One of the most highly anticipated games of 2011 is out, and the positive reviews keep pouring in.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds brings together two hugely popular brands, Marvel Comics and Capcom video games and pits the characters against each other. After the highly acclaimed, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the third installment has avid video gamers on the edge of their seat.  According to CNN, the game “doesn’t disappoint” with new characters, a storyline with villain Galactus, and a new easier mode that will attract even the most casual of players to get into the action right away.

“We really wanted to make the game easy to get into,” said Seth Killian, special combat advisor for Capcom. “Simple mode gives you three attack buttons: light, medium and heavy. There is also one ‘hyper combo’ and two special attacks. That’s it. By contrast, [Capcom character] Dante has 35 different attacks in the normal mode.”

Playstation Universe gave the game an 8.5 rating, and states that the game has smooth gameplay, sharp graphics, and “pulsating visuals”. It “offers heart-pounding, adrenaline pumping gameplay with an easy-to-learn, challenging to master style. This is sit-on-the-couch-for-two-weeks-and-forget-all-responsibilities addiction at its finest.”

There are 36 characters in Marvel vs Capcom 3 that are ready to play right away and two that are downloadable. Well-known characters such as Spiderman and Captain America are featured in the game. The LA Times reports that game developers wanted to include Fantastic Four but didn’t think that the characters had much to bring to the action. “From a gameplay perspective, Invisible Woman is not that appealing,” said Killian.

“We included the Super-Skrull because we couldn’t have the Fantastic Four and we wanted to have them represented somehow,” Killian said to CNN. “We chose Marvel characters that Japanese fans would think were cool,” but also tried to balance it out with western characters.