Marvel-lous
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
(PEGI 16) PS4, PS5, XBOX ONE, XBOX X/S, PC
★★★★✩
ANYONE who has had the misfortune of sitting through Eternals, and Venom: Carnage will know that superhero movies are hit and miss.
Thankfully they’re usually more of a hit.
The opposite can be said about superhero games, which usually prove more of a miss than a hit.
Which is why I was so pleasantly surprised with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
I’m ashamed to say that I came to this game with many, many preconceptions.
Having been burned badly by last year’s Marvel’s Avengers, my heart sank when I saw trailers that appeared to show Guardians in a similar vein.
A jumble of characters, endless grinding to earn loot and currency, more gaming-as-a-service and all from the same publisher.
It even looked similar.
But just a few minutes into this third-person brawler and I’m happy to admit I was completely wrong.
However you were first intro
duced to Peter Quill and his merry band of space misfits, take everything you think you know and throw it away.
This game has nothing to do with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in fact, it barely has anything to do with the comics. Even Quill’s backstory is altered.
The characters don’t look the same, they don’t sound the same and yet, somehow, it works.
Learning lessons from the poor reception for Marvel’s Avengers, this is a single-player campaign that sees you taking control of Quill/starlord.
He may be the leader of the Guardians, but he’s by far the least interesting character of the bunch.
But this was a smart move by developer Eidos Montreal, as it’s far more fun interacting with Gamora,
Rocket, Drax, and Groot than it would be to play as them.
Graphically, this game looks stunning, from Knowhere with its seedy streets awash with neon lights, to cavernous, rusting spaceships and the lush vegetation of alien jungles, the environments are beautifully realised.
Gameplay-wise it’s quite fun, with elements of RPG where you can choose how Quill responds to characters he’s interacting with.
As you progress through the game you’ll unlock four different types of ammo for Quill’s blaster, each with their own special attacks that target the specific weaknesses of certain enemies.
This ‘elemental’ ammunition does things like ‘freeze’ your enemies so that they can be shattered, or stun them with lightning to deplete shields or stop them in their tracks.
It’s a similar story with Gamora, Rocket, Drax, and Groot, who each have their own abilities that come in handy in various situations.
Need an object demolishing? Call in Drax. Need your enemies to get all tangled up? Call in Groot.
Progressing through the game allows you to increase these abilities, until you unlock each character’s final ‘mega ability’ which are real game changers.
The downside is that the linear, single-player campaign means there’s limited replayability here, but for the 19 or so hours I played this, I had a lot of fun.
The interactions between the Guardians are full of schtick and humour, and the plot is surprisingly deep in places, but where this game really shines is the soundtrack.
Packed full of the 80s hits you’ve come to associate with the films, it’s used to perfection – including in one particularly touching moment as you near the end of the game.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t set dizzying new standards for the superhero game genre, but then it didn’t have to.
All it had to do was deliver a solid gaming experience with a tale that made it fun to play, and that’s exactly what it does.
Buy it: £47.95 from thegamecollection.net