Phoenix is in Marvel Rivals, which suggests I’d lastly put Overwatch 2 on the shelf for a bit and get again into NetEase’s hero shooter recreation. Not out of some deep admiration for Phoenix, thoughts you. The one issues I find out about her are what I gleaned from Wikipedia after NetEase introduced her for Marvel Rivals season 3 and one essential truth from her character trailer: She truly strikes like a traditional human — properly, mutant — and that was thrilling, one thing I couldn’t say for Rivals prior so far.
Because the recreation launched in December 2024, Marvel Rivals gamers have periodically complained on Reddit about how sluggish character motion pace is, or appears to be. Some stated it felt like strolling in sluggish movement; others stated it was only a perspective trick, that in fact video games like Overwatch appeared sooner, for the reason that digital camera is first individual and appears extra dynamic. I agreed with the previous and lamented the sluggish strides and glacial assault tempo that plagued each hero in Rivals, steadily enjoying much less and fewer because the perceived concern grew an increasing number of annoying.
Now that Overwatch 2 has its third-person Stadium mode, and after seeing how Phoenix appeared to maneuver extra shortly, I made a decision to see if my idea about the remainder of Rivals being so sluggish was proper. It was. Form of.
The observe area in each video games contains areas with distance measurements to assist calculate harm drop-off ranges, which additionally doubles as the proper place to check motion pace. After messing round with a number of characters, I confirmed that Rivals characters take roughly half of a stride longer to journey 5 meters in comparison with Overwatch 2 characters. That seems like an issue, however Rivals’ distance scaling can be a bit totally different. 5 meters in Rivals is about 11.5 inches, the place the identical distance is roughly 10 inches in Overwatch 2.
“Why does this matter?” you is likely to be asking. The reply is that it means Rivals characters transfer about as quick as most Overwatch 2 characters, and even sooner, since they’re technically masking an extended distance within the same-ish variety of steps. It’s not a pace concern. It’s a method concern.
Cloak and Dagger, Namor, Spider-Man, and the remainder transfer as in the event that they’re auditioning for a job in Baywatch, loping dramatically down the battlefield in large, rangey steps. Prolonged pauses punctuate assault combos for everybody who isn’t the martial arts professional Iron Fist, turning what needs to be high-energy battles into one thing that wouldn’t be misplaced in a ballet. Most assault sounds and animations are muted, too. Winter Soldier’s swanky pistol seems like a popgun with a silencer on it, and Scarlet Witch’s life absorption has, properly, no life to it. All that is elegant in an understated approach, certain — however it’s not very tremendous.
Phoenix adjustments all of that. A searing whoosh sound accompanies her assaults, with a small explosion after three consecutive hits on the identical enemy. Her different offensive talent detonates a fair larger explosion. She zooms round in flaming-bird type to shortly relocate, and might even mix this with a second mobility talent, one which doesn’t have an obscenely prolonged cooldown timer. When she dodges or adjustments route, she’s transferring shortly as an alternative of leaning lazily to 1 facet as if she will’t be bothered, and there’s a quickness to her motion animations that provides a way of urgency, even when she’s not truly transferring sooner. (She isn’t. Cloak and Dagger cowl the identical distance in fewer steps.)
Principally, NetEase lastly discovered a mixture of favor and performance that isn’t boring and doesn’t make you are feeling such as you’re swimming via pudding. Phoenix performs and strikes such as you’d count on a educated fighter to maneuver, so regardless that she might not be essentially totally different from different characters, her fights really feel thrilling. And that’s sufficient for me.