Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
Released near the end of 2021, I am fairly certain that Guardians of the Galaxy is the newest game I’ve reviewed for this blog. I originally had no plans to play it, since I’ve mainly been focused on retro games lately. But when I saw it was available to check out for free at my local library, I knew I absolutely had to give this game a shot. It’s not often that you get to play games that are essentially brand-new for free.
I came into this game relatively blind, having heard nothing about it or how it was received by the public. How would I react to this game? Let’s find out!
Story:
Everything you learned about the Guardians of the Galaxy from the movies: throw it out the window. This is an entirely new Guardians story with an entirely new interpretation of the team. Although it is made up of the same characters from the films, they all look and sound different. You’ll notice differences in their behavior and backstories as well.
The game begins with the Guardians of the Galaxy scavenging through an off-limits debris field looking for something valuable. You can tell that the Guardians are a fairly new team, as it is clear that they don’t fully trust each other yet, in particular Gamora – the daughter of Thanos. The team is arrested by Nova Corps for trespassing, and is hit with a hefty fine. If they can’t pay off the fine in (I believe) three days, they will be taken and imprisoned. Needing to come up with a boatload of cash, and fast, the Guardians concoct a plan to trick the wealthy and powerful monster hunter Lady Hellbender into buying a member of the team (either Rocket or Groot depending on the choice you make) under the false pretense that they are a “monster” she’d be interested in adding to her collection. The plan goes awry, and the gang ends up having to fight their way out of Lady Hellbender’s fortress. Luckily, they’ve stolen enough money to pay off Nova Corps – so the trip wasn’t a complete waste.
Returning to Nova Corps to pay their fine, the Guardians discover that an evil entity in control of a crazed religious cult has gotten a hold of the Soul Stone to hypnotize and drain energy from members of the Nova Corps ship. Recognizing the massive threat to the galaxy that this religious cult represents, the Guardians seek out the help of Adam Warlock and the person they just backstabbed, Lady Hellbender, to destroy this threat once and for all.
This is a gross simplification of the game’s plot, but if I was going to recap every tiny detail I’d be sitting here writing for three days. Along the course of your journey, you’ll have personal conversations and conflicts with members of the Guardians team. I think at some point every single character gets their moment in the sun. Whether it’s Rocket and his tragic backstory about being tortured in a laboratory, Drax’s story of his family being murdered by Thanos, or even Peter discovering his otherworldy powers while growing up on a farmhouse with his mother, we really get to know the crew of the Guardians quite well.
Other things happen during the course of the game as well, including a subplot where Peter discovers that he may or may not have a long lost daughter. This game is chock full of story related content, and no simple recap of mine can really get across how much there is to consume. I suggest simply playing it for yourself to find out what I mean.
Gameplay:
While most modern games are open world, or at the very least can be completed by players at their own pace, this is a very VERY linear game. It’s divided into something like 16 chapters. Each chapter represents a significant event in the game’s story. Chapter One is the crew scavenging the debris field, Chapter Two is them getting arrested, etc. It’s very formulaic. You explore a world, fight some bad guys, collect hidden items, square off against a boss character, and then you return to your ship, the Milano. While aboard the Milano, you can walk around, talk to your shipmates, pick up items, upgrade your inventory at the work bench, that kind of thing. When you’re ready to move on, head to the ship’s bridge and set sail for your next destination. Down you go to the next planet, where you fight bad guys, explore, collect items, fight a boss character, etc. Then you return to the Milano. Then you head to a new planet. Then to the Milano. On and on it goes. You can’t pick which planet to go to next. You have to follow the game’s set in stone, linear direction.
Exploration is similar to something you’d see in, well, pretty much any behind-the-back 3D action game. You can run, jump, shoot, climb things, pick up items, and use your scanner to look for anything interesting. Keep in mind that you will only be controlling Peter Quill in this game, and none of the other Guardians. That doesn’t mean you can’t give them directions, however. Each of the Guardians has their own use while exploring. Groot can use his roots to create bridges, Gamora can scale walls and give you a boost to higher locations, that kind of thing.
Combat is pretty fun in this game. You use the shoulder buttons to lock on and fire your weapons at enemies. There are different things you can do with your guns, like double-tapping and holding the fire button to deliver an extra powerful blast, or lining up a little meter and hitting the button at the right time to do extra damage to your enemies. As you progress you’ll unlock special abilities for your gun, like electrify or freeze. Each enemy has a weakness that you can exploit. If you’re fighting someone who has a lightning bolt above their head, they are vulnerable to your electric attack – so you want to use your electricity gun against them. Simple enough, right?
