Game review 08 September 2020, 16:01

author: Adam Zechenter

Marvel's Avengers Review – Not Bad, Should Only Get Better!

Marvel's Avengers is a game service that has a nice story campaign and a promising endgame. And since it will be supported for a long time, we hope the developers will mend mistakes and turn a good game into a great one.

The review is based on the PS4 version. It's also relevant to XONE version(s).

Remember the first Iron Man armor crafted by Tony Stark when he was held captive in Afghanistan? If not, be reminded that Mark 1 was crude, slow and looked like a medieval armor, but when it came to wreaking havoc, it did quite well. And that's pretty much Marvel's Avengers. It's a nice game that has the potential to take it to a whole other level.

We will meet the beloved characters from this vast universe, the story campaign is extremely cinematic and there are some great moments, and collecting new items and slapping bad guys is a lot of fun – at the same time, it's clear that this is just the beginning of the road. On top of that, numerous errors, crudeness and optimization problems spoil the overall experience. That's nothing, though, because Marvel's Avengers could turn out a great game next year. It just requires rounding some edges and patching a few flaws.

That's a cool movie you're playing

Hitchcock was a great director. He knew quite a lot about movies and earthquakes. The creators of Marvel's Avengers seem to have taken his maxim to heart. The loud opening of our new headquarters in San Francisco is expected to be crowned by the launch of Chimera, the new Avengers' aircraft carrier powered by mysterious terrigen crystals. Under unclear circumstances, the reactor on the ship violently explodes. Large parts of the city are leveled, tens of thousands of people die, and under the influence of a mysterious fog, hundreds of others gain powers they often cannot control. You don't have to wait long for the results. The Avengers are disbanded, the superheroism is banned and outlawed, and the A. I. M. organization is charged with getting the world back together.

Truth be told, after this moment, tensions doesn't really rise anymore. But in this case, it's not a terrible waste. The story in the game, like in a typical MCU movie, is more like veggies than a burger. It's light, pleasant, easily digestible. You'll soon forget it, but as long as it lasts, it's fun. I don't think anyone was expecting for a story masterpiece the like The Last Of Us or Red Dead Redemption.

The plot takes place five years after the events of the tragic A-Day. It's rather easy to guess that our task will be assembling the team back, and exposing the AIM. As well as preventing the diabolical plans from being realized. The campaign obeys the same tropes and follows the same themes as the comics and movies. There's many well-directed cut-scenes, some thrilling moments, witty dialogues and the characters, almost identical to movies, came out really good – the only difference is their faces, but you can't have it all.

15 hours of campaign, and then what?

The Avengers story can be finished in about fifteen hours; later, missions become more generic. Endgame, like endgame, focuses not on telling stories, but on developing characters and collecting ever-better loot. Conservative fans of traditional single-player games won't be thrilled that Marvel's Avengers is very ostensibly a service game – it's very apparent from the onset There's a micropayment shop, many different raw materials and currencies that we collect almost from the first moments of the adventure, and that can be daunting. Rest assured, however, that the entire game can be easily completed without paying any attention to the looting elements.

After learning the whole story, you will already know what the endgame grind is about, and you will be able to decide whether it's worth getting into. If you only enjoy diabloid games, it's certainly worth it. Still, all the numbers, currencies and other bs typical of service games can be a little overwhelming. So be warned.

Kamala's cool

The game is obviously full of characters known from the comic books. There's Hulk wreaking havoc, Thor casting lightnings, and Black Widow sneaking past unaware enemies. It's a good thing that among the classic, and slightly hackneyed characters, there was also a bit of freshness. Kamala Khan, who works under the pseudonym Ms. Marvel is a new superhero, known so far only from a handful of comic books. And Kamala is my personal favorite in Marvel's Avengers.

In the superhero game Ms. Marvel is their superfan. She gets excited about meeting each hero, reminds them of their great deeds and throws a lot of jokes. She has a few funny comebacks, and she's able to motivate the team. It's mostly her who fuels the humor in the game; she's genuinely funny in the good, old way that's a hallmark of Marvel. Kamala is not the only one who is performed with mastery. The faces of the heroes, different from the movies, evoke the feeling of "fake" at first, but it's rather easy to get used to them. Sure, they are different: Iron Man looks a litter weird, Thor is ok since he looks like Chris Hemsworth anyway; and the new Black Widow completely bought me. Importantly, though, the fantastic dialogs make you completely forget such trifles. Nolan North (best known as the voice of Nathan Drake) as Tony Stark is great. Troy Baker (aka Joel from The Last of Us) as Bruce Banner (Hulk) also did a really good job.

HULK SMASH

Diablo or Desitny might have interesting character development systems, a mass of buildings and a ton of exotic items, but all of this would be for nothing if it weren't for satisfying combat systems. Fortunately, Marvel's Avengers, though much more crude than the aforementioned games, are doing quite well in these terms. It's actually good enough for combat to become one of the main incentives to keep playing. Smashing tanks and frying people with Iron Man's rays is huge fun.

