Well last time Edios Montreal made a Marvel game, it went....well it came out and people played some of it.
When Guardians of the Galaxy was revealed I think we all sighed in disappointment, because all the trailers looked weirdly similar to what we saw with Avengers. The characters looked like the stunt doubles verisons of their film counterparts, the gameplay looked a lot like what made The Avengers game a gaint fucking slog. Basically I don't think there was a lot of hype for this game, i know I personally forgot it was even coming out until reviews started dropped yesterday.
You guys know I love taking bullets for the Escapist Forum Team. So lets step into the firing range again and see what Guardians is all about.
Oh......hey you know something?
This is.....this game is alright.
Ok I mean the combat is a bit strange, you only control Star Lord and your primary objective is to create openings in which you can command the other characters to swoop in and put the hurt on your enemies. Star Lord himself has a variety of different types of bullets and shit he can shoot, adding elements and such to his attacks to exploit various enemy weakpoints. But you as Star Lord will not be directly doing the bulk of the damage. Instead you are supposed to move around the battlefield, using your elemental bullets to stagger enemies at which point you have hot buttons ready to order the other guardian to do their thing. Each summonable Guardian has a special that does something else and you can combo guardian attacks.
For example Groot will use roots to knock enemies into the air, then you can use Drax to power slam them back into the ground and that kills almost everything most of the time.
It's an okay system all things considered. It is a little disappointing that it feels like you as the player and as Star Lord have very little power personally and you are mostly just waiting for the other Guardians to take care of business. However it is a functional system and there are some other fun things you can do like pause the action in the middle of combat to have a team huddle which are always funny. These huddles will boost damage and other various effects of the team but above all else they will trigger the AWESOME 80's MUSIC to play in battle.
Thankfully that's the weakest part of the game.....or maybe unfortunately since that is basically the gameplay. But here is the thing, the dialog and the writting in this game is SOOOOOO GOOD! It is genuinely funny, and these characters really shine in the same way you expect them too especially if you are only familiar with them through the films. The game is well written to a degree that I don't think we've seen in a game for a long time. While the overall plot is that same "save the galaxy" cheese the films had, it is played with just the right mix of seriousness versus satire that just make it feel good.
The levels are decently fun to explore, there are some collectible things of course, and some platformy puzzley things. Not super complicated but very good looking and fun to move around in.
And the best part. No live service bullshit. No microtransactions, no weird multiplayer boosts, no fucking skins, nothing. It's just a solid full priced game with no extra shit attached.
Of course with no live service that means no multiplayer and really no replayablity probably. You might get a second playthrough out of this for completionist sake, but the main story is supposedly only about 15-20 hours long and once it's done that's it. So it might not be worth full price for everyone right away. However for me, I like that they have made a complete, enjoyable experience without any need for wicked extra monetizations. So I'm willing to support that alone if it means more companies become willing to just make games again without all the greed.
When Guardians of the Galaxy was revealed I think we all sighed in disappointment, because all the trailers looked weirdly similar to what we saw with Avengers. The characters looked like the stunt doubles verisons of their film counterparts, the gameplay looked a lot like what made The Avengers game a gaint fucking slog. Basically I don't think there was a lot of hype for this game, i know I personally forgot it was even coming out until reviews started dropped yesterday.
You guys know I love taking bullets for the Escapist Forum Team. So lets step into the firing range again and see what Guardians is all about.
Oh......hey you know something?
This is.....this game is alright.
Ok I mean the combat is a bit strange, you only control Star Lord and your primary objective is to create openings in which you can command the other characters to swoop in and put the hurt on your enemies. Star Lord himself has a variety of different types of bullets and shit he can shoot, adding elements and such to his attacks to exploit various enemy weakpoints. But you as Star Lord will not be directly doing the bulk of the damage. Instead you are supposed to move around the battlefield, using your elemental bullets to stagger enemies at which point you have hot buttons ready to order the other guardian to do their thing. Each summonable Guardian has a special that does something else and you can combo guardian attacks.
For example Groot will use roots to knock enemies into the air, then you can use Drax to power slam them back into the ground and that kills almost everything most of the time.
It's an okay system all things considered. It is a little disappointing that it feels like you as the player and as Star Lord have very little power personally and you are mostly just waiting for the other Guardians to take care of business. However it is a functional system and there are some other fun things you can do like pause the action in the middle of combat to have a team huddle which are always funny. These huddles will boost damage and other various effects of the team but above all else they will trigger the AWESOME 80's MUSIC to play in battle.
Thankfully that's the weakest part of the game.....or maybe unfortunately since that is basically the gameplay. But here is the thing, the dialog and the writting in this game is SOOOOOO GOOD! It is genuinely funny, and these characters really shine in the same way you expect them too especially if you are only familiar with them through the films. The game is well written to a degree that I don't think we've seen in a game for a long time. While the overall plot is that same "save the galaxy" cheese the films had, it is played with just the right mix of seriousness versus satire that just make it feel good.
The levels are decently fun to explore, there are some collectible things of course, and some platformy puzzley things. Not super complicated but very good looking and fun to move around in.
And the best part. No live service bullshit. No microtransactions, no weird multiplayer boosts, no fucking skins, nothing. It's just a solid full priced game with no extra shit attached.
Of course with no live service that means no multiplayer and really no replayablity probably. You might get a second playthrough out of this for completionist sake, but the main story is supposedly only about 15-20 hours long and once it's done that's it. So it might not be worth full price for everyone right away. However for me, I like that they have made a complete, enjoyable experience without any need for wicked extra monetizations. So I'm willing to support that alone if it means more companies become willing to just make games again without all the greed.
