The announcement and release of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has been met with some understandable criticism from gamers throughout the world. Many feel that the game could've been issued as downloadable content while other were keen to have more content. While I did originally sit in the former category, after having some quality time with the game, I can thankfully say that I sit in the latter. Sure, it's very similar to the original Marvel vs. Capcom 3, but the new content really makes the game feel even more complete than it already was.

Being a revamp with added characters and stages, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 doesn't change the look of things too dramatically. The game still employs this almost plastic toy figurines look for its characters, but several little optimisations have obviously happened between the two iterations. The new levels look great, employing all kinds of weather and lighting effects to "tell a story". There have definitely been improvements made to the engine itself – times where the action's frame rate would slow in the original version have been tweaked to prevent slowdown. As with this and previous fighting games – the game runs at a very silky smooth 60fps even during the most intense moments, which is great.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 follows the same pattern of gameplay as the original game, allowing players to choose teams of three characters and battling it out to find the winner. The gameplay has remained largely unchanged – but a few components have been changed to better improve the flow of battle and presumably make the game a little bit more balanced. Meter, which is used to pull off super moves and other special attacks, builds slower. Similarly, when switching between enemies during an aerial combo, meter can also be taken away from the opponent, which provides a major change in playing some characters who are dependent on meter. These minor tweaks to the gameplay provide both defensive and offensive considerations for those who take their fighting games and strategies a little bit more seriously. X-Factor, the mechanic which allows players to increase their damage output (which becomes more effective as you lose your characters) can also now be activated while in the air, which provides limitless new set-ups and mix-ups for all characters on the roster.

The biggest drawcard Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has to play, however, is the new characters. Twelve new characters have been added to the game, each of whom plays extremely different to the original cast and one another. The new characters feel great – each of them have an extremely unique play style although there is going to have to be some more training for those who are unfamiliar with them. Phoenix Wright, the lawyer from the Ace Attorney series, finds evidence on the battlefield while throwing paperwork as projectiles. Rocket Racoon is the smallest character in the game but possesses a small armoury – while Frank West drinks and photographs his opponents to level up his attacks. These are just three of the unique characters that have been added to the game. While the game itself is made better by adding more characters, I'm of the personal opinion that the new characters do seem a little bit too powerful - which makes sense from a marketing perspective but not particularly from a balance one.

The game's multiplayer system has also been considerably revamped. A few online matches overseas and here within Australia performed admirably although there was still a very small degree of input lag (delay between button press and action) but this does seem to be the norm for this genre. The game also features a new lobby system – where players can not only fight, but other players in the lobby can also watch the fights – a feature that seemed like it was missing from the original game.

With regards to value for money – Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is offered at a cheaper price points and offers a lot of content for players to play around with. With a roster of almost fifty characters, a few extra levels and a revamped online system, there's little reason to turn this iteration down, especially if you were a fan of the original game. The biggest let down with this "new content" is the stages, which are really just re-skinned versions of the original stages rather than brand new ones. There's also a whole set of missions to complete, with ten for each character that are designed to teach the player how to pull off certain moves and chain together moves. While these combination attacks are well thought out – some of them do feel quite impractical to use in actual battle against a human opponent. To be fair, they do offer an opportunity to learn the "nuances" of each character and encourage experimentation, which is always a good thing. Finally, completion of the arcade mode and missions with certain characters unlocks character specific titles – which players can use to deck out their "gamer license" which appears just before fighting enemies. There are over a hundred to collect, and they are quite small / superficial additions, but it can be a little bit addictive to try and collect them for your favourite character.

The game will be supported with downloadable content post-launch, and this is where a lot of people will be divided for sure. Alternate costumes are already on the disc but will be offered as DLC at some point down the track, adding a new costume to each characters six colour variations. The biggest thing I'm personally most looking forward to, however, is the Heroes and Heralds mode. Added as a new mode post-launch, for free, Heroes and Heralds basically pits players against each other on a "global level", utilising cards with classic Capcom / Marvel characters to bestow effects such as invisibility, increased damage output and even parrying. While it sounds terribly unbalanced, it does sound quite fun and I can't wait for it to launch (and for free, no less.)

Being a game that is literally dripping with fan service, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 improves on its predecessor by offering even more musical pieces than the original. Every time a character is knocked out of the match, the music will change to a theme for the character next entering the match. This provides a very dynamic feel to the game – although players who would rather hear one tune based on the level they're playing on can choose this option too. The voice work is still top notch, with many of the original voice actors for each of the characters returning although some of the sound-a-likes employed did sound a little bit off for characters like Viewtiful Joe.

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is an upgrade that many will argue as being unnecessary but to be quite honest they would be wrong. It offers more characters, more levels, and a better online system but most importantly: heaps of fun! And all at a very reasonable price tag.