One of the most highly anticipated games of the Fall, aside from Cyberpunk 2077, was definitely Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics’ take on The Avengers as it’s had quite an interesting ride since it was first rumored.
At first, no one really knew what the game exactly was, until Square dropped the news that the game was Marvel’s Avengers – a third-person beat ‘em up action adventure with a games as a service model. Just from looking at initial glimpses, the gameplay looked incredible and it seemed like a perfect time for an Avengers game to come out with the MCU wrapping up its Infinity Saga.
However, the game was immediately criticized by fans for its character models, its games as a service model, and, more recently, the game came under fire with many critics being upset with micro-transactions in the game. Personally, the drama never hindered my excitement for the game, but the whole games as a service model is a recent trend in the industry that just hasn’t gelled with me.
For those that have never heard of “games as a service,” it’s a model that many companies have been trying to implement to increase the longevity of a game’s life. These kinds of games usually harness RPG elements – like players being able to complete missions and tasks in a non-linear fashion as well as constantly upgrading gear they obtain through finding chests and random drops from defeated enemies. What sets them apart from RPGs though, is the how it extends the longevity of the game through adding more content through mission expansions that usually cost too much and a system that promotes endless progress.
Ever since Bungie showed the potential of this model with Destiny, many companies have tried to emulate their success, but none have ever really captured the magic. This model has pretty much been viewed as a steady money-maker strategy for companies as they just release small expansions to extend the game’s life. Personally, I just see it as a lazy way to milk money and time out of players, since expansions usually cost too much, and they usually don’t make a good first impression as there usually isn’t a whole lot to do. So, the big question is – does Marvel’s Avengers rise above the hate, live up to the hype, and present a one of a kind experience?
For Marvel fans, this is the game you’ve always dreamed of playing as it’s really an Avengers comic/film that’s playable and contains a classic style Avengers story. Players are thrown into an Avengers celebration in San Francisco like no other as Captain America (voiced by Jeff Schine), Iron Man (voiced by Nolan North), Bruce Banner (voiced by Troy Baker), Thor (voiced by Travis Willingham), and Black Widow (voiced by Laura Bailey) are unveiling a new headquarters powered by an experimental energy source discovered by a scientist named George Tarleton (voiced by Usman Ally). However, the celebration turns deadly when the energy source explodes causing people to develop superpowers and be labeled as Inhumans. Being blamed for the destruction and considered to be too much of a destructive force, the Avengers are disbanded, and an age of heroes comes to an end.
Five years later, a mysterious new corporation named AIM, that’s being run by George as his own infection from blast slowly corrupts his mind, but their intentions aren’t exactly good as they secretly use the Inhumans for their own experiments. Thus, it’s up to Kamala Kahn (voiced by Sandra Saad), a diehard Avengers superfan who was given polymorph powers as a result of the blast, to not only reassemble the Avengers in order to stop AIM and Tarleton’s nefarious plans, but also step into her own role as a hero.
As a whole, the story is solid enough to please just about any Marvel fan as reassembling Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is as fun as it sounds. Getting the band back together has as much heart and conflict as you’d expect and it’s in big part to the all-star voice cast. Aside from North slightly slipping into his Deadpool voice and Baker not doing a whole lot to hide his voice, the cast is perfect and, personally, the character designs are nicely unique. It’s very clear that Crystal Dynamics wanted to take things in their own direction with the story and characters while still being inspired previous iterations and it pays off nicely. With Tony being a delightful attention whore that’s hard to resist and slightly annoys everyone around him, the group dealing with whether or not they do more destruction than good, and them coming back together to try and defeat a bigger threat, it’s an Avengers story that anyone can get behind and enjoy.
There’re some lackluster moments in the story – mainly surrounding AIM and George becoming the deadly M.O.D.O.K. The villains are super weak in this game as M.O.D.O.K. feels incredibly secondary and there’re aren’t many other iconic villains that players will run into along the way. It’s heavily disappointing when in an Avengers game, you can count all the villain boss fights you face on one hand and it’s even worse when you realize that the only way that more villains are likely going to come into game is through DLC or paid expansions. The fights themselves are great, there’s just too few of them. Even the “villain sector” missions the game has aren’t all that special and it’s disappointing that more villains couldn’t be utilized here – especially with the Avengers already having a history in this world.
It’s also disappointing that we really only get to see six Avengers throughout the game and barely any others hinted at. They establish that Captain Marvel does exist in this universe but is “off-planet,” which is starting to become a tiresome excuse for her absence, and we do know that others exist based on who we know is coming in the future. However, it’s just strange that there’s so much Captain Marvel stuff seen throughout this game for her just not to be around or rarely talked about by anyone. It’s incredibly unsatisfying and kind of annoying, but certainly not as annoying as some of this dialogue. Frankly, a lot of the lines characters spit out can be very repetitive and even though the voice acting is great, not even North can make Tony quoting DJ Khaled any less cringeworthy. Also, the use of modern music here is a little off-putting since it’s kind of strange to hear Marvel heroes listening to radio hits. Although, there is a mission where Tony blasts Iron Maiden’s “Flight of Icarus” and it’s pretty incredible.
