With season 4 of Invincible wrapped up and the fate of the Vultrimite Empire now the focus of the series, fans of the television show have a bit of a wait for season 5. Thankfully, Skybound Games has just the fix for those who wish to hang with Mark and Nolan Grayson a bit longer.
Invincible VS comes from Quarter Up, a team made up of former Killer Instinct developers, and is a 3-vs-3 tag-team fighter. Invincible VS allows players to pit three-on-three characters in locations from the comics and animated series. You can deal combos, engage in fast-paced combat and be tactical to win.
Invincible VS is set in the world of the acclaimed Invincible comic series from Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley — which has been made into a media juggernaut through Amazon’s smash-hit show. The roster of fan-favourite characters includes Mark Grayson (Invincible), Thula, Bulletproof, Atom Eve, Rex Splode, Omni-Man, Battle Beast, Cecil Stedman, Robot, Titan, Monster Girl, Anissa, Lucan, Dupli-Kate, Allen the Alien and Invincible VS’s first new original character, Ella Mental.
I’m… Invincible
If there’s any series that fits the mould for a fighting game, Robert Kirkman’s Invincible is prime for the transition from comic book pages to consoles. The comic has run for decades and has run its course. The television series is midway through adapting the pages for streaming. The video game has the perfect opportunity to tell an original story within the television universe, and the final product is something that sort of works. It’s a bit messy and confusing at times, but it’s got incredible performances and a stylized look that does a lot of the heavy lifting, and it’s set during the third season.
The combat system emphasizes active tags, enabling you to switch characters during combos to extend pressure and create new offensive routes for a win. There’s also a counter tag system, which allows you to escape enemy combos if timed correctly, giving you a defensive out if caught in a flurry of attacks. It’s all familiar if you’ve ever played Marvel vs. Capcom 3 or, more recently, 2XKO.
Each character has light, medium, heavy, and special attacks, with special moves mixed in for good measure. It’s faithful to the comics and series in many ways, including the pools of blood in each match and in many cutscenes. The violence matches the show, delivering the same gore and blood that you come to expect and more. With each hit or block, your character will either bleed or be covered in blood before culminating in being covered in buckets of it.
You have a Boost Gauge, which regenerates over time, which can be used to enhance many of your attacks for additional damage or blocks. Plus, you have some auto-combos for accessibility, giving newcomers somewhat equal footing with genre veterans who must focus on assist types, active tags, and advanced mechanics.
Quarter Up, knowing that there are casual fans who might want to take the plunge, has done them right by incorporating easy-to-learn controls from the get-go. The auto-combos also go a long way if you learn how to use them. Longtime fighting game vets will also have their moment to shine, as there’s enough variety in movesets so you can unleash devastating combos, too.
Of course, learning is only half of the battle in Invincible VS. Application is just as important, here as the ins and outs can make or break you. If you’re playing offensively, you need to ensure your combo meter is filled or risk taking a series of hits that’ll take your entire health bar down. Playing defensively means you need to learn when to counter or send in a teammate to break up the incoming hits with counter tags.
Stop the Viltrumites
Fighting games are made for fight sticks and arcades, yet in recent years, developers have really stepped up, making controllers a viable choice. Invincible VS plays incredibly on a controller, and while I’m normally decent in any other fighting game, I found myself excelling during arcade and story mode.
Controls are designed for modern audiences, with light attacks centred on completing combos that incorporate all the mechanics into a single button. Face buttons handle the share of your skillset, with the triggers handling tags, specials, and assist mechanics. It might start off overwhelming, but the included tutorial mode provides everything you need to acclimate quickly.
And once it clicks, as I said earlier, you’re connecting some sick combos, tagging in teammates, and delivering devastating, brutish attacks against enemy opponents. It’s slick, stylish, and incredible-looking in motion, with Omni-Man and Invincible taking on Conquest and Anissa with all the same flair the show and the comic offer. This is a mechanical game that requires you to learn the basics or risk failing spectacularly — something I learned pretty fast as I struggled to win as Robot.
Mastering the tag system is important, and if you really want to do well in Invincible VS, knowing when to tag or when to assist will make your life easier. The system is responsive to the situation at hand, and the more you play, the easier it becomes to predict when you’ll want to tap the tag button versus when you’ll want your teammate to assist. It also helps that the system is flashy as hell and seamless on transitions between characters. Once you have a hang for tags, you can begin incorporating some sweet combos – like Invincible and Atom Eve and Rex delivering one of the best combos I’ve seen that incorporates each of their strengths for optimal damage.
Fight!
A mechanic that I really liked when playing through Arcade Mode was Sudden Death. If neither side wins by the time the counter runs down, you and your opponent are healed and given max meter to devastate the other. Sounds pretty normal, right? Well, both players lose health, and it really is a fight to the death before your bar runs out, forcing you to be on the offensive with less health.
One thing I enjoyed immensely is the roster is packed with distinct characters from the series. It helps that almost everyone from the show is back, including J.K. Simmons, Gillian Jacobs, and Jay Pharoah, and that Aleks Le is the titular character, who delivers an excellent performance throughout.
The included Story Mode feels like it was ripped straight from the show. It begins a bit unevenly, offering next to no context about what you’re doing or why. It’s just a series of battles that lead to a moment midway giving you a perfect sense of who you’re p against and why. It’s acted immensely well and feels exactly like an episode of the show, down to the way scenes are stitched together. However, it also shares some of the same issues as the show, like focusing on less important things longer than necessary, rather than giving you more action. With that said, Story Mode starts off on the wrong foot, comes together, yet fails to reach the highs of the latest season.
Verdict
Invincible VS has a ton of potential to make a splash at tournaments. It’s brutal, frenetic, and fun, and it’s clear Quarter Up made this with love. This is undeniably a sound fighting game, and it really elevates the source material by giving you an outlet for aggression.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
