Marvel Rivals, a new “Overwatch”-style third-person hero shooter, had a killer theme song, which I heard several times while waiting to log in as the closed beta was being beaten by legions of other players trying to do the same. After about an hour, however, the servers seemed to stabilize and I managed to log in and play a match.

The servers had only been online for a few hours, and they didn't seem to be able to handle the number of players who wanted to team up as classic Marvel heroes like Spider-Man, Loki, and Storm at all. and some said they were disconnected when they finally got into a match.

On Twitch, Marvel Rivals has just over 68,000 active viewers, surpassing Fortnite's 59,000 and already ranking in the top 10 most watched games. Most streamers are playing now, but for a while only the first 20 or so made it past the main menu. Even FPS streamer Shroud, which has attracted over 16K viewers on its sponsored stream, was kicked out of the game in the first hour of the beta, forcing it to restart the game.

The server troubles may be a sign that the 13-day closed beta got off to a rocky start because developer NetEase Games invited too many people. I was able to participate in the playtest along with several others simply by requesting access on the Steam page, and many players who reached level 10 in the last beta also received codes.

I won my first match as the Scarlet Witch, standing with my team before the enemy spawns and cleaving anyone who dared try to reach the payload. If the game is really going for an “Overwatch”-like atmosphere, then certain pathetic rounds of spawn camps are actually quite accurate. At one point, a decent teamfight broke out when the enemy Hulk beat us to one of our healers. I used Scarlet Witch's Invisible Flight ability to get behind the enemy team and saved the fight with her Explosive Ultimate. Even if it didn't work out for Hulk, the way tank heroes can break defenses is promising in a six-on-six team fight.

Unlike “Overwatch,” however, “Marvel Rivals” does not force a specific team composition. Therefore, it is up to your teammates to form a balanced team of tanks, healers, and damage dealers. In the beta earlier this year, I only encountered a few disastrous matches where everyone refused to swap. The game's “team-up” system, which grants passive buffs when certain heroes like Groot and Rocket Raccoon are on the team, helps motivate players to make good use of their team picks.

There are already plenty of skins, sprays, and other cosmetics that can be earned by playing. Those earned during the beta will carry over into the final game, which has yet to have a release date. For example, reaching level 30 in Battle Pass will earn you the blue skin of Venom, one of the newest characters added to the game.

The beta will run through August 5, and you can request access on Steam, get additional codes from those already participating, or earn codes by watching a one-hour Twitch stream starting Thursday. Even though it's a closed beta, NetEase seems to be making it open to almost anyone who wants to participate. Let's hope the servers hold through the weekend.