Review: Guardians of the Galaxy – Surprise of the Year

Square Enix with the release of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy He walked on tiptoe. This isn’t crazy either. marvel avengers It was a huge disappointment and this game was made by A-studio for developer Crystal Dynamics. After all, they were responsible for Reboot the Tomb Raider And the wonderful sequel Rise of the Tomb Raider.

B-studio from Crystal Dynamics, which we found disappointing Shadow of the Tomb Raider I got to work with Guardians of the Galaxy. How the tables have turned! Despite the publisher’s modesty with Guardians’ announcement, it turned out to be a great game. I laughed and enjoyed myself from start to finish. Great story, great characters and above all lots of humor. This is great in a video game.

Guardians team

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a single-player narrative game without any microtransactions or multiplayer content. As a player you get Peter Quill aka Star-Lord under the controls. The team as you no doubt consists of the beautiful Gamora, the rather dumb Drax, the cheeky Rocket without the raccoon and the tree-like Groot. Although you won’t be controlling these characters yourself, you can give them commands, which often amount to epic combos.

The developer knows exactly what the magic of Guardians of the Galaxy is and has been using it right from the start. Peter Quill was of course born on this planet in the ’80s, and so you can expect a lot of music back then, but also flashbacks to his youth weighed down by what was great at the time. Star Wars, old video games, they’re all coming up.

When you start the game, you will quickly discover that the guardians are, of course, not real superheroes. Although this is especially Peter’s dream, it is actually a group of idiots trying to make their money by catching strange monsters, which they then try to sell for a good price. After the first mission, things immediately went wrong, because the group was on a forbidden planet. You will be escorted by the authorities and you will receive a large fine. The first part of the game is all about paying the fine, but it soon becomes clear that a religious sect is taking power in the universe. It’s up to the team to stop that.

strangest creatures

What can be immediately noticed is that the developer mainly wants to focus on telling a story. Sometimes you won’t see any action for up to half an hour, but then the game focuses on dialogues and solving various puzzles. The game feels old-fashioned; Developers these days seem to fear losing a player’s attention if they don’t give a shot of dopamine every few minutes.

Well, this player loves to watch a story, especially when it is as funny as this one. Discussions between Rocket and Peter, where Groot provides the necessary depth with the very catchy phrase “I am Groot.” As a player, you are often presented with options. I laughed out loud when we encountered an abyss and was given the option of throwing a missile to the other side against his will by Drax. Drax blindly followed my satisfying mission and the Rocket Cannon made me laugh out loud.

Usually the tension in the team is cut and it is special that they stay together. Fortunately, as a team you will face the most unusual characters in the universe. Unlike many superheroes on Earth, there is nothing too crazy about Guardians. Cosmo the Dog will provide you commands later in the game. It is located on the planet Knowhere and here is a group of alien aliens that deserve to be admired. Tasty.

Story, gameplay and puzzles

Next, the gameplay, which is not as in-depth as in, for example, Spider Man. It’s simpler in scope, with Star-Lord shooting primarily with two firearms. But during this shooter you will be constantly in control of your teammates. Each of them has a number of super attacks (you can unlock more and more in the game) that you can select during the battle.

Groot, for example, can pin opponents to his branches, Rocket prefers to hold on to explosives, while Drax and Gamora cut through. Managing your teammates is really cool; You actually feel like a team leader. Of course you will eventually be able to make different combinations with the whole team and you can become very strong as a team after building process get togetherTeam building moment. very nice.

Besides the story and the action, the third pillar of the game is the puzzles. These can be very complicated at times, but it never gets boring, again due to the interaction between the five team members. As the game progresses, the puzzles will of course become more difficult and you will have to enlist the help of the team more and more. For example, Groot can create bridges, Rocket can penetrate objects and crawl through small spaces, Drax is especially strong and Gamora can climb well. It’s so good to do a ten minute puzzle sometimes, it changes focus and gives the game some calm and space to let the team be the team.

conclusion

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is the surprise of the year in my opinion. A single player narrative game that does not rely solely on this action. The game is performed by the five heroes and more than once you will have to laugh out loud at the well-written (and sometimes cute) dialogues. The action may not be as forward-thinking as Spider-Man, but directing your team makes you feel like the leader of the group. Since we are not dealing with superheroes on Earth, every planet or spacecraft you visit is a discovery in itself, with strange environments and even strange characters/creatures.

At the risk of falling into the quagmire of “Grandfather Tells”, you are ready for the ancient narrative action game without microtransactions, open worlds where you have to spend sixty hours and the madness of multiplayer. Guardians of this only. Great story game with fun action, lots of funny moments and relaxing puzzles. Highly recommended!