Like many people whose passions could be considered ‘nerdy’, I have two notable circles on a Venn diagram of my interests: Marvel comics and videogames. It’s not often that they overlap, but on the occasions they do my interest is immediately sparked. Generally, the intrigue lasts a fleeting few seconds (Marvel Puzzle Quest is not what I’m looking for, sorry), but things are different when it comes to Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite. As a big game with flashy effects and several of my favourite characters, it’s certainly on the right track.
Is that enough to stop a Marvel fan playing MvC: Infinite, though? That’s the question I go into the game seeking answers to. And, almost immediately, the answer arrives: yes. Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite may be the most comic book game I’ve ever played, for better and worse.
Marvel publishes hundreds of comic issues every year. As you can imagine, of those many chapters, few of them are groundbreaking, memorable stories that belong on every fan’s bookshelf. Indeed, the bread and butter of comic writing is based in tropes: heroes going through increasingly familiar trials, defeating villains with cookie-cutter world domination plans. Comics have made an art form of this, the cliches happily embraced by fans. Largely, these storylines are something the Marvel Cinematic Universe has attempted to stay away from, mostly by cherry-picking the best arcs from decades of storytelling. Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, however, relishes comic tropes.
Within the first hour, Infinite throws you into an event that is barely explained. Good start. It then sees fan favourite heroes team up to defeat multiple faceless bad guys, transforms good guys into bad guys, and has Captain America and Iron Man beat seven bells out of each other over the moral value of a key plot beat. Pretty much every five minutes a new character is thrown into the mix, which to an outsider may seem like the fan fiction of an over-excited child, but in reality is exactly the fabric from which Marvel crossover events are stitched.
