Invincible Vs Review - Superhero Smash
I think it is fair to say that we are having a little bit of a golden age when it comes to fighters. We have had a string of great games, from Street Fighter to Fatal Fury to Mortal Kombat, so it is easy to feel like this is the best position the genre has been in since the heady days of the Arcade boom. So when a new game comes into this environment, an environment that not only needs to consider the game itself, but long-term success in the form of both esports competitions and downloadable extra content, they have to have a hook to get people in. Well, what better hook than one of the hottest animated shows on the planet right now? Invincible Vs is here, and it brings the ultra-violent world of both the comic and TV series to life, letting players take control of their favourite characters in a 3 v 3 tag fighter. What’s even better is that it is pretty darn good to boot.
I have to admit, I only have a passing familiarity with the franchise that this game is based on. My entire knowledge of it comes from my 16-year-old son, who is obsessed with the show, so I am not exactly up with who’s who in the zoo. I feel like it is important to state this upfront, because it is obvious that this is a game made with fans in mind. The story mode starts and jumps straight into the action, with no backstory or catch-up for non-fans. It really feels like you are jumping into a mid-season episode, so without prior knowledge, there is obviously less of an impact from the story.
In saying that and recognising my lack of background with the franchise, the story mode isn’t that great. It really is just a contrived series of reasons to beat up the other characters instead of a tale told with purpose. The development team tried to follow in Mortal Kombat’s footsteps in both the structure of the story and the gameplay, but they lack the meaty (if corny as hell) tale to go with it. What’s worse is that towards the end, the story fails to progress in any meaningful way for quite a while, just sitting stagnant while you are forced into multiple battles against the opposition. I won’t say this mode is a failure, but it is absolutely a forgettable 3ish hours that I really can’t see players going through twice.
Thankfully, though, everything else is tight. This is both a unique and competent fighter that will have players hooked once they master its differences. The feel of the game is something that takes a little getting used to. Instead of using a traditional four or six-button fighting game layout, it uses a light, medium, heavy and special button layout. These attacks all change depending on the direction pressed on the d-pad, allowing players to mix things up with a huge amount of variation. Special moves only require a button press, no quarter-circles, no back-forward movements, so they essentially become a move to finish any combos you may have set up (or start a new one). As a classically trained Street Fighter/MK player, I found it a little odd, and it even felt more like what you find in Super Smash Bros as opposed to a traditional 2D fighter, but there is no denying the power, flexibility, and ease-of-use of the system they put in place.
I think this is the intention behind the system. While this is clearly a game for adults, it is a game that is designed to be as pick-up and play as possible. Even the super moves or ultimate moves simply require two or three buttons to be pressed at once, which means absolutely anyone can pull off some insane stuff without the need for any prior learning. This should mean that just like Smash Bros, Invincible Vs should be an absolute banger of a party game after a few beers with friends. That said, there is certainly a lot of depth here for those who want to master it. The developers have said they have esports ambitions, and it is clear once you dig a bit deeper with each character that there is a lot of potential. This is the sort of thing that you only know for sure once the game hits the wider fighting game community, but I feel like Invincible Vs has given itself the best possible start to getting itself included in major events like Evo.
The other thing I had to adjust to as an old fighting game player is just how much of these battles take place in the air. Jump attacks work differently here than most fighters. Most attacks are designed to keep players up in the air before unleashing a punishing special that drives the opposition into the ground, so this means that jumping in for an attack functions differently than I expected after years of Mortal Kombat being my go-to fighter. Once I got the hang of though, I was having a blast launching my opponents into the air and then following up with multi-hit attacks before nailing them with a super. It is a satisfying loop, and landing it makes you feel like a badass in the best possible way. Of course, getting caught in such a combo sucks big time, but that is the price you pay for the power of a cool combo.
The game looks like it is straight out of the TV show, with the animation really hitting the mark. Also, considering the cartoon nature of the game, it should work well on a variety of systems, as there is no ray-tracing or realism here to speak of. A big tick for getting players through the door, as far as I am concerned. Being based on an ultra-violent TV show, there are, of course, incidents of ultra-violence, with players bursting into a pile of guts and blood if they are finished off with a super or ultra move. Is it excessive? Well, yeah, but from what I understand, it is totally in keeping with the show, and it is hard not to get a giggle when a giant battle cat explodes into a thousand bloody chunks.
How Invincible Vs holds up over time will come down to both online stability and the fighting community warming to its charms, but I have to say the developers have given themselves the best possible chance. The gameplay is both friendly to newcomers, but offers depth for those wanting to dig deeper, the graphics match the TV show perfectly, and the splashes of excessive violence feel like the perfect topper and not in bad taste. Really, apart from the sub-par story mode, there isn’t too much wrong with the game. If you are a fan of fighters, the Invincible IP or, preferably, both, you shouldn’t hesitate to jump in. At the very least, you will have a fantastic party game to play with mates and at the best, you could be in on the ground floor for the next big thing in esports. Invincible Vs brings the IP to life in a satisfying way for both fans of the franchise and of fighters in general, and it is hard to ask for more than that.
Invincible Vs was reviewed on PC with code kindly supplied by the publisher.