In a game that's kind of a walking brawl, we of course get a slew of combos. But if you don't like learning them by heart, don't worry – the game doesn't require huge dexterity to perform them. Over time, of course, as the difficulty level goes up, skill starts to play a bigger role, but it's still not Street Fighter level. Player's who have problems coping in brawler games, won't have any issues in Marvel's Avengers.

There's not much point writing about combat – the only thing I should say is that it's satisfying. The raging Hulk actually makes the appearance of an indestructible monster, Thor's hammer pounding enemies makes metallic sounds, and Iron Man's laser instantly evaporates thugs. The occasional slowdowns and the full contextuality of the fight only underscore the spectacle. Of course, it's not quite the level of 2018's Spider-Man, as the mechanics here are more crude, but each character has unique attacks, skills or finishers, so if you get tired of Black Widow you can just switch to Iron Man.

In addition, the superheroes have an interesting way of reinforcing each other by taunting enemies, becoming tanks, healing allies or power them up. This solution works particularly well when we play with friends, or random players from around the world. If anyone prefers solo play, though, the AI is also quite capable. They'll resurrect you as need be. They don't get lost, and remember to launch their ultimate attacks. You mostly won't feel the need to team up with living players unless you're playing on higher difficulty levels.

Waiter, there's Diablo in my Avengers

The impact of Dark Souls on the video game industry is often discussed in the media and among players. Years ago, it was all about Diablo. And indeed, most of the games we love today has at least some elements first brought to mainstream by Diablo, or at least propagated by it. From the colors of the loot, the entire game loop involves fighting, collecting new weapons, and facing increasingly powerful enemies. In this sense, Marvel's Avengers is an offspring of Diablo.

All fans of hack’n’slash grinding will quickly find themselves at home. Completing the campaign is just the beginning – just like in the series by Blizzard, you don't have to worry particularly about building or looking for specific items. We go through the game, trade our equipment (there's actually a single key that puts on the best items for you automatically) and kick asses for the right cause. After reaching endgame, things start to get more tricky.

Remember Anthem? That game had a reasonably long campaign, but the 30 hours completely exhausted the content and mechanics. Crystal Dynamics didn't make that mistake.

Yes, Marvel's Avengers is a big game – like Ms. Marvel after launching ulti. At the end of the campaign, there are still missions for each of the six heroes, additional world order missions, sabotages and other generic quests. We also get special requests from both allied factions – SHIELD and Inhumans. There's plenty to get done. Provided, of course, that you like grind and watching your character's prowess steadily increase. And since it's a service game, there will be more characters and missions over time. So if you enjoy this type of entertainment, don't be afraid – it's another Anthem.

I am Groot

I am Groot

Admittedly, the amiable Groot isn't in the game, but that doesn't mean we've run out of wood. Above all, it feels like the game was released a tad too early. Think of a type of glitch, and chances are you'll find it Marvel's Avengers. Textures popping-in? Check. Sound glitches? Check. Dropping frame rates? Obviously, yes. Long loadings? Camera trouble? Freezing? It's nothing that would break the game, but it's also hard not to notice. Unfortunately, that's not all.

Marvel's Avengers also has other issues. The fights can get pretty illegible in the heat of battle, with all the effects. The game can sometimes look pretty ugly (some textures are clearly last-gen), and the uber-generic rooms of subsequent labs we explore are completely unremarkable. The interiors get more repetitive with every hour. Recycling is of course present in all games, but it's much more pronounced here than in Desitny or The Divison. Apart from the bosses, regular enemies are also rather bland. Generic sci-fi villains, nothing more.

Wooden objects often collide with the animations of the characters, the camera sometimes loses the most important bit of a finisher, showing us the other side of textures instead. After Spider-Man or the Batman: Arkham series, I got used to a little more. The interface also seems a little unpolished, as it can obscure key information... all of these issues in Marvel's Avengers are all the more poignant at the threshold of next-gen.

Waiting for more

There are times when Marvel's Avengers shines like Captain America's freshly polished shield. When we go on a rampage through the lab as Hulk, smashing everything along the way, it's genuinely thrilling. Same as when watching Thor finish the last enemy with a powerful blow of the hammer in slow-mo. Listening to Iron Man boasting about his own achievements or watching the nice cinematic cut-scenes is genuine fun. That's when we feel that this game has potential – and if the developers were able to fully realize it, we would get a great game. For now, it's simply very good.

I think Marvel’s Avengers will be less Thor: The Dark World and more Thor Ragnarok in a year. If the developers can deal with the glitches and optimization, improve the interface, reduce the overall crudeness and tweak the graphics, adding new characters and missions in the meantime, we'll be in for a great game. Fingers crossed. There's still a ton of grind ahead.