I'm a MvC noob
Graphics
Although this continues with the same art style from the previous games, this has taken it a step further and made it even more vibrant and better shading to make the character models really stand out. Everything is sharp and clear and the sortof cut scene where you do a Hyper is also very cool.
There's not much else to say about this area except you have to see it to really appreciate it, especially on the Vita's OLED screen.
Sound
Again, this dept is top notch with the sound effects and voices. If you have headphones, you really need to be playing this game with the sound cranked up to really appreciate it
Gameplay
If you're not familiar with this series then allow me to fill you in. This a 3 on 3 heavily combo based fighting game. You can pull off combos on the ground and in the air and easily get into the 30-60 hit combo range. So being a total noob at this series, starting a new fighting engine and learning from scratch can be quite daunting, especially one as complex as this and this is one of the reasons why I dodged the first 2 games. This is where I think this game has excelled. The aim of this game was to make it more accessible to new comers and they have done that in spades. Even though I know very little about the characters moves and the technical side to the fighting, I'm still able to get in there and win with a button mashing style and also look awesome in the process. On the easier arcade levels this makes for some very enjoyable entertainment. Its not until you get to the harder levels (and when I say hard, I mean just the "Normal" difficulty setting lol) on the arcade mode or the Heroes & Heralds mode that you realize the fighting system is something that needs a lot of study as you get your butt kicked in the latter stages with some devastating combos.
On Street Fighter IV's training mode you weren't allowed to progress unless you passed that particular challenge, whereas on UMvC3 you're able to select what challenge you want to do regardless of whether you've passed the previous one or not. For me, this means that if I'm struggling to pull off a certain combo, I can move forward and come back to that one later and it feels like progress is being made and I'm still able to learn other aspects of the fighting system.
Although this game may be light on modes, it still has a huge array of characters, the arcade mode, the missions and Heroes & Heralds, so there is still a lot to keep you entertained, especially if you plan on going through the missions with all of the characters.
The only issue I can see with this game is the loading times aren't as quick as what I'd like them to be, although that could be a sign of my impatience.
Final thoughts
I've always said that fighting games go very well with handhelds because you can just hop in and out and have fun regardless of the time you have available.
Whereas most fighting games are very technical there are few that can find the balance between satisfying the hardcore fan and newcomers at the same time. This game is the epitome of the tagline "easy to play, hard to master".