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 necessary truth from her character trailer: She truly strikes like a standard human — nicely, mutant — and that was thrilling, one thing I couldn’t say for Rivals prior up to now.
For the reason that recreation launched in December 2024, Marvel Rivals gamers have periodically complained on Reddit about how gradual character motion pace is, or appears to be. Some stated it felt like strolling in gradual 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 particular person and appears extra dynamic. I agreed with the previous and lamented the gradual strides and glacial assault tempo that plagued each hero in Rivals, steadily enjoying much less and fewer because the perceived difficulty grew increasingly 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 concept about the remainder of Rivals being so gradual was proper. It was. Form of.
The observe enviornment in each video games contains areas with distance measurements to assist calculate injury drop-off ranges, which additionally doubles as the right 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 appears like an issue, however Rivals’ distance scaling can also be a bit completely 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 may 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 protecting an extended distance within the same-ish variety of steps. It’s not a pace difficulty. It’s a mode difficulty.
Cloak and Dagger, Namor, Spider-Man, and the remaining transfer as in the event that they’re auditioning for a task in Baywatch, loping dramatically down the battlefield in large, rangey steps. Prolonged pauses punctuate assault combos for everybody who isn’t the martial arts knowledgeable 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 appears like a popgun with a silencer on it, and Scarlet Witch’s life absorption has, nicely, no life to it. All that is elegant in an understated manner, positive — nevertheless it’s not very tremendous.
Phoenix modifications 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 good greater 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 modifications course, she’s shifting shortly as an alternative of leaning lazily to 1 aspect 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 shifting sooner. (She isn’t. Cloak and Dagger cowl the identical distance in fewer steps.)
Mainly, NetEase lastly discovered a mix of fashion and performance that isn’t boring and doesn’t make you are feeling such as you’re swimming by means of pudding. Phoenix performs and strikes such as you’d count on a skilled fighter to maneuver, so regardless that she is probably not basically completely different from different characters, her fights really feel thrilling. And that’s sufficient for me.
