Summary
Marvel Rivals, although its own high-action hero shooter game, is fairly similar toOverwatch 2. Both games are team-based, they’re live-play, and the characters all have a loyal playerbase, whether from Overwatch’s gameplay or Marvel’s influence and history as a brand. Despite being similar in play style and mechanics, both games are unique in how they’re played.
Marvel Rivals is more of a PVP brawler game than a third-person shooter like Overwatch since there’s so much variety in a newly introduced game. Of course, with the full release of Marvel Rivals, the comparison to Overwatch is subject to change, but we’ll have to see which game comes out on top.
7Difficulty - Marvel Rivals
With such an advanced and less intuitive HUD and play style, beginners are more likely to have a learning curve going into Marvel Rivals than Overwatch since the game is more combo-oriented. The character classes, from tank-likeVanguardsto healer-typeStrategists, vary plenty in their actual abilities, but there’s a unity to it that starts to make perfect sense when you play for a while.
Characters in Marvel Rivals are also less likely to have entirely overpowered healing or damage abilities, or at least less likely to push you to use them unnecessarily, leading to more damage or deaths. Overwatch hero abilities have moments that you have less need to pace out, like bailout abilities and immortality fields.
6Team Balance - Tie
Both games have their pros and cons when it comes to the balance of roles and players in team matches. Marvel Rivals has the advantage of 6v6 gameplay, balancing out the pressure that can sometimes weigh on tank players to carry the match. Overwatch, on the other hand, made the switch to 5v5 gameplay and also has a feature called “role lock,” which forces queues to have a set number of roles per team.
The lack of role lock in Marvel Rivals’s case can mean a well-balanced team, but it can also stick you with one vanguard and five strategists or any other combination that’s not great against opposing teams. Overwatch’s 5v5 balance means you’ll have equal amounts for each role, but it’s possible your queue will be longer if you wait for one role.
5Character Variety - Overwatch
Besides having more characters, Overwatch’s character categories - namely, DPS, support, and tank - are fairly equally spread, which means more choices for your chosen fight style. While Marvel Rivals has used plenty of iconic characters already, and its categories are also equally spread, it does have an easy opportunity to add many more. Popular characters like Deadpool, Ant-Man, or even Daredevil could be easily implemented.
Overwatch’s characters are also fully fleshed out and original, with individual dialogue and reactions, whereas some iconic Marvel characters like Spider-Punk are only unlockable skins. This feature is more restrictive than Overwatch’s character development so far.
4Story - Marvel Rivals
The concept of the Timestream Entanglement, a collision of multiverses brought about by both our universe’s Doctor Doom and 2099’s Doctor Doom, is a story direction that’s extremely relevant to the MCU’s direction. Not only does that have immense potential to play out, but it’s already detailed enough to prevail over Overwatch’s gameplay-implemented story arcs.
Overwatch’s story has its merits, and consistency is one of them. However, Marvel Rivals’s story, being a combat team-based game, has an unusual amount of narrative potential. It is a Marvel story, after all.
3Cosmetics - Overwatch
This is a bit of a given since Marvel Rivals doesn’t have customizable or even unlockable weapons to choose between just yet. However,in Overwatch’s case,character customizabilityis a favorite among the players and is constantly expanding. So far, the only cosmetics in Marvel Rivals are character skins and the occasional weapon skin, which is a wonderful addition in its own right.
Rivals has the opportunity to add more customizability through different character skins that keep the character the same, with alternating outfits and weapons. Overwatch’s characters have this feature, and the developers update it semi-regularly, which is something that could easily win over Rivals’s player base.
2Map Design - Overwatch
The maps in Overwatch are expansive and detailed, and they’re general enough that you don’t necessarily need an explanation for why you’re fighting in one specific place. The battles are generalized in such a way that the story doesn’t need to revolve around them in order for you to enjoy the map to its full potential. Marvel Rivals has beautiful graphics and equally beautiful maps, but the locations are forced to tie into the story since it’s all Marvel.
While there are tons. of areas to choose from in the Marvel universe, it does limit the number of possible maps for them unless they decide to pull comic book locations out. Which is possible, it’s just something Overwatch has no need to do.
1Winner - Overwatch
It’s difficult to beat what’s already such a huge overall success. Difficult even, it seems, for Marvel’s game development teams. If you’re looking for a well-established, endlessly replayable team-based game, Overwatch is a solid pick across the board. Marvel Rivals has so much potential, though, that it’s hard to completely discount it. Both games are enjoyable, and both are still brimming with potential despite vastly different runtimes.
Time changes many things, though, so it’s highly possible that the overall ruling will change too. Considering the hype around Marvel Rivals, it’s easy to see it’s put some serious competition in the hero shooter genre. But as always, Overwatch is unmatched in its field.
