SMACK DOWN with DOCTOR STRANGE Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 PREVIEW

 While it was hardly a secret, (since the news was leaked a month ago - as I blogged [HERE]), Capcom and Marvel have made it OFFICIAL:

DOCTOR STRANGE

is a fighter in 

ULTIMATE MARVEL vs CAPCOM 3

(And anyone who has been following my Twitter feed would have noted that I hinted at posting this particular post on the 17th... but alas... between stuff and power outages... well... I suck.)

It's also no secret that I (and many other fans of the Master of the Mystic Arts) couldn't be happier!
With already built-in characters; Dormammu, Doctor Doom and downloadable Shuma-Gorath, it is only fitting that their heroic counterpart be given the chance to square off against them.

(It also makes me wish that I could play video games more than as just a button-mashing newbie.)

But, I'm not going to pontificate all that much in this post.
(I DO have some positive comments and as well as some negative review point, but I'll leave those to the end.)


Instead, I'm going to let the pictures (and VIDEOS) speak their 1,000 words!

SPELL of the VISHANTI! Final Finishing Move

The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu!

Doctor Strange : Master of the MARTIAL Arts!

Seven Rings of Raggadorr!

Hosts of Hoggoth! Final Finishing Move.

As awesome as the still shots are, nothing can prepare you for being able to see Doctor Strange in ACTION!
















From what I could gather, Strange calls upon many of these various named spells, to differing effect (see vids for specifics)

Attacks

• Impact Palm: Strange hits the opponent with a force palm attack, and leaves the opponent in a crumple state.
• Flames of the Faltine: Strange fires a green fireball.
• Mystic Sword: Strange slashes the air with blue shockwave projectiles. Low version fires straight ahead, medium fires at a 45 degree angle, and heavy is a series of short-range slashes.
• Grace of Hoggoth: A floating orb appears in front of Strange. These come in both yellow and red colors, and hang stationary in the air, even when Strange isn't on the field (Though they dissipate if he is knocked out). There can be up to three on screen at a time. These orbs act as a path for his Flames of the Faltine fireball. When the fireball is released, it heads straight for the nearest orb, and if there is more than one, it will travel to the others before heading toward the opponent. For each orb that the fireball travels to, the stronger it becomes. Having the fireball travel through specific orb color combinations produces different projectiles, making this move somewhat similar to Dormammu's Power of the Creator/Destructor.
  • 1 Yellow Orb:
  • 2 Yellow Orbs:
  • 3 Yellow Orbs: A purple beam that leaves the opponent in a crumple state.
  • 1 Red Orb: The fireball grows stronger and brighter.
  • 2 Red Orbs: An even stronger fireball.
  • 3 Red Orbs:
  • 2 Yellow Orbs, 1 Red Orb
  • 2 Red Orbs, 1 Yellow Orb
  • 1 Yellow Orb, 1 Red Orb: The fireball turns yellow and becomes faster.
• Illusion: A counter move in which Strange disappears and reappears behind his attacker.
• Teleport: A simple teleport move. Light attack teleports behind the opponent, medium teleports above them, and heavy teleports towards the ground if Strange is airborne.
• Bolts of Balthakk: Strange fires two bolts of green lightning out of his hands.
• Eye of Agamatto: A glowing sphere of yellow light appears in front of Strange. He can attack this sphere with Impact Palm to make it move. The opponent can cause it to dissipate if they attack it before Strange can get it moving. The orbs disappears if Strange doesn't hit it within two seconds after summoning it.
• Disks of Denak: Strange creates floating disks that remain stationary for a moment, before homing in on the opponent. 

Hyper Combos

• Seven Rings of Raggadorr: A Counter Hyper. Strange fires a large beam of blue lightning.
• Spell of Vishanti: Strange pulls out his book of magic, and a large pillar of yellow lightning strikes the opponent.
• Astral Magic (Level 3): Strange releases his astral form which wraps the opponent in a mystic restraint, and reforms with Strange. Strange concentrates his magic, and the opponent is then surrounded by yellow orbs, which envelop the opponent in a massive pillar of yellow lightning.

My favorite bit is the ASTRAL MAGIC spell. A visual treat, with astral energies swirling all around in a cascading whirlwind of magic.

However, for sheer nerdgasm thrills, the VERY best part is his signature departure from the battle field after winning; he casts a spell that forms the sigil that is his window design and uses is as a teleport glyph.
PURE AWESOME!

All in all, as far as the physical dynamics of Strange's battle technique and the visual representation of his spells, I am most pleased. I might offer some different spell combos and visual effects to be more akin to his published history, but truthfully, that's only because I'm a Doctor Strange nerd of the Nth degree.

I'll gladly play Doc as presented and be thrilled to do so.

Doc even talks some smack. Here are a few of the catch-phrases he says in the game:

"A novice of the Mystic Arts could defeat you."
—Spoken before a match.

"One does not require the Eye of Agamotto to see this outcome."
—Spoken before a match.

"The Ancient One would be most pleased."
—Spoken upon victory. 

"I AM the Sorcerer Supreme, after all."
—Spoken upon victory.

My only "negative" comments are few in number and minor of importance:

- Capcom screwed up his cloak. The gold embroidered area on his cowl is wrong.
But I already bitched about that last time - as I blogged [HERE])

- Why is his voice so... effete? He should be creepy in a spooky way. Or at least a "commanding" presence. Not sound like a pompous Maitre D.

And... that's it.
Those two things are the only negative points that I have.

The very fact that ULTIMATE MARVEL vs CAPCOM 3 has Doctor Strange in all his magical, mystical, majesty, I totally give a pass to Capcom for re-releasing this game within the same year as its original incarnation.

Sadly, I still don't have a game console to play this game (the last platform that I acquired was the Wii, and have only played my copy of the Marvel vs Capcom 3 : Fate of Two Worlds game on my brothers PS3 once, during a holiday visit), but I am STILL going to pre-order the hell out of this game (in the hopes of getting a PS3 some time in the not-too-distant future)!

Release date: November 15th, 2011
$39.99

"Tamam Shud!"
~P~