It's been ten years since Marvel Vs Capcom 2 came out, and now we finally have a sequel. MvC2 has been able to somehow stay relevant for the past decade, but at the same time it's quick pace and fighting game combo nature make it very inaccessible. However, this new installment has a trick up its sleeve with its new "Simple Mode," allowing the player to simply hit one button to perform combos and another button for special moves.

I'll get to the Simple Mode more in-depth in a bit, but first I want to go over the basics of the game.

For those unfamiliar, the Marvel Vs Capcom is a fast-paced fighting game that pits the heroes of the Marvel universe against Capcom's best fighters and mascots in team battles. This third installment brings back the 3 on 3 nature of the second game, allowing you to make teams of any 3 fighters you wish. There's an Arcade mode consisting of six battles and one boss battle against the almighty, planet-eating Galactus.

The difficulty options for this, and the offline Training/Versus mode, range from Very Easy to Very Hard. There's a Training mode that allows you to beat up on a computer (or human controlled) dummy with no time limit and the options for infinite HP and Special Bar. There's also a Mission Mode that requires you to do specific combos to complete each missions. This mode is designed to teach you character-specific combos that you may want to utilize in other modes, but they ramp up in difficulty by the third (of ten) mission, generally.

Like I said earlier, the controls are boiled down into Normal and Simple Mode. Regardless of which mode you use, there are six buttons to get acquainted with: Light, Medium, and Heavy Attack, Special, and your two Partner buttons. The Special button will launch your opponent into the air or smash them down if they're already airborne. The partner buttons will call out one of your teammates if tapped, and will swap your current fighter when held. These buttons, combined with directional inputs from the analog stick or d-pad are how you'll execute combos and moves in Normal Mode.

However, in Simple Mode, each button has its own separate function. One button will perform a simple combo with 2-3 presses, one will execute special moves, another will use Hyper moves, and then you have your Special button and two Partner buttons, just like Normal Mode. It's a very nice addition to the game (and the genre), but it's far from perfect. The biggest drawback is that you can't remap the buttons when using Simple Mode. You can in Normal Mode, so I'm not sure why they decided to remove it when using Simple Mode. Seems like one step forward and two steps back to me. You can, however, play online with Simple Mode.

Accessibility Issues/Concerns

If you're colorblind you may have the occasional problem of losing your character in the background while playing. It really all depends on what character you pick and what stage you're fighting on. Luckily, you can select from four different outfits for each character, some of which will stand out on any background. The graphics have a certain comic-book quality to them though, with some bold outlining of the characters, helping to differentiate them from the 3D backgrounds.

There isn't any real spoken dialogue in the game, and all of the character win quotes and Arcade endings are displayed in easy-to-read text. While playing the game some characters may have specific sayings while executing moves, but they are always accompanied by the animations for that move as well. There are no audio-only queues in the game. The menus are in a comic book style font and are very large and contrast the background nicely.
Simple Mode certainly seems like a great addition to the genre, but restricting the ability to remap the buttons while using it is strange. When in Normal Mode you can remap any actions to any button, though. Simple Mode helps with combos and special moves, removing the need for complex directional inputs, but it still requires you to push the buttons pretty rapidly. This is a VERY fast game that requires the appropriate reflexes.
One handed gamers will likely have a great deal of difficulty playing the game. Since Simple Mode restricts button remapping, it makes it harder for one handed gamers to actually play the game. Normal Mode does allow for it, but still requires a lot of directional input at the same time as button presses, and a pretty fast pace.

At a Glance:

Visual: Colorblind gamers like me may lose their character in the background from time to time, but the alternate color options and bold graphics style help to alleviate the problem a lot.
Recommended score: 9/10

Hearing: Menus are big and easy to read. Likewise, the in-game menu and Arcade ending movie fonts are easy to read. No audio-only queues while fighting.
Recommended score: 10/10

Mobility: This game flows at a very fast pace. Simple Mode allows players to play the game with minimal directional inputs, but restricts the remapping of buttons. Normal Mode allows the remapping of any action to any button, but requires a lot of directional input as well as fast button presses. One handed gamers will likely have a great deal of difficulty playing the game.
Recommended score: 4/10

Overall: I applaud MvC3 adding a Simple Mode to appeal to people new to the fighting game series and also to disabled gamers (whether that was their intention or not). However, restricting button remapping in this mode is a huge hit at the same time. It also doesn't change the fast pace and quick button presses that are commonplace in the series. Luckily, deaf and colorblind gamers alike should have little problems playing the game. Marvel Vs Capcom 3 really is a mixed bag of accessibility.