The one major saving grace of this story’s flaws is easily Kamala Khan, who many fans know as the new Ms. Marvel, as her story is one that many fans will relate to because she’s also an Avengers fan. The opening perfectly establishes her love of the Avengers and how they inspire her to do good in the world. It’s impossible not to geek out with her as you explore the Avengers celebration in her shoes and her strong heart really grows on you as she becomes the glue that puts the broken pieces of the Avengers back together. Admittedly, her character arc is a little messy as she never fully grows out of freaking out like a fangirl every time something Avengers related comes in her path, literally down to the final mission, but she just so damn lovable that its easy to forgive her. Not to mention, her relationship with her father Yusuf (voiced by Brian George) is incredibly heartwarming and the way he is also an inspiration to her is super sweet.
It’s also easy to forgive her character flaws because she’s so much fun to play as since the gameplay in this is absolutely stellar. Her polymorph abilities, which work the same way as Mr. Fantastic, are incredibly inventive, visually amazing, and absolutely marvelous to have in the palm of your hands. Her stretchy arms make traversing the game’s environments a total blast and simply just being able punch enemies from afar is non-stop fun. It’s stretchy melee combat that is constantly fresh and is made more complex and unique through players being able to gain new abilities through the game’s deep skill tree. Sometimes skill tree abilities don’t always come through in gameplay and you can feel like you’re not utilizing the full scope your character’s potential, but that never happens here. Curiosity really gets the best of you to test out new moves and create new combos, meaning that players will find new ways to engage different kinds of enemies and fight throughout the entire experience.
The great gameplay doesn’t just stop with Kamala though, as all of the Avengers are an absolute blast to play as and it’s basically an immersive experience with everything players are able to do. Playing as Iron Man is truly a dream come as players can fly around the map and utilize everything the suit has to offer. Whether it’s using the unibeam to cut enemies down to size, switching between repulsors and lasers at the touch of a button, beating enemies down with some powerful melee attacks, or busting out the HulkBuster to topple any enemy, players can really take control of everything Iron Man has to offer. His moveset and design is easily one of the more impressive aspects of the game and even though some of the flight controls can be a tad messy, it’s a strong step forward for what Marvel games can offer.
Everyone else falls in line with the wildly imaginative gameplay that’s much simpler than controlling Iron Man, but equally complex and kick-ass. Throwing Cap’s shield and then being able to kick in a new direction was amazing, using Black Widow’s guns and going invisible with her cloaking technology adds new layers to battle, and even channeling God of War gameplay as Thor by being able to throw and recall Mjolnir with ease was truly incredible. Hell, even just playing as Hulk and smashing everything in your path is a therapeutic dream as you literally pick up the Earth below you and just destroy anything in your path. There’s certainly a trial and error effect that comes into play when players are figuring out which characters they’re best at, but that’s a part of the fun and there’re plenty of mission for players to test their skills in battle.
The mission layout, as a whole, is pretty standard as players are tasked with fighting through areas to complete objectives that range from helping JARVIS hack into AIM’s databases to taking over AIM bases. There’s definitely a lack of variety in terms of mission objectives so things can get a little repetitive, but Crystal Dynamics adds in some different elements that attempts to add some variety to missions. During missions, players can explore the area for secondary objectives that could have them helping captured SHIELD agents or even finding chests with valuable gear and resources. Players can also take on missions with friends as they can create online strike teams to build an Avengers squad of their own. Setting up the online matchmaking and invites can be a bit of a pain at first because the game isn’t always the best at directing players on how to do these things. However, the experience of fighting alongside your friends is truly something special and it was pretty remarkable how my friend and I had a pretty clean experience playing with one another considering or wifi connection isn’t always the best – also, because this game has so many graphical issues.
One of the major problems that Marvel’s Avengers has is that it’s a technical nightmare at times with glitches and graphical errors pretty much everywhere. There was one moment I’ll never forget where I was going back to the next campaign mission and the next cutscene had the menu still on the screen and Kamala complimented Tony on a suit he wasn’t even wearing in the cutscene. Add in some choppy frame rates and you have a collection of ridiculous glitches.
Although it rarely happened, there were also some glitches that negated progression – including an invisible wall that blocked an item I needed to collect and even an enemy that was underground that halted my progression. That last one was especially funny because my friend was miraculously able to kill the underground enemy with Hulk’s Thunderclap and it was hilarious. Even worse is that the load times can be really annoying in the multiplayer as it took forever for my friend and I to connect on the Helicarrier. It’s crazy how consistent the glitches and technical errors are truly what make the experience a little disappointing and part of me even thinks that it’s one of the aspects that makes me believe that they weren’t fully ready to release the game – along with the games as a service mechanics.
While the gear system, that’s pretty much the same as Destiny, is a lot of fun and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t loving going around the Helicarrier to talk to different shopkeepers and faction leaders to get new items. The game is definitely super addictive but falls into the same trap that this model usually does in that it just asks too much time of its players and progression is just a total slog. With players only being able to find gear and level up the character they’re playing as, just trying to progress with one character is going to be a tedious pain the ass. Just think about that with six characters and you realize that progressing these characters is just time that no one has. Also, since the game doesn’t have a high quantity of missions at the moment, players are going to have to currently replay missions over and over – which really drags down the experience. It just offers the kind of grind that becomes tiresome after a while and sparks the debate of how long the lifespan of play really is.
Truthfully, only time will tell if Marvel’s Avengers can overcome some of its faults and flesh out its experience through its games as a service model. In its current state though, it’s a truly impressive game that’ll warm the hearts of any Marvel fan as they experience some of the strongest gameplay of any superhero game and embark on a one of a kind Avengers experience chalk full of potential – if Crystal Dynamics and Square can perfect the formula and fix its tech issues. Calling all True Believers! This is a game that no Marvel fan should miss.