You can also call upon the Guardians to help you during battle with a special attack. Each Guardian starts out with one special attack, but as you make it deeper into the game and earn ability points, you can unlock additional, more powerful special attacks for both Peter and the Guardians. Every once in a while you’ll be prompted to hit L1 and R1 at the same time. This activates a special mode where you’re given a chance to give a pep talk to your team. If you succeed, everyone gets a boost to their stats while a classic rock song plays in the background. I have to admit, it was pretty badass the first time I did this and the entire battle I was in became a music video for “I Ran So Far Away” by Flock of Seagulls.
While combat is a lot of fun, it does get old over time. There’s little variety to any of the battles. You shoot. You call the Guardians to do special attacks for you. You use the environment as a weapon. Occasionally you’ll give your team a pep talk. But there are SO MANY battles in this game that it gets repetitive pretty quickly. There were segments towards the end of the game where I literally sighed and groaned each time I’d enter combat because I was so over it.
Graphics:
This is an absolutely phenomenal looking game. Each location you enter is stunning, and filled with all kinds of small details. Some of the planets contain breathtaking views and vistas. Even smaller scale locations like The Milano or Peter’s farm are a marvel to look at due to all the details they are filled with. Bright colors, shiny effects. There is always something pleasant to look at to keep your eyes busy when playing this game.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the redesign of the Guardians for this game. It was a bit jarring seeing a different representation of Star Lord from the Chris Pratt version I’ve been seeing on the big screen for years now. Same with Drax and with Gamora. It took me a while to get used to their new physical looks, but once I did – all of the changes worked perfectly for me.
Sound:
Just like it took me a while to adjust to the new looks of these characters, it took me a while to adjust to their new voices too. Peter and Drax in particular just seemed… off to me. But before I knew it, their voices and looks became second nature to me. Speaking of their voices, this game is filled with all kinds of banter between characters. Even if you’re just taking your time and slowly exploring the nooks and crannies of the Milano, you’ll hear Drax shout out to you to initiate a conversation from halfway across the ship. Or you’ll hear and eavesdrop on a long conversation between Gamora and Rocket about philosophy and life. When you’re exploring planets, the characters constantly talk to each other as well. In any other game, the constant jibber jabber could be an annoying gimmick, but in this one it works perfectly. That’s due to the strong voice acting and the strong writing.
All the little environmental sound effects are perfect, like the hum of the ship or the clatter of an unseen pipe. What stands out the most in my personal opinion is the game’s soundtrack. The Guardians movies are well known for their awesome musical moments, and the game delivers on this as well. I don’t know the exact number, but there are something like 15 to 20 classic hits that you can listen to at any time when onboard the Milano. These songs also play during important story moments or when your characters huddle up in battle. The songs they pick are just absolutely perfect for this game and never seem out of place at all. My personal favorite is “Turn Me Loose” by Loverboy. I love that song.
Overall:
I feel bad saying anything negative about this game because its graphics, sound, storyline, and overall production values are so good. You can tell that a lot of time and effort was put into this game in order to make it a truly immersive Guardians of the Galaxy experience. But window dressing aside, its gameplay is nothing we haven’t seen a million times already.
The climbing and jumping and exploring is reminiscent of an Assassin’s Creed or Uncharted game. Your scanner is like detective mode in an Arkam game, or like Aloy’s Focus in Horizon Zero Dawn. Combat is like any other “lock on and shoot” third person game out there. Battles are repetitive. Puzzles are simple and easy to figure out. Level progression is extraordinarily linear. As far as gameplay goes, very little got me excited as I played through this game.
It says a lot that this game’s characters and its story were enough to get me through it. I really enjoyed this variation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. I cared deeply for every character and their backstory. There are even some touching Peter moments as you make it deep into the game. So reviewing this is a balancing act for me. Average gameplay with above average visuals and storyline. Just how do you grade a game like that?
Normally I toss graphics and that kind of thing aside and focus solely on the fun factor, but I feel as if in the case of a game like this, you have to take everything into account. Character development and story are just as integral to this game as its gameplay. Look at any Telltale game. Heck, they even had their own version of Guardians of the Galaxy. Gameplay is always shit in those games, but their stories and characters generally pull them through for me. I’ve rarely given a Telltale game a poor review score. This game has characters and story moments that rival what you’d see in any Telltale game, and its gameplay is light years better. So it should get a glowing final grade, right? Right?
I don’t know. As much as I liked this game, I still think back on all the repetitive fights and all the boring exploration sequences and remember how much of a drag they were. While on the whole this is a good game, yes, I just can’t justify giving it anything higher than a B. In fact, I’m fluctuating between a B and a B-. It could go either way! I won’t decide until the moment I click publish on this blog entry. So what’s it going to be…..?
THE GRADE:
B-
There you have it.
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