five characters on the list are definitely the one I like the most.

Next time, I will go into the final boss fight in detail. I will write another article featuring only the License Card in the near future. Thank you for reading and have a good day.