“Marvel Rivals” is a free-to-play online hero shooter that made its debut late last year. Players take on the mantle of favorite Marvel heroes (or villains) and compete in teams to accomplish various tasks—or to just cause some mayhem. 

“Rivals” feels like the culmination of this genre (shooter games), particularly after the slow collapse of “Overwatch” in recent years. It’s a memorable property with iconic heroes that lend themselves to this kind of team-up gameplay. From a business perspective, it’s kind of crazy that this game didn’t exist sooner. 

Because “Rivals” is basically Marvel’s take on the “Overwatch” formula, the game modes are unoriginal and tired. I was pleasantly surprised to see at least one limited time mode, but that too was derivative of other multiplayer games (i.e., “Rocket League”) albeit with a slight twist due to characters’ unique abilities. Given that this is an ongoing game, there is hope for more inventive, original modes in the future. 

I typically avoid hero shooter games in no small part because they’re unwelcoming to casual players. With a lot of online games, if it’s not the only game you’re playing, it often feels difficult to just have fun (and most aren’t interesting enough to be the only game I want to play). “Rivals,” however, is friendly to all levels of player. While each character has intricate move sets that can be used in unique ways, some are more complex to play than others. Each character’s difficulty is ranked out of five stars, one star being the easiest, giving casual players—like me—an idea of the amount of skill needed to be good with a hero. And there’s also an online practice mode, where a team of players can compete against NPCs. 

“Marvel Rivals” is a game that makes too much sense to not exist. With the promise of a continually evolving hero roster and hundreds of Marvel characters to potentially add in, there’s nearly  limitless potential for widely varied gameplay, movie tie-ins and cool cosmetics. It’s not the game for me, but I had a few fun moments while playing. For fans of online games, this will be one to follow for what I hope is years to come.