Square-Enix’s second bite of the Marvel cherry, following Marvel’s Avengers, allows players to step into the jet boots of one Peter Quill, AKA Star-Lord, in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Whilst I read a lot of comics, I don’t recall ever reading an issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. The only Star-Lord comic book I ever read was a reprint of the original Star-Lord story from Marvel Previews #4, a story retconned out of existence. Like most people, I went into the Guardians of the Galaxy game with only the movies as reference.

The above means that, somewhat like Marvel’s Avengers, the game feels a bit like an off-brand depiction of the movie characters. It’s a bit unfair, really, but first impressions count.

Unlike Marvel’s Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy feels like a complete product out of the box. The polished presentation is as you’d expect from Square Enix, especially after being burned with their first Marvel title.

Guardians is a more traditional linear single-player action / exploration / shooter played in the third person. The game focuses on Peter Quill, the self-styled Star-Lord, and the crew of his ship, The Milano, together they are the titular Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite their benevolent moniker, the Guardians are really thieves, loveable rogues at best.

Quill is joined by the core Guardian’s lineup from the movies, each having their own specialty aiding the team in their adventure. The Mad Titan, Thanos’s adopted daughter, Gamora, is an expert with blades. Brutish Drax the Destroyer is the team’s overly serious heavy hitter.

Rocket is a cybernetically enhanced raccoon and serves as the crew’s tech expert, explosives specialist, and enterer of small spaces. Sentient plant, Groot, can trap enemies and use his extendable branch-like limbs to help the Guardian get to otherwise out-of-reach places.

The game draws heavily on the comic book mythology, the story namedropping a few other heavy-hitters from Marvel’s cosmic capers. The Guardians may, or may not have, unleashed an entity that will take over the universe if not stopped.

The threat is so dire that even Nova Corps Worldmind has given up. It’s up to the Guardians to save the universe, whilst pursued by bounty hunters, on a journey that takes players to places familiar (Knowhere, the space station curved from the skull of a dead celestial), and new.

The story is really good, capturing the humour and characterisations of the team, perfectly. Quill seems out of his depth, but faking it until he makes it, Drax is as stoic as in the movies and Rocket is a wiseass. Gamora collects dolls and Groot still has limited verbalisation for a planet with so much to say.

The conversations with the team members and other characters affect relationships, which translates into different opportunities and occurrences during the game. There are some nice visual gags, the fridge door, for instance, and there’s a space lama loose on the Milano.

There is a heavy focus on combat. Whilst players control Peter Quill, they get to occasionally command the other members of the team when exploring and during battles.  The game tries to incorporate the team into the gameplay as much as possible rather than have the player’s Star-Lord as some sort of one-man army.

It kind of works and it kind of doesn’t.

During combat, Peter Quill’s participation is vital, as you’d expect, what sort of game plays itself, letting the player feel like a loose end? But in being the competent saviour of the group in combat, this goes against Quill’s character as being a bit of a doofus. Apart from taking direct control of the other characters, I’m not sure how they could overcome this.

And, after all, Star-Lord is the de facto leader of the team.

In commanding the team, players get to utilise the other character’s special abilities to help turn the tide of the battles. Combat sequences are pretty good but do lack a bit of finesse, especially early on. For a game with so much combat, it’s a bit chaotic and messy. Not, however, as messy as the starship combat in the Milano, which is atrocious.

Occasionally players get to command Star-Lord’s ship, The Milano. What could be a fun dogfighting sequence zipping around shooting the enemy instead feels a bit on rails with some weird controls.

Each character has a skill tree that can be unlocked as players gain XP. This allows for a better choice of special attacks during combat. Collected scrap can also be used to buff Peter Quill, with the help of Rocket, via a workbench.

There are also different costumes to find. These allow players to customise the team with other threads taken from the comics, the movies and designed especially for the game.

I can’t fault the game’s absolutely phenomenal visuals, The exterior environment look fantastic and some have a massive scale. The ship interiors can be a bit bland, but that’s to be expected.

