Marvel Rivals has taken the gaming space by storm. By combining beloved Marvel superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, and Wolverine with polished and finely tuned hero shooter gameplay, NetEase has landed a recipe for success as the game rounds out its Season 0 and leans into its first full-blown season of content. Some of this content has already been leaked, ranging from roster additions including the Fantastic Four to a new game mode.
Character variety is one of the absolute greatest strengths of Marvel Rivals. Each hero and villain in the game is currently adapted so faithfully to their inspiration that fans of any Marvel character will feel right at home selecting their favorites and running with them—but that may soon prove to be an issue. Some characters may be adapted too well, making them indispensable picks in the latest leaked Marvel Rivals game mode.
Marvel Rivals' Latest Leaked Character is a Logical Progression
Leaks regarding Marvel Rivals' upcoming heroes have been rampant since the first Alpha playtest, and the latest potential reveal makes a lot of sense.
Spider-Man and Venom May Be Game-Changers in Marvel Rivals Leaked CTF Mode
How Might Capture the Flag Play in Marvel Rivals?
Capture the Flag has long been a staple in online multiplayer games. That said, the exact details of how Capture the Flag could play out in Marvel Rivals are sketchy. NetEase may be adding some of its own personal flair to the time-honored game mode, or it might just be something much more traditional. It’s still too early to say for sure, but one thing that's for certain is that highly mobile characters like Venom and especially Spider-Man would be must-picks in CTF if gameplay isn't altered for any characters in this mode.
Like the rest of the cast, Venom and Spider-Man have been adapted incredibly faithfully to their comic and movie counterparts. Web-slinging allows them to effectively play as hypermobile dive heroes, jumping into the enemy backline, harassing healers, and jumping back out before the enemy can peel. In Domination, Convergence, and Convoy, this tactic is one piece of the puzzle and a tool teams can capitalize on and build their way to victory. In a mode like CTF, it might just be the only strategy worth using.
If CTF hits live servers, Spider-Man and Venom are going to be essential for the unmatched mobility web-slinging gives them. Grabbing the flag and simply swinging away with it is almost without counter, especially in Spider-Man’s case where he is a very small target with multiple swings off cooldown. Games will almost assuredly devolve into each team’s Spider-Man and Venom clashing over the flag while the other four players in the match just lounge about and offer whatever support they can. It’s going to be their game, with other heroes just existing in it.
What Can Marvel Rivals Do To Balance Capture the Flag
NetEase has its work cut out for itself trying to balance CTF in Marvel Rivals. Of course, the easiest solution is to disable certain movement abilities for the flag holder, forcing them instead to run through the map normally once they’ve secured the objective to encourage strategic play and more cohesive teamwork. While this would probably make the game mode much more balanced with minimal effort, it’s hard to see it as the best possible choice.
So much about Marvel Rivals’ character design is centered on movement. An Iron Man that can’t fly or a Spider-Man that can’t swing isn’t fulfilling their role in terms of gameplay, and they are failing to live up to the promise of living out the power fantasy of playing as those superheroes. Removing these abilities will just create a relatively bland game mode, and few players will want to actually grab the flag if it means they're going to be actively nerfed for doing so.
NetEase clearly has an uphill battle balancing the mode, but the studio has done an excellent job with the title so far. Whether CTF launches in a near-perfect state or requires some work to make it an ideal fit remains to be seen, but players are still clearly having a blast with the game and its official modes regardless. Indeed, one game mode needing some fine-tuning won't do anything to darken the rising star that Marvel Rivals has proven itself to be in the last three weeks.
Marvel Rivals
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 78 /100 Critics Rec: 84%
- Released
- December 6, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
- NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
- NetEase Games
WHERE TO PLAY
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Limited - console crossplay, no PC crossplay
- Cross Save
- No
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Number of Players
- 1-6
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- December 6, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- Genre(s)
- Third-Person Shooter, Action, Multiplayer
- How Long To Beat
- 7.5 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 20 GB
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
