Marvel’s Avengers
Developed by Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Nixxes
Published by Square Enix
Release Date September 4 for PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One
on the Helicarrier Chimera
Avengers Assemble! Again!
With the final culmination of the Infinity Stones series in the MCU, why not keep up with the money making with a new game? From Square Enix comes this new iteration of the Avengers. At the beginning of the story, we have Avengers Day, a celebration of our famed, costumed heroes. However, like any good story, some tragedy befalls the group.
An attack during the celebration causes a general distrust and abandonment of all supers. After five years time, there is still heavy distrust and negativity against superheroes but a young Kamala Khan, affected by the event, is trying to bring back the Avengers. With the assistance of Bruce Banner, they are able to get J.A.R.V.I.S. up and running in the Chimera and get to working on bringing the band back together.
As you start adventuring out into the world you will run into various forces from A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics). While defeating the baddies, you’ll find equipment, comics, and collection pieces that will increase your abilities and power. You can use other items to increase the usefulness of your equipment that will improve it to allow advanced tactics and abilities. With different challenges and events occurring within the game, you grow and experience a completely new story than we’ve ever seen.
The Review
After giving the Closed Beta a whirl, I got several impressions about the upcoming title. Initially, I was very captured by the visuals of the game and the characters (even after having to bring my graphics settings down to minimal). I’m glad that the Avengers don’t actually look like their MCU stars since this is an off-shoot universe. The game’s kinetic action and rapid battling pulls you in. However, the feel of some of the battling and controls (at least using mouse and keyboard) felt a little off and felt similar to Rocksteady Studio’s Batman Arkham titles.
The plot of the game seemed to move in a very solid, front-forward motion even up to the point where you get access to the War Table (the open mission selector). I feel that the story in the beginning, especially with the mentor/mentee relationship of Banner and Khan was engaging and spirited without feeling boring. The possibilities for future stories and events will be exceptional if the developers can keep up this kind of depth of dialogue. It will be very exciting to see post-launch content.
the open world
One of the parts that kind of got to me was the equipment and item system. With the way that they are found, advanced and used felt kind of Injustice 2-like without the cosmetic variable. I understand that sometimes some of the finer points of a game may seem similar to other titles due to limited variations but this feels a little phoned in. I’m hoping that the full title or a future update may give some additional variability or different feel to the item system. At least from the Beta standpoint, it’s a good start and I hope that it improves.
Overall, I feel that Marvel’s Avengers is a good title with room for improvement. This dynamic gem has some very sharp and refined edges but there is, in this author’s opinion, some very rough edges that need work. The attention to detail on the visuals and the story leads to a very rich environment. The fleshing out of the game needs to be a focus and attention to the areas that are underwhelming is paramount to keeping the game fresh and exciting. I will be keeping an eye on the title and hope that it shows as much love to the Marvel Universe as the comics and movies its based upon.