“Just f-cking die!” screams Invincible as he bashes his noggin into his opponent’s, which will, if their health is low enough, explode into a bloody mess upon impact. It’s the coup de grâce of his ultimate attack in Invincible Vs that’s flashy, gory, vulgar, inflicts a ton of damage, and pays homage to one of the more memorable moments of the animated series. This violent synergy illustrates how well Invincible fits into the fighting game genre on a superficial level, but, even with its handful of annoyances, it’s a chaotic and engaging brawler that punches above its weight.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Invincible Vs’ tag mechanics open the door for said chaos and give battles a frenetic pace where matches are defined by a consistent blitz of supers and elaborate air dashes. As is expected of a tag fighter, Invincible Vs gives players access to multiple ways to perform combos and tag in either of the two other combatants. Both of these aspects bleed into one another since performing juggles fills up a meter that pushes the opponent away once it fills up, however, tags drain this meter. Skillful tags mean longer combos, which is a decent way to give players freedom in how they perform their juggles and encourage them to use the game’s core systems.
Rating: 3.5/5
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Fights have a quick pace because of its open-ended combo and tagging mechanics | Its inadequate tutorial and lack of combo or character trials do little to contextualize its systems or characters |
| The violence, quips, and mostly incredible soundalikes capture the tone of the series | A handful of small presentational issues hold parts of the game back a bit |
Invincible Vs Is Chaotic yet Often Rewarding
Each fighter has three different assists that can be called in when not on cooldown and can also be actively swapped in during a combo. When combined with special moves, their enhanced variants, and aerial attacks, attack sequences can get rather complicated as the mental load grows and grows. It’s complex enough without being overwhelming, yielding a rewarding amount of depth that makes it more than a mashfest that grows stale once the blood dries.
Like many tag fighters, Invincible Vs can go full “unga bunga” caveman mode where these offensive tools can get overwhelming when facing people who flex every tool in this game’s arsenal. Getting mixed to death or stuck in blockstun hell can be a drag, but there are ways to mitigate how often this happens. The unfortunate souls on the receiving end can do a simple break using meter — which does enough temporary damage to one ally and puts both on cooldown long enough to make this a tricky wager — or repel an Active Tag with a Counter Tag.
But it’s also possible to bait out a Counter Tag with a risky feint or go around it with a simple heavy attack, both of which inject a ton of appropriate counterplay. There are also Heroic Strikes that give quick players an armored launcher, which can also be baited and played around. While it’s currently impossible to judge how this game’s meta will evolve, this intriguing mind game seems like it will be crucial to the game in the long term and how thoroughly it can be mined.
Invincible Vs‘ Tutorial Systems Need Work
Invincible Vs, though, does a rather terrible job at teaching players how to use every tool in its Viltrum-powered toolbox. Its practice mode is relatively standard but is missing some notable settings and a replay takeover feature. The tutorial is also adequate in the sense that it more or less states what its systems do — although strangely leaving out throw techs and how its overtime works — but it doesn’t contextualize why they are important or when they should be used. Simply learning what a mechanic is doesn’t do much if not properly contextualized and presented as a test for the player to pass. The tutorial also doesn’t adapt to custom button assignments or have an option to list the controller button symbols, both of which put up needless barriers where they are most harmful. The thin and hilariously tiny text that is a pain to read should be the biggest issue, but it is comparatively (and fittingly) the smallest one.
The absence of character or combo trials further demonstrates how poorly Invincible Vs onboards new players. Learning how each fighter works, what their specialties are, and how their combo routes play out through trials can be an invaluable way of making players of all stripes learn through doing. When done correctly, they show what’s possible and set newcomers on a path of discovery, an enlightening process the fighting game genre thrives on.
Without these more specific kinds of interactive guides, a game can seem more shallow than it is as it foolishly opts to withhold information. For example, Powerplex is built around hitting just frames to amp up moves, but it’s hardly explained and would be the perfect mechanic to test out in a focused setting. Online tutorials can make up some of this ground, but developers shouldn’t shirk responsibility by deferring to YouTube, especially when utilizing a popular license that’s bound to attract a higher amount of casuals. Invincible Vs could use more single-player modes, too.
These tutorial-focused shortcomings sit alongside myriad other presentation-related ones that peck away at the experience. Cross-platform play and rollback netcode mean online matches are mostly smooth, yet it’s missing a ping and connection filter for casual and ranked queues. Frame data isn’t in the move list. Characters also, for the most part, lack a second skin and instead only have a few recolors.
Despite having a suite of talented voice actors, an outsized portion of its flaws stem of its audio. The admittedly entertaining and matchup-specific intro sequences can’t be skipped. The announcer’s ceaseless yapping is grating, too, as he calls out every character name the cursor goes by and, no matter how pathetic, screeches for every combo. Fighters are also always blabbing, making for a cacophony of one-liners that seems like it will get old rather quickly. Powerplex is emblematic of this issue with his constant melodramatic whining. The Aaron Paul impression is shockingly great, but the repeated and unhinged bellyaching is not.
None of these flaws turn Invincible Vs into an unplayable mess — it’s not like having to hear a motormouth of an announcer makes the combo system less engaging. But these deficiencies coalesce and show how much room Invincible Vs has to grow before it reaches its true potential. Developer Quarter Up has already responded to criticism regarding how poorly the game handles rage quitting, so, hopefully, its other soft spots can be addressed in future patches.
Invincible Vs‘ Story Mode Has Slick Action but Lacks the Show’s Depth
Even though some of these weaknesses highlight Invincible Vs’ status as a scrappy, lower budget fighting game, it has an unexpectedly polished story campaign in the vein of the ones seen in the recent Mortal Kombat and Injustice games. It plays out like a lost special from the animated series that cleverly constructs itself around the shifting arenas and characters inherent to the fighting game genre. Tying together why Battle Beast is fighting Omni-Man in the Himalayas is tough to do, but working with the quirks of the genre like this is something a few of the other fighting games should take note of.
The novelty of its ability to work with the fighting game genre doesn’t excuse its other flaws, though. The ultimate justification for this mystery is comically underexplained and just leads to a cliffhanger that’s unlikely to be resolved soon. And despite looking and sounding like the show and having a comparable amount of well-choreographed fights, it’s missing the sharp humor and broader personal themes that define said series and has the added drawback of being broken up by immersion-breaking load screens. With its rather straightforward bout of battles with no deeper meaning or big jokes to remember, it comes off as a Saturday morning cartoon version of the TV show that’s flashy and filled with expertly composed action but doesn’t stick around.
It’s impossible to tell if Invincible Vs as a whole will stick around since quality fighting games don’t always get the attention they deserve, but it has the potential to. Its combo-heavy, tag-centric combat is quite the spectacle that also has enough depth to be more than a glitzy explosion of blood and expletives. Not everything surrounding that crucial core is as robust, but just like Invincible himself, it’s strong enough to overcome its weaknesses and become a great fighter in its own right.
A PS5 copy of Invincible Vs was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image Courtesy of Prime Video
