On XBL, there are the elite, average, and the noobs. This is for the noobs, who are trying to get better but don’t know how to improve their game. There are plenty of combo/tier threads but no real thread dedicated to basic gameplay. If this helps anybody else, awesome. Was debating whether or not to post this up as this info, to most players on this forum, is too basic of a post but it seems like a good amount of ppl online don’t really know how to play or get better. Feel free to add content, but please keep the discussion intelligent. Here goes:
Here?s a secret that?s rarely mentioned in the forums. Ready? Marvel is a game of PATIENCE. All those 1+ million hit combos are ?Hollywood,? and with enough training mode time, anyone can pull those off. But it takes time playing against other people to recognize certain opportunities or even to create opportunities yourself to actually pull of those combos. Against new players who just constantly mash the buttons, this is easy; just block until they do a very laggy move, then you have all day to go over and punish. But as the skill level gets higher, the players don?t give each other much to capitalize off; they?re too good at covering their mistakes or they don?t make many mistakes to begin with. Since this thread is about new players / lower level players I?ll address some issues.
OFFENSE/DEFENSE. There is a time to defend and a time to attack. Why are you pressing buttons every second of the entire game? Like I mentioned before, big combos are ?Hollywood.? A solid understanding of ?I should be blocking now? will give you more than enough opportunities to practice your combos in a gametime situation.
JUMP BLOCKING. A lot of lower level players engage in projectile battles. I see a lot of people jumping up and getting hit with a slow moving projectile. When you jump, hold back immediately after your character leaves the ground. Blocked projectile; problem solved. You don't have to totally commit to the jump.
SUPER JUMPING. Speaking of projectile battles, certain characters are better at throwing projectiles than others. Some throw projectiles faster than others, some have projectiles or beams that completely negate the projectile of others. If you are standing there obviously getting your ass handed to you by a superior projectiler (is that a word?), it?s time to get out of there. To super jump, put the stick in neutral (basically let go of the controller), flick down, then up, real quick. Remember jump blocking we just talked about? Yeah, do that too. *** with controller in neutral, flick down up ***
BLOCKING INTENT. Continuing on with the projectile battle? Let?s say you?re on the losing end of a projectile battle and you decide to rush the guy down. You obviously can?t move along the ground; the opponent has the ground area covered with projectiles. So then you decided to SUPER JUMP towards him? and do NOTHING BUT BLOCK. That?s right, jump at your opponent with the intention of BLOCKING. Why would you want to do that? Don?t you want to rush that sh*t down? You?re falling for the ?Hollywood!!? Don?t be so concerned with doing damage right off the bat? KNOW YOUR ENEMY. To answer the previous question, of course you want to rush that sh*t down. But by blocking, you?ve gained some information about your opponent. How does he respond? Does he mash on the assist button? Hold down back? Jump up back? Try to hit you with an attack to knock you out of the air? Cross you up? Now the next time you jump at him, you have some clue as to how to? not get hit? AND do some damage. If you look at top player match videos, you?ll see that sometimes even at a full distance away, they just superjump up?.. and land. This is what they?re doing; they?re testing their opponent to see how they react.
ASSISTS. This game is a TEAM GAME, not a 1v1. The controllers have buttons dedicated to calling out assists. Use them. Try them in combos. Try them when the opponent is far away / close. Try them when they are in the air / ground. Try them when you are attacking / running away. Eventually, you will get a feel for what situations that specific assist is good for. Certain assists will work better for certain characters / styles of play. Keep in mind that each character has 3 different assists. So you can pick the same team and the team dynamic (how you play the game as well as how the opponent plays you) will change depending on which assists were chosen.
PUSH BLOCK. I see players too many times blocking jump in after jump in and not really moving at all? PUSH BLOCK!! When you are blocking anything the point character throws at you (a physical hit or projectile), press both punches. On the ground, this pushes the opponent away and will give you some breathing space. In the air, it will hang you momentarily in the air where you are. *** press both punches while blocking ***
ROLL. When you are knocked onto your back by a trip, special, super, assist, or throw (note: some things are unrollable), input b,db,d + HP or HK before you hit the ground. If you keep missing the timing, just keep doing the input once you realize you?re gonna end up on your back and you should roll away by the time u hit the ground. Rolling away makes you invulnerable for the duration of the roll, brings you to the other side of the screen, and prevents opponents from continuing an otherwise painful combo on you. *** b,db,d +HP or HK ***
TICK TOCK. I?ve struggled with this in the past, so for the time being, whenever someone dies, take a LOOK at the GAME CLOCK. Once you can do this easily, give yourself other ?events? to give yourself a reminder to LOOK AT THE CLOCK. Soon enough you won?t be taken by surprise when the game ?suddenly? ends in the middle of your comeback. Also, depending on the time, you can adjust your aggressiveness accordingly; with a life advantage with time running out, focus more on running away and blocking. When at a life disadvantage, take more risks to do more damage.
JUMPING IN GUNS BLAZING. Once an opponent kills your point character, they have about 2 real life seconds to reposition themselves and set up while your next character is jumping in from off screen. This leaves you in a very bad position. They can hit you with an assist, a high priority attack, a super, cross you up, guard break you, or all of the above. This is a VERY bad time to be mashing on the buttons. Try BLOCKING. Yeah, you might get guard broken (if you dunno what this is? search), but at least you didn?t give anything for free and made him do one more thing and earn it, so to speak. Or? try PUSH BLOCKING to mess up the timing on the guard break (explained above)
POST GAME ANALYSIS. Instead of ragequitting, stick around. Maybe your opponent will pick the same team. Maybe the challenger beats the opponent. Maybe you then learned something. Maybe you learned something even if the challenger doesn?t beat the opponent. What I like to do when I lose is to think? what was the key moment or turning point in the match? Just try to remember one thing. Did I lose because my move did or didn?t come out? Was I constantly mashing on the buttons? Was it because I let my point character die instead of switching him out? Did my assist get punished to death? Did I fall for his mindgames? Was my gameplan flawed? Was his team designed to counter my team? Was he just plain better than me? Did I run out of time? There are many ways you can get beat in this game. Here are some significant ones:
Opponent is straight up better than you are (in skill and knowledge of game)
Opponent?s team is a counter team (designed to stop anything your team is designed to do)
Problems with blocking / controller execution / executing game plan
Calling your assist to death
Falling for mindgames / traps / gimmicks
See what category you loss fits in? then you can keep that in mind for when you play again… or search the forums for some help. Good luck and KEEP AT IT
some extra thoughts:
Don?t stick to a plan if it?s not working. Try doing the exact opposite of what you were doing. Try something different.
Each match, try to do one of the things listed above. Add more as things get easier.
Focus more on blocking. Before you attack, ask yourself, is it safe?
If you?re getting hit by random things, you?re not blocking enough (aka too aggressive). Return to the basics.