Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, PlayStation 5
Genre: 2D fighting, tag fighter, superhero, comics

Taking a hot superhero comic book-slash-animated-series property like Invincible and turning into a 2D fighting game is certainly a risky choice. I do love the genre and all of its unique and colourful trappings. However, even I’m practical-minded enough to admit that it is a niche genre when compared to single-player action titles and shooters. And a tag fighter at that; the kind of fighting game reserved for degenerate combo maniacs and infinites-scouring basement dwellers. I kid. Mostly.

Still, I’m glad developer Quarter Up (made up of ex-Double Helix folks who did the amazing Killer Instinct 2013 reboot) mostly understood the assignment in making a team-based superhero fighting game that stays true to the mature-branded Invincible series: over-the-top, lots of fantastical comic book characters, gore and violence aplenty, and a battle system influenced by Capcom’s best but also refined in-house that makes it ripe for others to steal…I mean get inspired from.

The other important half of a standalone fighting game? That one needs work.

“I Thought You Were Stronger…”

The basics for this fighting game are thus: three-versus-three, tag in your partners either as fighters on the field or as assists, your choice of either simple inputs or motion controls. Your playable characters include the title character himself and his dad Omni-Man, to his friends Atom Eve, Robot, and Rex Splode, to even some of the antagonists like Battle Beast, Titan, and Viltrumites Anissa, Lucan, and Conquest.

The character variety is pretty good, from balanced “shoto” fighters like Omni-Man to big body grapplers like Monster Girl and Lucan, to zoners like Atom Eve and exclusive-to-the-game Ella Mental. Rushdown characters like Bulletproof , Dupli-Kate, and Anissa do get a lot of love here as their kit help them get around the battlefield quicker, especially with the system mechanics.

Inside Invincible VS’ combat system is a bevy of tools that would pique every tag fighter fans’ curiosity. On the surface, you can call in your assists to do a messload of combos while your point characters are doing their attacks and whatnot. You can do simple strings with sequential Light, Medium, and Heavy attacks/Crouching Heavy air launchers, and experiment from there. There are counter-measures if you’re the defending player, like pushbacks when blocking, calling out your partner to Assist Defend, or using Assist Breaks when you predict your opponent calling in a tag while you’re getting combo’ed. You have Super meter to do hard-hitting Super moves that have minimal damage scaling. You have a separate Boost meter that can power up your Special Moves or make you dash around the screen instantenously

But dig a lot deeper, and there’s a lot to unpack and completely appreciate. There’s a combo meter that stops your assault when it’s full, but you don’t end it if you power up your last move is Boosted. You can do long combo strings by Boosting a move, then cancel it straight to a normal attack and start anew. You can time your tag attacks so that you can mess with your opponent’s Assist Breaks timing.

When you push back opponents, there’s a slight window where you can Boost dash and immediately punish them if their previous attack is recovering. Some Boost Dashes give certain big characters Super Armor (like Monster Girl). When you get your opponent to a crumpled state, you can do a snap back attack to crash them out of the arena to another spot, putting them at a resource disadvantage. Tagging in characters lets your reserve characters regenerate Boost meter faster than usual.

Long story short: the game encourages you to be proactive and tagging in characters easily while pulling off awesome attacks with appropriate visual beatdown effects. And so far Invincible VS is the best one of the lot that really is easy to dive into, yet hard to master.

I just wish more love was put into the single-player aspect of the game. Modes-wise, you have your Training, your Arcade and Single-Player Story Mode, and your multiplayer Versus options (local and online with Casual, Ranked, and so forth). While the online and multiplayer bits (with rollback netcode) are fine and all, most folks who really want to jump in casually will not find a lot to replay and stick around for. The Arcade Mode lets you adjust your stage count and keep track of your score, but its payoff endings aren’t the best and just feels more like the extra monologue that’s meant to be a character’s intro. Imagine playing through Street Fighter 6’s Arcade Mode with a character, but you jump straight to the fights and the ending is the intro monologue that starts off the character’s mode.

The Story Mode is an original narrative done up by creator Robert Kirkman and his Skybound Games/Entertainment team, and it does start off strong. It takes the Mortal Kombat-and-Injustice Story Mode template that worked so well, and delivers some nice moments here and there. However, it ends on a cliffhanger. I suspect that the game will get Season Pass updates that will continue this on, but right now this mode just falls flat despite a promising start.

I get that fighting game hardcore fans may not care about these modes. But think, reader, think: hardcore fans don’t start off being who they are at first, as they started off as casuals who got into fighting games that have robust single-player options and deep-if-mistranslated lore that got them hooked in the first place.

Unless you are familiar with the Invincible comic books and animated series, you’re not going to care much about what’s on tap in-game from a lore and single-player replayability aspect. I won’t know who on earth Allen the Alien is and why he’s jovial unless I already have context from outside the game.

“[…]I Can See The Future…You Don’t Live To See Tomorrow”

Invincible VS is heavy on fighting game mechanics and fun factor, thanks to its solid tag mechanics and varied cast. However, its single-player modes and other replayable bits, apart from online and local play, leave a lot to be desired. Think of this game as a higher-budget Power Rangers: Battle For The Grid, but a little crazier and a lot more drip & violence.

If you want the next best tag fighting game that’s dripping with flavour and expression, you cannot go wrong with this title that’s clearly the handiwork of ex-Killer Instinct (2013) folks. There’s always room for improvement in other aspects, which seasonal content and free updates can fix.

For now, it’s clearly one made for fans of the genre who want to see what Western devs are capable of when they take the best of tag fighters and put it in their own project. A game like this needs to have balance, and while its core values aren’t compromised, the other 30% really needs work if Skybound and Quarter Up want more people on board with degenerate sauce-filled tag fighters, much less fighting games in general.

Final Score: 70/100