Marvel Rivals Closed Beta Preview: Saves The Day From Monotonous Hero Shooters

Even with an incredibly crowded F2P hero shooter genre, uses its beloved cast of characters and refreshing gameplay mechanics to set itself apart. 's foray into video games has failed to consistently reach the same levels of success as its other multimedia endeavors, but time with the closed beta provided a peek at an upcoming multiplayer game that seems poised to change that.

is a star-studded 6v6 hero shooter where players can team up with friends and play as their favorite superheroes and villains. A closed alpha test earned early praise for the third-person online shooter, but its latest beta delivers a level of polish that already makes feel like the next stage of hero shooters.

While the closed beta includes excellent character models and engaging scenery, its use of the Unreal 5 engine takes things up a notch by allowing stage destruction. This helps gameplay feel like an evolution of the hero shooter genre, which has become oversaturated with multiplayer experiences filled with cool and adorable characters fighting to take control of a specific location. While does that too, it does it in ways that will be tough for other games to match.

One popular Marvel superhero deserves another game after their last one has become harder to acquire over the years.

Only two stages were available during 's time with, but during those matches, almost every attack proved capable of destroying walls and structures, sometimes dramatically changing the battlefield. Destructible cover points, bridges, and walls open up gameplay from both a strategic and presentation point of view, giving clever teams a chance to gain the upper hand with coordinated attacks. With a colorful cast of characters wielding a wide range of abilities, there will be many entertaining opportunities to take advantage of the game's malleable stages.

Each of the 23 playable characters in the beta is represented with a mix of modern stylishness and iconic costumes that make the characters who've been