Fighting games are some of the most daunting in the medium. From the in-depth competitive scenes to the variations of skill involved, many people can be intimidated by complexity. As part of our Month of Marvel, we take a look at the popular mobile fighting game Marvel’s Contest Of Champions to see how it stacks up.

As of this month, the game size comes in to slightly over a gigabyte. Since space is a premium on phones, Contest Of Champions is good for someone looking for a light but fun experience. However, MCOC doesn’t feature offline functionality, but for people who want to auto-complete missions, there is a built in bot feature and for a premium currency missions can be skipped. These allow some of the grind to be circumvented, and lead to less frustration.

Gameplay wise, Contest Of Champions is centered around a standard, yet in-depth 2D fighting game. You and an opponent face off on one of several arenas that serve as a backdrop. Then, you wail on one another until one of you runs out of health. To achieve this, Each character has a light, medium and heavy attack. These are done by tapping, swiping and holding down respectively. Chaining combos builds the super meter, which can be used to deal devastating attacks. Each character also has passive abilities to give you an edge over others. Fans of Mortal Kombat and Tekken will notice a similar gamefeel here, from the grounded movement to the combo based strategy required to get ahead.

The other key aspect of Marvel Contest Of Champions is gacha. For the uninitiated, gacha is a term for randomized rewards, done up as a luck-based system. This is usually done in the form of lootboxes. While you start with a few characters, the primary method of obtaining others is crystals. Crystals containing a randomized hero can be obtained through the store, or via completing objectives. Unfortunately, Contest of Champions is fairly microtransaction heavy. However, the game can be played entirely without spending a cent, as I can personally attest.

The easiest way to maximize your time with MCOC is joining an alliance, giving you access to more quests and events. In addition, First time accounts also get one month of Summoner Supreme, which acts as a total account boost. In addition, you’re able to earn in-game currency, even with a low level account. As a complete casual, Marvel’s Contest Of Champions is a grind, but one that won’t seem unmanageable.

Overall, while Contest Of Champions isn’t the best gaming experience, it is a fun time waster. I often check it briefly when I wake up and right before I go to bed. I’m not going to be topping any leaderboards, but if you have interest in a fun brawler for phones, give Contest Of Champions a try. Who knows, you just might get hooked with the easy to pick up, hard to master gameplay or the active and friendly community.