If there’s one thing that really unites all gamers, it’s that there’s a massive video game backlog to get done. If anything, thanks to the many subscription services available that offer massive catalogs of games to play at a more reasonable price tag than buying each game individually, it’s become less of a luxury these days. But while the abundance of options is delightful, there’s never enough time in the day to really check everything out. Hence the formation of a backlog.
Which brings me to this article, or rather, the start of a new series of articles. Since this summer has been pretty barren in terms of new game releases, there’s never been a better time to work through the backlog, which is what I’ve been doing lately. I’ll be documenting my journey, with a new article every week, and I’ll start off with a relatively new game. Marvel, a title that debuted last October, but despite that, it took me about seven months to beat it – boy, I’m glad I did.
Because this game is really top notch. Anyone who knows Marvel, whether through the comic books or the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will know who the Guardians of the Galaxy are and what kind of wacky cosmic adventures they find themselves on. This is not a group of heroes as smart, strong, compassionate and truly morally good as the Rebels. No, it’s a frictional team, a team that irritates each other, insults and destroys each other, but at the same time, does anything to protect any member of the group: a family. What developer Eidos Montreal has done is offer an experience that checks all those boxes and refuses to skimp on the subtle and hilarious humor that Guardians have become known for.
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You may not have the opportunity to play each individual Guardian, but this is handled well because the game uses Star-Lord as a central pillar, establishing the narrative and the rest of the team and the way you interact with him around him. It gives you a real sense of the responsibility that Peter Quill has always had, as it’s up to you to lead the rest of the Guardians, keep them in good spirits, and coordinate them in battle while keeping an eye on you as the leader words and deeds.
Combat is also handled in such a way that you never have to worry about what the Guardians are doing. You can shoot like Quill, punch and kick, usually cause mayhem, then when needed, call Gamora or Drax to focus their efforts on a specific target and use crowd control or high damage abilities. This gameplay also extends to exploration, as you need to guide rockets into small spaces to reach new areas, or tell Groot to create a bridge that the rest of the team can traverse. It’s all handled well.
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But these game systems are not the reason I fell in love with this game. Rather, it’s the complex relationship between the storyline, the narrative, and the supporting characters they encounter, which they usually dread. Between Quill and Rocket’s ability to go deep into the skin and completely annoy anyone, to Drax’s dryness and literal sense of humor that always catches you off guard, Eidos Montreal perfectly captures the essence of the team, even extending to the characters design, which drew a lot of criticism when the game originally launched.
But the point is, as far as action-adventure games go, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the best games in recent times, and perhaps one of the best games that came out fully last year. In my opinion, that’s a pretty impressive feat, especially considering the absolutely botched work of being Marvel, another Marvel video game from publisher Square Enix (which, of course, is handled by Crystal Dynamics). I think it’s fair to say that the sour aftertaste left by Marvel’s Avengers somehow affected the status of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and I’d even say it did affect why it took me so long Just started playing this.
However, as I said before, I’m glad I did because I spent the weekend engrossed in this game, I played about 15 hours of this weekend in this game, and it ended up being a really well spent weekend. Not only did this game give me confidence in projects like this in the future, but it also made me realize why I used to really like the Marvel brand, due to the often forgotten and unimportant Marvel series and projects, over the past few years , the brand has slipped away. Considering you can check out Marvel on Game Pass (PC and Xbox) today, I highly recommend doing so, as I can almost guarantee it won’t disappoint.