I gotta say, diving back into Marvel Rivals ’cause of Phoenix is a wild ride. I mean, I might finally put Overwatch 2 aside, just for a little while, maybe—who knows? It’s not like I’m obsessed with Phoenix or anything. Honestly, I barely know her except from some late-night Wikipedia binge after she got announced in Marvel Rivals season 3. But there’s this one thing from her character trailer that just clicked: she moves like, you know, a regular person—okay, a mutant, but still! Anyway, something about that just got me, unlike anything I’ve seen in Rivals before.
Ever since Marvel Rivals dropped in December 2024, players on Reddit—yeah, Reddit—have been grumbling about the characters moving like they’re stuck in glue or something. Some folks even say it feels like slo-mo. Others, though, reckon it’s just a camera trick. Overwatch feels fast, they say, ’cause, you know, it’s first-person, way more thrilling. I kinda agree with the slow-motion crowd, honestly. It got to me, more and more, until I just stopped playing altogether, barely, as the “sloth-like” vibe got under my skin.
Then, Overwatch 2 throws this third-person Stadium mode into the mix, and Phoenix shows up moving faster—I had to check if it was just me or whatever. Spoiler: I was right. Mostly, anyway.
So, I’m messing around in the practice arenas—both games have these setups with distance markers to figure out where bullets start losing their oomph, but they double as a killer way to test speed. After a few tries, it hit me: in Rivals, it takes characters slightly longer to cross five meters compared to Overwatch 2. But then, Rivals’ measuring sticks are kinda weird. Five meters there is like, what, 11.5 inches? Whereas in Overwatch 2, it’s about 10 inches. Math, right?
Why does it even matter, you ask? Well, it means Rivals characters aren’t slower, technically. They might even be zooming faster, given they’re trailing a longer distance with about the same steps. It’s not about speed but style, plain and simple.
And then you’ve got Cloak and Dagger, Namor, Spidey, all moving like they’re extras on Baywatch, doing these big, dramatic strides across the battlefield. Combat feels interrupted with these dramatic pauses unless you’re Iron Fist, who’s actually all about the martial arts hustle. Attack sounds? Almost like whispers. Winter Soldier’s gun barely goes “pop,” and Scarlet Witch is about as exciting as watching paint dry when she drains life. Understated elegance, maybe, but c’mon, where’s the “wow,” right?
Phoenix, though? Total game-changer. There’s this fiery swooshing noise with her strikes, and bam, three hits in, you’ve got a mini-explosion party. She’s got this flaming-bird form zoom to zip around, and—get this—it can combo with another move that doesn’t take forever to recharge. Quick side-step magic, plus sharp animation bursts make everything feel intense even if her speed’s about the same. (Really, Cloak and Dagger still take fewer steps for the same distance.)
So, yeah. NetEase finally nailed that blend of style and speed that doesn’t feel like wading through sludge. Phoenix moves like you’d expect—like someone who knows their stuff, even if her stats are just like any other character. Her gameplay’s exciting, and honestly, that’s all I need for now.
