So...this game swings hard. Let's forget about the fact that this is a balance redux from a game released 9 months ago, let's forget about the fact that Vanilla Marvel vs Capcom 3 never truly got a chance to mature as most fighting games do. Let's forget about the fact that this game was released in an incredibly busy games release window for a budgeted price. The question here isn't even, "is this game good?" Because it's not. As far as fighting games go, Vanilla Marvel Vs Capcom 3 was one of the most unbalanced fighting games since...well, Marvel Vs Capcom 2. At the end of the day, there's only about 10 characters who can compete on a high level and the rest of the cast is almost seen as niche to play as. So the real question is, "is Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 better than vanilla".
Well, yes and no.
Let's start at the biggest problems that Marvel vs Capcom 3 had; and if you ask around, you'll probably get the same answer; Wesker, Wolverine, Akuma and Pheonix. Well...it's a mixed bag, not just for these 4 problem characters but for the entire pre-existing cast. Certain characters like Pheonix and Akuma received heavy nerfs, forcing players to think about their strategies a lot more rather than simply spamming Tatsu or air fireballs followed up by a teleport mixup. But at the same time, characters like Wesker, Doctor Doom, Spencer, C.Viper, characters who were considered to be at the very peak of the tier list received BUFFS, making already great, sometimes broken, characters even better. This means that the playing field hasn't broadened at all, week one game play being dominated by Weskers and Doctor Dooms, with the majority of the cast still left to mediocrity. If you go back and look for Capcom press releases regarding this title, you'll see manifestos from Niitsuma, the game's producer, saying that he wanted the rest of the cast to be more viable. If that's true, then the UMvsC3 team has failed spectacularly. It's truly difficult to even wrap your mind about what the creators of the game were thinking when they gave Wesker, arguably (and in my opinion) the best character in the game his own speed and damage boost mechanic OUTSIDE of Xfactor, making some of the fastest normal commands in the game EVEN FASTER. It's mind boggling.
The other major problem from vanilla was xfactor, and, for the most part, it has been fixed. Gone are the days of easy-mode character killer combos that consisted of B'n'B's chained together with the press of all four face buttons. Even using xfactor, killing characters based off one combo require much more thought and execution from the majority of the cast. Level 2 and 3 xfactor are still very dangerous, but are regulated by each character having their own personal maximum xfactor time. This keeps things a little bit more fair and tones down things like lvl3 xfactor wesker (Dark wesker rising anyone?) or lvl3 xfactor Sentinel, major problem children in Vanilla. But it is still an affective come from behind tool and you can still have a seemingly in the bag victory stolen away by a few quick combos in xfactor. It's something to be wary of, but it's not as terrible as it used to be (but in my opinion they should have just removed it all together because I think it's gimmicky and terrible.)
So that being said, what about the new additions to the game? Well, to be honest, there's not much here. The 12 new characters are a mixed bag and will provide an interesting few weeks as people learn and in some cases relearn the new cast. But really, when looking at certain characters added, and certain nerfs that were given to the pre-existing cast, it makes you wonder how much thought was really put behind them. Now sure, Phoenix Wright is a very unique, difficult to play character and clearly a ton of time was put into how he plays and the nuances to his multiple styles. But look at Hawkeye; the best parts of his game seem to be taken from the removed elements of she-hulk and taskmaster. Nova's normal moveset is pretty beefy, though parallels to Dante, Wesker and Super Skrull can be made just by looking at his B'n'B's. It doesn't feel like we got 12 new characters, it feels like we got 6 new characters (frank west, Pheonix wright, rocket racoon, ghost rider, firebrand, and Iron Fist) and a bunch of minorly altered movesets. Virgil and Nemesis feel particularly egregious, the two of them combining the best (and sometimes worst) parts of Dante and Sentinel. It's pretty clear to see where the time and attention was being placed and what was seen as an after thought, and that really doesn't help the game on a whole. The characters with markedly new movesets are just more fun to play and are proving to be a lot more interesting, while every time I play against Virgil or Doctor Strange, I just feel shades of characters who have been in the game forever.
