Developer: Arc System Works
Platforms: PC, PS5 (Reviewed)
Genre: Action, Fighting
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is a 4v4 tag-team 2D fighting game with 3D elements that uses the Marvel franchise to build the character roster. The game pits players against each other in 1v1 battles, but you can switch your characters in and out during the match from the 4 Marvel characters you have chosen. That’s the core element of the gameplay; it’s a classic 2D fighter inspired by the Marvel world. The game has a training mode, story mode, challenge mode, online ranked games, online unranked games, and versus offline too.
The main story mode follows five distinct teams, and the story is delivered via a comic book feel: you are looking at a comic book as the story unfolds, and the pages turn as you progress. Each distinct story mode has its own unique view of this Marvel world. You will use your team of 4 fantastic heroes to save the world. The look and feel of the game is superb; the mix of the comic-driven story with a fantastic art style really makes the game come alive. The story is paced well; you can have voice-overs or read the dialogue, a huge bonus. The writing of the story delivers the story well, and the art complements it. This is all backed with an amazing soundtrack, sound effects and fantastic voiceovers. Having 20 distinct and unmistakable Marvel characters to play with is awesome from the get-go. The visuals are superb, which also translates to the actual gameplay. The characters are meticulously animated, and it’s fantastic to have them under your control.
Gameplay is smooth and enjoyable; the mechanics are straightforward, and there is a tutorial mode to help those new to the genre and this style of game. Each control is spelt out for you in the tutorial mode, each combo and special too. The animation of each character and their move set is brilliant – I loved the huge variety in gameplay mechanics for each character; with 4 people on each team, you get to play with lots of characters almost instantly.
The game on PS5 runs solid, with quick load times; the framerate is consistent even with all the mayhem and huge super combos and chained combos you can perform. I can’t really diss any of the technical aspects of the game. The game supports performance mode that will target 60FPS at dynamic 4K resolution; this is geared for smoothness as opposed to graphic fidelity. For graphic fidelity, quality mode locks the game at 30FPS at 4K.
The five stories in story mode didn’t have much replayability for me – doing each story once was more than enough, as there was overlap in terms of core theme and story across all five. However, the actual game and character roster, with the likes of Spider-Man, Iron Man, Rogue, Wolverine, Storm, and many more, give it a lot of replayability. It includes solid online play too, and fans of this genre will love this game.
A more than solid fighting game with a fantastic array of characters and story mode. Each character has their own unique abilities to master, which will keep you playing. While the story mode is okay, the core mechanics and fighting are super. A cool art style, great soundtrack and voice-overs make this a fantastic fighting game.
Overall: 8/10
Enjoys more than the odd game, long time gamer, somewhat a technologist and everything else in between.
Also enjoys a good solid game of FIFA online. Currently PS4, XBOX 360 and STEAM.
