MARVEL’S AVENGERS
Hands-on with the Marvel-lous multiplayer, just ahead of our reviews deadline.
We only review finished games, so in Viewpoint we go hands-on with near-final code of a game that just missed our review deadline. Ian Dean suits up his inner nerd to Hulk smash and embiggen his way through Marvel’s Avengers’ early story missions and War Table multiplayer.
Playing through the opening story mission is a Pym-Particle-injected microcosm of everything Crystal Dynamics is doing right and wrong with its take on Marvel’s iconic heroes. There’s a lot to love about this bombastic celebration of comic-book chaos, and a little that needs some work.
In the opening crawl we get to inhabit the core Avengers in their prime. Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America all share a similar control scheme for light and heavy melee strikes, screen-shattering specials, and (where applicable) flight and boundless skyward leaps.
With Vince Napoli, God Of War’s combat designer, behind the punches it comes as no surprise that Thor feels weighty and powerful, his melee hammer-hits land with a satisfying solid thud. Throwing Mjölnir isn’t quite so instinctive, as you first need to aim manually and throw. Kratos’ fire-and-forget power fantasy is missing here. But we see why as we play as Iron Man – the same control layout enables us to fire plasma beams. As Captain America the game’s melee heroics really shine; the swift combos blend seamlessly with shield strikes. As Black Widow, our duel with Taskmaster atop the San Francisco Bay Bridge feels close to fights in Insomniac’s Marvel’s Spider-Man. The encounter’s use of dodge-and-counter mechanics is the blend of Spidey and Kratos Crystal Dynamics has been threatening. The misstep? Hulk’s clumsy controls and poorly implemented jump setup. Countless tumbles from the bridge as the green giant misses another landing dampens the fantasy.
It’s a shame, then, that the first post-intro narrative missions demand we play as Hulk and Kamala Khan, AKA Ms. Marvel. At times uncontrollable, guiding Hulk’s mass through an AIM facility while making well-timed jumps feels clumsy. Counterpoint: Ms. Marvel is a joy to play. Her mix of elastic attacks and grapple-like ability to grasp most environmental platforms comes close to the versatile, kinetic nature of playing as Spider-Man.
TAKE AIM
Our taste of the story missions comes to an end and we unlock the War Table. From here we can select regions of the US, and missions to drop into. These vary in scale and objectives, but ultimately each sortie follows a familiar template of pummelling our way through a throng of AIM lackeys before either defending a point or taking down a boss. It’s a simple setup that may lack imagination, but when the combat and blend of characters is this rewarding it’s forgivable.
With friends in play and new heroes unlocked, every mission, no matter how uncomplicated, feels energetic. Every punch and kick turns the screen into a fizzing explosion of barrels and sparking computer panels. It’s hardly original, but it feels incredibly satisfying to string together a successful series of attacks before popping off aerial enemies with well-targeted stretched punches, and then elasti-grappling out of danger, leaving behind a fiery floor of devastation and destruction.
Everything moves at a startling pace. No matter the number of enemies on screen, there’s no sign of slowdown or stutter, ensuring counters and dodge-counters can be enacted with confidence.
Between multiplayer excursions into embiggening destruction we get to upgrade our heroes, unlocking moves, abilities, and classic costumes. It’s a complex assault on the senses. In time we brush aside the wealth of data on offer to focus on the core stats, but this isn’t God Of War’s focussed approach to upgrading a core loadout. Instead we’re juggling slightly cosmetically different bangles and belts, akin to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
When we’re not fighting through the mix of biomes on offer we explore an abandoned Avengers Helicarrier. This is solid world building and enables Kamala Khan to demonstrate the sheer excitement of fighting alongside the Avengers we hope to muster in the final game. It’s a tease of the kind of character-driven narrative we can expect, and Sophia Taylor Ali does a fantastic job of voicing the spirited, wide-eyed fangirl.
Can this buoyant tone outshine the direct but bombastic gameplay on show here? Perhaps, and in doing so Marvel’s Avengers could be the spiritual successor to PS3’s Ultimate Alliance some have been yearning for – and that’s a compliment.
“FAST AND WEIGHTY COMBO-BASED GAMEPLAY AKIN TO MULTIPLAYER GOD OF WAR IS ALWAYS REWARDING, BUT THE CORE WAR TABLE MISSION LOOP COULD PROVE TOO LIMITED.”
We’ll have our in-depth review of Marvel’s Avengers next issue, out 22 September.