The character models are very detailed and expertly animated. This is especially noteworthy considering the developer has managed to bring both a talking tree and a cybernetically-enhanced raccoon to life. The plot and voice acting are superb, evoking the style and humour of the movies. The 80s soundtrack is also very much in keeping with the styling of the big-screen adaptations with the like of Wham and Rick Astley on the playlist.

This is a game that is better when viewed as the sum of its parts. I loved the story and the idea. The linear nature of the game, whilst enabling the writers an easy time (which they’ve used to full and excellent advantage), makes it a bit of a missed opportunity.

They have taken a few cues from EA’s Mass Effect, but it would be a much better game if they’d adopted the same star-spanning mission-based gameplay and let the player explore the galaxy as they see fit. Instead, the story and dialogue carry the game over the actual gameplay a little more than I’d like.

Guardians of the Galaxy is not perfect, but when viewed as a complete package it’s a solid title and a game that shouldn’t be overlooked.

The post Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Star-Lord (Peter Quill), Groot, Drax, Gamora and Rocket just can’t keep themselves out of trouble as the unlikely group aim to be THE Guardians of the Galaxy.

In this new Marvel licensed title, Square Enix and developers Eidos-Monreal have gone back to the roots of Guardians of the Galaxy (GOTG) with the comic book take instead of being a sidekick to the films.

The story starts out with a 13 year old Peter at home with his mum. His Dad left to fight in a war.

There’s a lot of 80’s nostalgia and easter eggs not only throughout this entire game, but right at the start as you play as young Peter in his room, rocking out to the glam metal band Star-Lord.

If you’re familiar with the GOTG story ten you’ll know the rest. If you’ve never schooled yourself up on how Peter reinvents himself as the Galactic hero Star-Lord, then I’m not going to ruin it for you, as the game will tell the backstory via flashbacks.

Your adventure in deep space begins, on the hunt for a monster which is going to net you a large bounty.

In tradition of the goings-on for the group it doesn’t all go to plan. Infact they only have a vague description of what this monster even looks like… okay, not even really a description.

Located in the remains of a giant scrapyard held together by interstellar goop Peter accidentally releases another creature, one that none of the team recognise as it begins to devour and destroy everything around it.

But things get worse.

They’re busted and arrested by Nova Corp. The police of the Galaxy.

Peter manages to negotiate their freedom with Nova Corps leader (and ex) by way of accepting a large fine with a small payment window that they can’t afford.

So if you don’t have the funds, why not, ah, liberate it from someone that does… like Lady Hellbender.

Guardians of the Galaxy, the game, is played out in third person. At most times you will have the rest of the crew around you, and you will make use of their skills via a in-game and in-play character select.

You wont play as them, but can command Rocket, Groot, Drax and Gamora to perform certain skills. For the most part, you wont be able to move forward unless you do.

Combat moments (and there’s a lot of those) are graded on how well you did and thus you’re rewarded, eventually, with Ability Points.

You’ll need these to upgrade not only your skills as Peter, but you can also upgrade the other members of the team too.

There’s also dialogue specific intervals where you’ll need to make a choice on what to say. What you select as your response will affect the outcome of what happens next and your path through the story. Much like those pick a path books from the 1980’s.

Then there’s some really tricky QTE moments.

While GOTG game is not open world, it is expansive. Explore and you’ll find snippets of stories related to the environment you’re currently in, or bits of the main narrative.

There’s also a lot of scrap to be discovered, pocketed and hidden away within levels. Find a work bench and get Rocket to upgrade your gear. Peter’s visor and jet boots will become a necessary tool soon in to play.

Backed with a killer 80’s music playlist gameplay varies from action to flight shooter simulation and even in-level mini-games.

You’ll play through in single player and commanding the rest of the GOTG team and work through the mega-story at your own pace.

But the game itself requires you to be online at all times. This is GOTG’s achilles heel on Xbox.

With the current and known Wifi dropping bug in Xbox Series X|S every one to two hours in to gameplay you’ll get kicked out of the game. Then you’ll need to restart the console and pick up from where you left off.

A patch for the game would be ideal to play the single player offline, as this title is so immersive and so good that you’ll really want to keep playing through, ideally uninterrupted.

The humour, the music, the references and innuendo’s, even a Rick-Roll, GOTG is one  heel of an excellent game.

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