REVIEW : Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (PC)
The author of this review has never concealed that he is a huge fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has even written about it. My love of comics dates back to my childhood, the wonderful 1980s, and the magazines published at the time. Still, even back then, I have to admit that I was almost unaware of the existence of the Guardians of the Galaxy because the magazines were mostly focused on Marvel’s most popular characters.
Spider-Man, X-Men, and other superheroes come to mind. Thankfully, the MCU’s unparalleled success propelled the Guardians to prominence, and I’m now in a position to examine the gaming version of Peter Quill’s motley company. However, given Square Enix’s rocky previous attempt at a Marvel game with Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers, some trepidation is understandable. So, did Eidos Montreal fare any better?
The Guardians of the Galaxy games from Eidos Montreal aren’t the same as the film adaptations… but they’re close. Allow me to explain. As you can see from the screenshots, the characters’ appearances and backdrops are different (for example, the game’s Drax has already murdered or “killed” Thanos). Still, their personalities and voiceovers are quite similar to their Marvel Studios counterparts. Drax is voiced with a familiar and irritating directness, Rocket is continuously grumbling and ready to erupt at any moment, Gamora is the realistic one of the bunch and Groot… He is Groot.
Fans of the MCU will have no trouble adjusting because the narrative and voice acting are both of a high calibre, and the excellent work done on all of the characters’ facial expressions flawlessly fulfils the always desired immersion. One of the game’s nice shocks is that the writers have done better than their cinematic counterparts in some areas. Gamora, for example, has a far more balanced attitude here than in the movies, which occasionally portray her as the group’s severe mother.
The plot begins shortly after the Guardians have come together as a group, and it is clear from their first chats that their chemistry isn’t quite there yet, with mistrust and discord reigning supreme. A dangerous and (obviously) unlawful work they take results in their arrest by the Nova Corps and the imposition of an unforgivable fine, which they attempt to repay with… another dangerous and illegal job. Following that, the plot will lead them to the epicentre of a great menace that, of course, threatens the entire galaxy. Come on, Guardians of the Galaxy; it’s time to prove your worth!
In terms of gameplay, the game falls within the third-person shooter/action-RPG genre, similar to titles like Mass Effect 2. Although the Guardians team suggests a co-op game, the fact is that the player alone controls Star-Lord while the AI controls the rest of the crew. However, just like in Mass Effect, a menu appears at any time with the press of a button, allowing you to activate very powerful special abilities of each character (and those gained by levelling up) that can drastically alter the outcome of a battle.
Outside of combat, Peter Quill can talk with his fellow guardians, choose replies to key dialogue, and affect the plot flow to some extent, but not to the amount that the Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2 allows. It’s also worth noting that Guardians of the Galaxy is primarily a linear game, so don’t expect open-world features like exploring big hubs or completing side quests. As you may have observed, there are numerous parallels to Mass Effect, and this is no coincidence: Guardians of the Galaxy could easily be classified as the Mass Effect of 2021, barring its linearity.
The truth is that for gamers who are tired of the scale and bloat of open-world games that have dominated the market, the game will feel like a breath of fresh air, but some aspects of the gameplay are less so. Between the dialogue and fighting, the developers have chosen to provide variation and modify the game’s pace by including (very) light puzzles that involve substantial use of Peter Quill’s scanning visor. Yes, we’re talking about another game that incorporates the Detective Mode, which Arkham Asylum created as a gameplay standard. Because the riddles are short, quick, and uncomplicated, they can only temporarily diverge from the action.
Even when you need to enlist the help of another team member to solve an issue, the solution is so obvious that it provides no challenge.
The amazing graphics properly accompany the action. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to a PC capable of running the game at its highest level of detail with ray tracing enabled. Still, Guardians of the Galaxy pops out even at middling resolutions and a generally medium degree of detail.
The graphics of the different worlds you’ll visit are almost always fantastic, both in terms of variety and design and technical prowess, and tremendous work has also been done on the characters’ facial expressions, which reflect their emotions in great detail. And, as I previously stated, the voiceovers and soundtrack blend seamlessly with the images to provide a high-quality overall presentation. Finally, I didn’t detect any crashes or major defects in the release version, only some intermittent character glitching in the scenery, which was resolved after 1-2 seconds by automatically teleporting the character to a nearby spot. To summarise, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a very nice experience for the most part. It is a single-player game with a lengthy campaign (at least 15-20 hours), excellent writing, excellent presentation, and fidelity to the universe it is based on. The gameplay and several overused and now slightly antiquated components are the only significant weaknesses, as they ultimately offer little substance beyond a change of pace.
