I was a huge fan of Overwatch until I heard about all of the abuse the team that created the game had endured at the hands of the head of Blizzard at the time it was developed. As such, I and other concerned gamers have really struggled to want to play the game. Even now, money from the game continues to go to those who engaged in or concealed the abuse.
As a disabled gamer, the problem with this is that Overwatch continues to be awarded for its disability inclusion, particularly when it comes to characters.
Personally, I find the disability representation of the characters to be hit or miss. For example, the mental health portrayal of Sigma has had a lot of us who have mental health based disabilities question the representation. However the inclusion of autistic character, Symmetra, the character I mained, is a win for the series. In fact, many of the characters are disabled – Junkrat has one leg and mental health issues. Reinhardt is blind in one eye. There are multiple characters that use prosthetics, such as Genji. Roadhog deals with depression. The list goes on.
Needless to say, I missed playing Overwatch and I’ve been jonesing for a game with similar mechanics. Paladins is a good free alternative, but I just didn’t get into the game like I did Overwatch. I mean, for some reason I’m supremely good at games like this. I had a 40+ kill game with Symmetra. I was MVP multiple times. For someone who struggles to compete at video games because of physical disability, I felt powerful playing Overwatch. That being said I’ve never been one to compromise my values if I can help it.
Needless to say, I was endlessly thrilled when my younger kid, Mikey, excitedly told me about Marvel Rivals. Mikey also had stopped playing Overwatch for the same reasons, so finding an alternative has been something we both have wanted for a long time.
Not only is Marvel Rivals similar to Overwatch, I personally find the game more accessible. There were characters in Overwatch that I could play, but most of the time I stuck with two or three that I regularly played with focus on my main character, Symmetra. All of the characters were support or healing characters because I tend to do better playing in the back a little bit.
Well, I have over 12 hours in Marvel Rivals and I just want to keep playing. Seeing as I was a newcomer I’ve won about half of the games but out of 80 games I have close to 800 knockouts. And I play a wide variety of characters. I’m not sure who I am going to end up with as a Main. In fact, my Main might be rotating.
That being said, I wanted to give a breakdown of the characters I play regularly and how I feel about their accessibility. I also want to share that accessibility of characters in video games is really subjective. What will work for me may not work for you. This should at least give you a guide to how someone with my ability plays these characters.
One other note, if you don’t know anything about me or my gaming history, I use an Xbox controller that I’ve modified. The main modification is making the buttons looser so I can press them easier. Especially the sticks. I’m completely unable to press the right stick down. Regardless, I have benefited immeasurably from having access to this accessible controller.
So, without further ado, here are the characters from Marvel Rivals I’ve really been enjoying playing.
The Punisher
Let’s start with the first character I played. The Punisher is rated one star when it comes to ease of playing and he’s pretty straightforward as a character.
I like him because he reminds me of Torb, who was the other character I mained in Overwatch. That being said, Punisher is a little bit different. Torb has a turret you can throw down whereas The Punisher becomes a turret. That’s my favorite part of playing the character because if you have a good support team with you you can really do damage with that turret. The Punisher is vulnerable so I tend to play him back a bit, but if you don’t have a good support system you can get crushed pretty easily playing as him. I do like the fact that his shotgun is two or three shots to get enemies, and having his smoke to disappear with in times of trouble has come in handy more than once.
While I initially relied on playing this character quite a bit, as I have become better with other characters I think that The Punisher will remain a secondary character that I pull out when I think my team really needs the extra firepower.
Namor
The second character I started playing was Namor. I was told that he was similar to Symmetra due to his monstro spawn that acts like her sentry turrets.
I find that the best way to play him is when you are able to team up with The Hulk or Luna Snow. They allow you to either have radioactive spawn or ice spawn which do even more damage. Get your spawn out there, and support them with your spear and you can do a lot of damage as Namor. I also love his ult, which basically allows you to attack the entire area with a monster from the sea.
My big problem with Namor is that I don’t have a steady team that I play with and like The Punisher he really benefits from having certain solid members of your team, especially those up front who can allow you to play from the back where Namor shines. I love to team up with The Hulk when I play.
Cloak and Dagger
Cloak and Dagger are who I started playing when I wanted to find a healer to play. I noticed other teammates playing them and I thought that their play style was something I could figure out fairly easily. They are definitely a little more complicated than say The Punisher, but if you know how to work their mechanics, Cloak and Dagger provide a really big boost to both healing and support. I tend to favor Cloak because I understand her mechanics better, but as I understand more about Dagger I’m seeing more kills come my way as well.
Again this is a character that I think is best played in the back. That’s where I excel and I really like that Cloak isn’t just a healer. I’ve managed to kill and drain the health of so many opponents with her main weapon/healing, but it also has let me keep my team pretty healed up. If I’m going to play a healer this is who I go to first before any other characters. I really enjoy that she is a little more powerful than other healers. I also like that if I am overwhelmed with enemies I can switch to Dagger and also get away easier with him.
Their ultimate is fun as it leads you around the map killing and healing as you go.
Jeff the Shark
Speaking of healers, I had to try my hand at Jeff. For someone who’s afraid of sharks I love playing Jeff!
