On release, Marvel Rivals had seven maps; now, with Season 1, there are three more on the way, with Midtown already playable. While having so much choice in the map pool this early on isn't a bad thing, some players are finding fault in the quality of the choice available.
"Does Odin's Archive feel suffocating, or is it just me?" A player asks. Yes, yes, it does. Odin's Archive is probably my least favourite map so far; it's crammed, has hardly any viable line of sight, and the falling terrain has messed me up more than once.
Odin's Archive has two levels to it. There's a top balcony area where long-range heroes can perch and fire projectiles down onto the players below on the ground floor, which is where the actual point is. Unless you have any mobility abilities, the only way you get from the bottom point up top is either by using a jump pad or taking the long way up the stairs. This means if someone else takes Rocket Raccoon, who has the ability to fly briefly using his jetpack, I'm stuck dealing with my worst enemy, the jump pads.
These jump pads are pretty finicky to use at the best of times. However, as the top layer of the map can also be temporarily destroyed, it can sometimes be even harder trying to land at the top of the map. The jump pad also happens to be next to one of the best bits of cover on the map, which still has a sort of line-of-sight to most of the major fights, which means that I find myself accidentally shot up into the sky about seven times a match when I accidentally back up on to it.
But I'm just happy to know that I'm not the only one who thinks Odin's Archive is pretty annoying. "It’s literally by far my least favorite map, and I think it’s the worst in the game," another player adds. "It’s an extremely common 100-0 map too. The design is really lacking in terms of how far you have to run to get to the point and the easy push forward to prevent the enemy from even getting close to the point. Unless you’re high rank and know the wall break shortcuts, and your whole team actually takes it. It’s a rough map."
The breakable terrain can also be a right pain: "It's by far my least favorite map in the game," a player says. "It just feels clunky to play in, and the platform serves no purpose, given the fact that it gets destroyed within a minute of everyone meeting around it."
I've had parts of the map fall on me and suddenly cut me off from my team just as an enemy Spider-Man swoops down out of nowhere to kill me. But the more common issue is when the map regenerates. It happens like clockwork, but it always seems to occur just when I'm trying to keep a teammate alive while still hiding behind cover. Before I can react, a green wall appears before me, and poof, the whole structure is back, blocking my line of sight. Most of the time, the teammate I was trying to keep alive dies before I can even walk around the new wall.
It's certainly impressive to have so many maps on launch, but some of them, like Odin's Archive, feel a bit underdeveloped or unpolished. There are a few places in various maps, like near the second attacking spawn room in Hall of Djalia or on point in Eldritch Monument, where there are just dead ends in which you can easily get trapped and killed by something like an ulting Hela or an attacking enemy Vanguard.
Marvel Rivals is still relatively new, and there will likely be more locations added in the coming seasons alongside new heroes. But even so, I'd prefer to see map reworks for the less popular options like Odin's Archive and most of the options in Hell's Heaven rather than any new additions.
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