Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (PS Vita) review

If you were in any doubt that the Vita was as close to a portable PlayStation 3 as it was possible to get, just spend a few minutes with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. It’s a lightning-fast 2D fighting game that pits a huge roster of characters against each other in a 3v3 brawl, and it does so at a glorious 60 frames per second.

Despite being a portable version of a console title, UMvC3 Vita retains every single feature, including the same stages, training and mission modes, online play and gorgeous graphics. Everything has been scaled down to fit the Vita’s 960×544 resolution screen, but all the animations, special effects and smooth motion that we would expect from a Capcom fighting game are still here in force.

Gamers unfamiliar with the series need to choose a team of three from a roster of over forty, including fan favourites from the Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, X-men and Avengers series. Twelve new characters that weren’t in the original console version of MvC3 are also included – our pick of the bunch are Capcom’s lawyer extraordinaire Phoenix Wright, Dead Rising’s Frank West, Ghost Rider and the cute but deadly Rocket Raccoon. Each character has their own unique move set, so it can be a little intimidating at first, but after a little practice you’ll soon be performing explosive special moves and extended combos that keep your opponents defenceless.

If playing through the short story mode isn’t your idea of fun, the new Heroes and Heralds mode adds plenty of variety to the gameplay. By defeating rival teams and earning collectible character cards, you can add different effects to your own team to spice up each round – certain combinations might block attacks automatically, or allow you to parry them back at your opponent, while others will recover your health or hyper meter. It originally made its debut as DLC for the console game, but it’s included here as standard.

UMvC3 translates perfectly to the Vita’s controls – although fighting game purists will bemoan the lack of a real joystick or six button layout, the four face buttons are all you need to pull off some insane combos. The two shoulder buttons take care of assist moves – calling in one of your two teammates to quickly dish out some damage – so as long as you’ve got fast fingers you should be able to pull off any moves that you could on the console version.

There’s also the option to play with touch controls. This opens the game up to far more people, as the strict timings required to perform some of the extended combos is thrown out of the window. Tapping anywhere on screen will perform a series of moves, along with hyper-combos and the game-changing X-Factor move that can make all the difference in a one-sided match.

Naturally, there’s also an online mode, and its here that UMvC3 really shines. You can play using either control scheme, against the CPU or online against other players, although the touch controls are more prone to spammers – if you’re looking for a real challenge, you’ll have to learn the button combinations yourself. Your wins are recorded and ranked on a global leader-board, so you’ll be able to gauge your performance against the best players from around the world.

If you already own UMvC3 on the PS3, there are still reasons to buy the Vita version – it supports remote play to become a controller for the console version. If you own the PS3 version already, any costume DLC you’ve purchased will automatically transfer to the Vita version. This includes the two downloadable characters, Jill and Shuma-Gorath, so there’s no need to buy them twice. You also get a replay function that reveals hit-box information for each character – if you’re looking to improve your game, studying your replays will reveal what you did wrong and what you could do to step up your performance in the future.

Considering it has even more features than the console version, we would almost call UMvC3 Vita the definitive version of the game. If you’re a fan of fighters and want to get a gaming fix while on the move, this is an absolute must buy for any Vita owner.