The new stages are a pretty extreme cop-out as well, all 6 new stages simply being daytime/nighttime swaps of the existing stages. While there are some interesting touches here and there, such as the wintertime Katalox island or the Days of Future Past twist on Metro City, the new stages just feel lazy. In Super Street fighter 4, the new stages felt interesting and were much different than anything that had come before. All of these new stages, even Shadowland which is the most different from the rest, just feel like complete afterthoughts. In the same vein, one of the more disappointing additions to this new version is the artwork. Vanilla MvsC3 had some great model art, found in the CG videos, in the menus, in the ending movie, it all looked very clean, reminding me sort of the trophies from Smash Brothers Melee and Brawl. In this new game, all of the artwork is rather sloppily put together Stills of various fighters positioned in combat stances. It looks ugly and it really makes me wish I could have the old menus and intros (and ESPECIALLY the old ending) back. Why they're missing is beyond me.
The biggest elephant in the room for Marvel 3 Vanilla had to be the online, and how it was awful. It was a terrible throw back to PS2 days of online, not showing connection data, constantly dropping connections during matches, struggling to find matches in the first place, and tossing people to crazy menus upon failure to connect. Cosmetically, the online modes in Ultimate are better. It's easier to find matches now, you can see what the connection is like and who's hosting, it allows you to make the decision on whether or not you want to play against those people before the match starts (A godsend, but also a standard feature ever since Street Figher 4 Vanilla) and, most importantly, the netcode seems to be better over all. That being said, lag is still a big issue and you will get blown up by being unable to effectively use those 1 frame blocks every time. But combos that were a liability online in Vanilla are now viable online which allows for a lot more skilled combos and ingenuity to show online.
It's a pretty basic rundown of features, some of which work and some of which don't. Now the question I have to pose to other people is, is it worth it? The problem with writing a review for a game like this is that the technology in the game is ever evolving the most time passes. People didn't realize that Wolverine was the Czar of cheap in vanilla until the game had been out for a month or two; most people considering him to be a garbage character at the beginning of the cycle. And the more I play the more things I find that I like or dislike. But ultimately, at this point in time, I feel like it's a game of weights and balances. I personally think Capcom did an awful job rebalancing the per-existing cast, and I feel the worst problems Vanilla had that were removed were simply replaced with other catastrophic problems that will simply create a new list of the exclusive 10 who can be productive. So that being said, even though I'm pretty negative about all this, why do I keep playing?
Because you guys, it's really really fun. It is the kind of game where you were jump and scream and wail and yell at your television when something goes wrong, but you sit right back down and play again. Victories feel like true highs and losses feel dramatically more infuriating than any other online game that I can think of. The ideals of salt and joy run rampant here, unchecked and biased, which makes defeating someone playing a Wesker with your favorite team feel just that much more amazing. What Capcom has done here is something dangerous, make a fighting game that is purposely unbalanced in order to keep the community for that game entrenched. It hurts tournament play to be sure (watch any Vanilla tournament over the past year, the top spots are dominated by Pheonixes or Akuma, Wolverine combinations) and it causes fans of more technical slower paced games to drop from the fanbase a lot quicker than normal, but it provides an experience that's always fun to play and, perhaps more importantly in this growing age of e-sports, always entertaining to watch. I played football for 8 years and occasionally watch NFL or college games to somewhat tepid fanfare on my part. I holler out the loudest watching someone come back from 2 dead characters and no xfactor to take the win using some sort of crazy, often broken, sometimes stupid level of gaming tech.
So if you want a good fighter, something that will provide a level playing field for all characters included and reduces the amount of bullshitty instances, wait for Skullgirls. I personally think that is the game that will create the new model how fighting games are made, whether Capcom likes it or not. But if you were already invested into Marvel vs Capcom 3, or you want something that's crazy, sometimes unfair, but pretty much always a blast, this is the game for you, and at 40 dollars, the hit to your wallet won't feel like such a sting. But be prepared to get salty, you will get blown up and blow up people alike, often for stupid, seemingly meaningless reasons which feel like they could have been tightened up before release. Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, much like Vanilla Marvel vs Capcom 3, is not a good fighting game; I would go as far as to call it very bad with all the mistakes and missteps it takes and has. But, at it's core, it's the most fun I've had with a fighting game since Guilty Gear (which I personally think is the best fighting game ever made [Well, GGXX#AC]), and I think that means something.