MARVEL VS CAPCOM: INFINITE

Developer/publisher Capcom Format PC, PS4, Xbox One Release September 19

The worst thing you can do in a fighting game is back yourself into a corner. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Capcom’s done by releasing Marvel Vs

Capcom: Infinite’s free Story Demo. The intentions are noble: Street Fighter V’s threadbare launch offering betrayed a rush-job, and Capcom is understandably keen to prove that Infinite will at least arrive content complete. The demo is a deeply unflattering chunk of it, however: strictly ( and poorly) scripted one-liners give way to versus-AI brawls with preset two-man teams and little opportunity for experimentation. It’s clearly an older build too, dodgy lighting and shading accentuating some of the shonkier character models (Chun-Li’s face is already an Internet meme). What a shame, considering the creative core fighting system would doubtless win over plenty of players given the chance to shine. As it is, Capcom’s invited a beatdown here: it really shouldn’t have bothered.