Marvel's Overwatch

 

If I worked at the Marvel company right about now- well I'd be loaded, wouldn't I? But I would also be incredibly hyper-conscious every waking hour about the razors-edge my place in pop culture is currently balancing upon. Insist though Kevin Fiege might, there's no denying the fact that Marvel is currently far past it's prime and rapidly approaching the realm of irrelevancy at such a depressing speed that I'm no longer surprised when a Marvel named project slides neatly under everyone's radar and goes on to underperform. As this point every failure has to feel like a stab in the back of a wounded animal, struggling to get back on it's feet and speed back into the race, which is probably why Marvel has all but retreated from this year in the hopes that Deadpool can prove the about face their franchise needs. Of course, Marvel can't control the whims of the mad scientist Sony, and as such another on of their half-aborted cross-bred abominations of life will slither onto screens this year too with 'Kraven the animal-loving all-vegan largely-respectful bad-guy hunter'.

In such straits, I can only imagine a slam dunk video game under the Marvel brand that will remind everyone why they love this franchise is exactly what the team are looking for- something to keep people distracted whilst the movie divisions figure out how to unscrew themselves from the absolute mess of everything they've made. (Not least of all changing course after having to fire their leading man for the next ten planned movies.) We've already gotten wind of that Black Panther meets Captain America game- which could currently be anything from a Souls-based action title to a choice-based narrative game to a Rhythm-based space shooter- we've got nothing to go on for that one. But one might say that for their other leading project we have quite a lot to go on. Perhaps even too much- considering that I'm pretty sure most of the gaming world is familiar enough with Overwatch at this point.

Yes, the team based hero shooter based around guarding payloads through the same rough feeling map that hasn't managed to significantly grow out of that base concept since it's inception. And the team have gaslit themselves into being proud of that, despite once having dreams of growing the brand into a powerhouse that caters to all kinds of players, not just forlorn soldiers of the old guard who stick around out of habit and Rule 34 artists who pop in to get a preview of who they'll be morally bankrupting over the next year. Having just recently shrunken to such a size in their development team that they can't even support the promised PVE functions that were meant to replace the promised extensive singleplayer content- one might say it's never been a better time to present a direct competitor copycat with the money and brand recognition to steal it's faded luster. In comes Marvel Rivals.

Despite sounding like on of those low-rent mobile store fluff pieces, Marvel Rivals looks like it might be a semi-competent hero shooter set in colourful cartoon-style maps that look near identical to Overwatch ones and featuring a cast of characters who have actually been properly fleshed out through canonical ancillary media- Blizzard! We'll see anime-ass looking Iron Man teaming up with K-pop idol Hulk, mobile-banner-ad Loki, Hanzo-in-cosplay Namor, Ultimate-design-reject Spider-Man, Grown-up D.VA stand-in Peni Parker- (Obviously piloting SP//dr) and this one girl called Luna Snow who looks like she exists only as a 2D ad-waifu for Korean mobile games. All these heroes are teaming up against Galacta- Galactus slightly more skimpy daughter who likely exists only to quench some lonely comic artist's desire for hot giant women. As a Lady D survivor, I have no grounds on which to judge that.

And you know what- the game looks... functioning. It doesn't promise a whole lot thus far, merely bringing us to a Marvel-based version of the Overwatch vision; but in that lies a simple and steadfast truth- they haven't overpromised yet. Overwatch was the home of overpromises, built on the foundations of a Blizzard that still had some slither of it's former dignity left in 2016. Some saw Overwatch, which had existed in some form in the company vaults for years beforehand, as the last hurrah new franchise from the player-first studio and expected it to be the exception in the slow dissolution of brand. Overwatch's promises then started to turn into broken promises which blossomed into ruptured trust. And when all trust is gone- that is when the lying started.

What Marvel Rivals offers is a clean slate- if a familiar one- peppered with an easily recognisable cast of distinctive silhouettes that already starts with a stronger base appeal than, say, Paladins. (Another Overwatch wannabe.) I genuinely think that this game's cleverly picked line-up of thin coded Tik-tok E-boy Marvel variants paired with the long-legged waifu companion cast has the potential to slip into the rotation of hero shooters provided everything goes to plan. Given that we're looking at a pure PC release right now, the most difficult platform to develop for recently, it would be really bad if they do a 'Modern gaming move' and screwed up the windows version. (And there's a not-0% chance that they do screw it up, knowing the landscape.)

Of course, any sparks of anticipation you might feel welling up at all this should be duly tempered by my next bit of news. This is a game by NetEase Games. Oh yeah, that Chinese tech company known for peddling free-to-play titles that lure in with functioning games and then trap you in their culture-typical pay-piggy hell. Starting up one of their games is like signing up to a Loanshark subscription service where they come around and knock on your window every morning when you're trying to relax to squeeze some blood of you. It's like trying to walk down the street and enjoy the view whilst beset by an gang of organised beggars who have strategized how best to squeeze into your wallet. It's like trying to be an an every day land-loving Chinese famer in the 1800s, whilst bad-boy-Britain keeps hitting up your local haunt peddling just wagon-loads of Opium for an insane mark-up. And you're already addicted at this point, so they're essentially just dependency enslaving you. You're picking up what I'm putting down, right?

Still, with how Overwatch currently sits- their waifu skin-suit badly stretched across a one-armed bandit- (I just remembered how that is actually a fetish, unfortunately.) maybe there's a space for even a NetEase disaster child to steal some of that thunder. I mean, it's not like Overwatch has some moral highground to stand on. They've thought impure thoughts about Lady D, just the same as the rest of us! (Wait, what were we talking about?) Of course, it will take a talented team of dedicated developers to retain such stolen thunder, and not do a 'Pokemon Unity' and fade from the limelight less than two weeks after launch. And to this I can say- wow, Overwatch 2 really wouldn't be in trouble of being outshone of they stuck to their guns and diversified the brand, now would they? Food for thought!