Marvel Rivals has nailed the way each hero plays, for the most part. We can complain about Wolverine not having a healing factor, but what’s important is he keeps slicing and dicing. It shows that these devs really wanted to pay homage to these characters, while also making them fun to play, and we think they succeeded.
And then, there’s Black Widow.
We’re not going to beat around the bush, Black Widow feels miscast in Marvel Rivals. In a game where Spider-Man can web swing and Emma Frost can switch to her diamond form, seeing this Avenger with a sniper rifle feels uninspired. Her play style reeks of unoriginality, feeling like the devs at NetEase had a hero shooter checklist to sort through.
Playing as Natasha isn’t the worst. Her baton attacks are decent at close-range, and we appreciate her super soldier run to maintain distance from opponents. Even shooting her sniper rifle isn’t half bad, as players can try their luck at third-person sniping or even switch to FPS mode for more precise hits.
The problem here is that she doesn’t play like Black Widow should.
Out of all the characters in Marvel Rivals, Natasha just doesn’t feel like the character we see in the comics and MCU. She doesn’t have her cool luchador attacks, nor does she shoot electric bolts from her wrist. Instead, she has a kick that leads to a grappling hook combo, and a big gun.
It feels like NetEase Games just wanted a version of Overwatch 2’s Widowmaker in their game and thought “Hey, Black Widow has Widow in her name.” Out of all the comparisons made between the two hero shooters, this feels like the most appropriate one to make. We don’t think imitation is terrible, but they could have at least added more of her signature moves.
I can’t believe we’re going to say this, but Black Widow in Marvel’s Avengers is much better than her Marvel Rivals counterpart. For all its flaws, that game gave Natasha a pretty cool move-set. This version of Black Widow has several guns to choose from, her wrist gadget with the electric bullets are intact, and she can use the grappling hook to swing around. This play style mimics her MCU and comic move-set a lot better.
Rivals definitely needed another character in the sniper role aside from Hawkeye. Black Widow has also used a sniper rifle in the comics numerous times, so it makes some sense. But it's never been her signature weapon, and lumping her with one doesn’t feel right.
Natasha is fun to play with and many fans do enjoy using her, but this just doesn’t feel like Black Widow.
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