It took me a minute to figure out I could eat people, and how it worked, but now that I know, look out! The last game I played I yeeted people off the map. The thing I like about Jeff is while he’s a relatively weak character in terms of you can get him out with a couple hits, if you can get him into the ground to heal him up, he can escape quite easily. He also is really great as healing support if you are in a really tense situation. Going between squirting water and shooting bubbles at your team can keep you active a whole lot more.
I didn’t think I’d be able to play Jeff, but I’m so happy I can.
Hawkeye
Speaking of characters that I didn’t think I could play, I’m pleasantly surprised to say that I have played Hawkeye semi-decently.
I found Hanzo to be such a hard character because of the button mashing. Hawkeye has some button mashing but if you can play him in the back as a support character, you can really take your time using your bow and arrow to do a lot of damage. I’ve worked through entire teams with his bow and arrow. I also recognize him as a disabled character even if I don’t think there’s any mention of it in the Marvel Rivals material (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong as I haven’t really looked for this).
While I am less likely to play this character if I’m tired, if I have the normal amount of energy this character is a fun one to help boost the back support of any good team.
Emma Frost
I figured out I could play Emma when I was trying out characters. If I need to play up in the front and show some muscle I definitely play Emma.
It took a minute to figure out her powers, but once I did, I’m pretty unstoppable. Emma has the ability to take on people like Groot and The Hulk. In Overwatch I was often overwhelmed by tank type characters, so it’s nice to play a tank like Emma. The only problem is when there is another Emma Frost on the enemy team. It’s annoying because I always get targeted by the other Emma. Luckily though, with Emma I’ve been able to counter most enemies in some way. Going into diamond mode when people get close up has been so helpful.
She’s definitely a contender for my main tank role. She is a good character to have and balances well with many other team structures.
Human Torch
I needed to have a flying character and I loved playing Human Torch in Lego Marvel so I thought I would try him out. This is not my best character, but if I need someone in the air, he’s really great.
I managed to have him sneak off on a map and claim an area while the rest of my team was being harassed at the entry to our base because I was able to fly undetected past the other team. I find that his fire is either hit or miss and it depends on how great the healer for the other team is, but more often than not I’ve been known to take on other Human Torch characters and beat them as they try to set me on fire before I kill them.
While I have one other flying character I play, I think that Human Torch is a great contender for my main flying hero. We will see as I get better with characters, what I decide and who I decide to choose.
Storm
Speaking of other flying characters, I’ve only played Storm a few times but usually when I do I’ve been able to support my team in ways that only flying characters can.
Typically, other teams tend to ignore me as Storm since I play her up and back a bit, and I’ve managed to get quite a few kills, but I don’t feel as secure in her abilities as I do some of the other characters I’ve played.
While I think that if I need a flying character she’s a solid choice, she may not end up my main. I will have to play her some more and see who’s mechanics seem to work best with my own physical abilities.
Scarlet Witch
I have been killed by this character so many times that I started trying to play her. While I am okay with her I don’t know if she’s going to be a good fit overall. Whoever learns how to play her has a behemoth of a character on their hands, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get down her mechanics the way I want to, so I can play Scarlet Witch as well as I’ve seen others play.
So where does this leave me when it comes to main characters?
Right now I’m leaning towards Emma Frost as my primary main, especially if I’m going to be up front and tanking it out.
I see myself choosing Namor/Hawkeye/The Punisher as my main solid support characters.
If we need a healer I’m always going to go for Cloak & Dagger and/or Jeff, but these are two very popular characters, so my team may already have those and then I would defer to the characters mentioned above.
And if I have a need for someone in the air we will go with Human Torch/Storm.
This gives me a very well-rounded group that I can adjust for any team that I play with in this game.
There also are some disabled characters. We know Magneto has dealt with extensive trauma as has Scarlet Witch. Hawkeye is Deaf. Dr. Strange and Moon Knight are also considered disabled characters. Since the characters in the comics exist as disabled, we know that there are many possible disabled superheroes and villains that could be added to the roster.
As time goes on, we will see if they address disability in their characters the way Overwatch has.
Ultimately though I’m just glad I can play this game and I find it physically more accessible than Overwatch. To me, that is priceless.
UPDATE: it’s taken me a few days to post this due to the weekend and having a bunch of meetings early in the week, so in that time I’ve managed to double the amount of hours I’ve played and a few things have changed since I initially wrote this.
First, I went on a spree where I played almost exclusively Cloak & Dagger. I don’t know but they may be contenders for my main character. I really like their versatility and I really love Cloak especially. She just has a really great balance of healing and killing and supporting. I’ve won more games with them than lost. In fact I’ve now played 108 games and won 55 of them. The losses were very close and we almost won all of them.
Interestingly, I’ve also tried out a new character who I love. It’s our favorite mischief maker, Loki!
His power kinda reminds me of Cloak & Dagger. He’s not the easiest to kill and he also can do a lot of damage. I really like that I can send other versions of Loki out into the front that can conjure my magic and he also has healing abilities. I’m really going to enjoy playing him more, but so far he’s amazing!
One note, his ultimate gives you the powers of another character and if you don’t pay attention to who you get you could get a character that’s hard for you to play. I ended up being Iron Fist and was amazed as I brutalized the other team. However I also accidentally became Spider-Man, and I am not good at Spider-Man’s mechanics, so be aware of who you are becoming!
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