After witnessing the Marvel universe come to life on the big screen in various iterations, it was up to game developers to match their film-making counterparts in creating something worthwhile to play. The success of Playstation 4-exclusive “Marvel’s Spider-Man” gave way to talk about what other Marvel franchises would make a great video game experience in this generation. SquareEnix soon announced that they, alongside developer Crystal Dynamics, were working on an Avengers game that wouldn’t just be something a person would play, finish the story, and put down; promising to boost the multiplayer-centric experience with more missions, bosses, and loot than someone could shake their elastic fist at. After playing the rather bare-bones beta, I found myself disappointed; hoping that the full game offered a lot more than mundane multiplayer missions and lacking character development.
Did I Complete “Marvel’s Avengers”?
Though the game’s focus is having players team up while playing as one of six super-powered heroes (Captain America, Black Widow, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, & Ms. Marvel) in various, though similar missions with the hope of gaining copious loot & gear, there is a story available for completion. After a little over ten hours, I completed the rather entertaining story with newly minted Avenger Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan being the focus early on as she attempts to reunite the quintet of heroes after they fall out of the public’s good favor.
Thanks to the game’s nature and the post-game “Avengers Initiative” mode, “Avengers” offers more to do than just a story mode with dozens of multiplayer missions available alongside a road map for future updates including characters & narrative expansions. With the game constantly being updated it’s impossible to complete “Avengers” as of this time, though gaining full trophy/achievement completion should take at least sixty to eighty hours with much grinding to level things such as reaching rank twenty-five in any faction working alongside the Avengers or freeing 100 prisoners (though there are reports of certain trophies/achievements currently being glitched).
Did “Marvel’s Avengers” Live Up to the Hype?
“Marvel’s Avengers” offers the player an opportunity to bust up nameless humans & robots with the strengths of each Avenger; though the base gameplay for everyone is basically the same. Players can mix light and heavy strikes with both having the ability to be charged by holding down their respective button. Charging heavy strikes is very important in combat considering it can break an enemy’s guard or shield for a follow-up combo. Certain characters like Captain America have charged heavy attacks that propel enemies for short air combos. Thor & Iron Man also have the ability to fly with the latter really utilizing flight to pick off enemies from afar thanks to his missiles or lasers depending on what style of play the player chooses courtesy of the game’s skill tree.
Ranged attacks also vary in presentation from character to character with, say, Ms. Marvel’s elastic fists not having the same effectiveness of Thor’s hammer; a weapon that does damage both going & coming back if it hits a target. After landing enough attacks, each character can perform a takedown on a stunned adversary that restores a small bit of health. Dodging & blocking are very important to master as the power levels grow due to enemies hitting a lot harder. Certain enemies flash yellow or red before executing an attack with the latter being unblockable and the player either having to roll or jump over the incoming assault. Yellow-colored or even non-colored attacks can be blocked. If the player can block right before the enemy hits their character said Avenger will perform a parry for an immediate counterattack. Due to the hectic nature of fights and the amount of enemies on screen at a time, parrying can prove inconsistent.
Though on the surface these characters definitely have differences, a majority of battles boil down to mashing the strike buttons while periodically utilizing the one of three special abilities each character has. Character’s special attacks range from Ms. Marvel’s team healing support maneuver to The Hulk pulling off his Thunderclap. These upgradable special attacks are so fun to use & see, but takes a long time to recharge upon use for the obvious reason the developers didn’t want players abusing said attacks for easy fights.
There are two major factors that expands the combat: Gear and the skill tree. The skill tree allows for players to upgrade each character via Skill Points gained when the character levels up from slaughtering a great amount of enemies or completing missions & challenges. Though expansive, the skill tree isn’t that daunting in terms of options such as combo extenders for either light or heavy strikes, improved ranged attacks, and even modifying how special attacks function (like extending the longevity of Capt’s “Brooklyn Brawler” special by performing takedowns).
Gear is the basis of strength in this game. By using resources found from containers, dropped by enemies, bought from vendors, earned by completing “Faction” missions/challenges such as beating up a certain amount of enemy types, & extracted from dismantled Gear in the player’s inventory, gamers can upgrade whatever Gear is equipped to each character. Depending on the mission selected, players may need to either improve equipped Gear or grind for better Gear with the intent of matching or surpassing the mission level requirement to avoid running the risk of a crushing defeat at the hands of enemies no different in presentation at level five as they are at level fifty; just more health & being able to hit harder. Some Gear has special Perks like Hulk’s new fist bones allowing him to potentially irradiate a struck opponent.
Gear isn’t cosmetic in nature, just a physical depiction of numbers gained by equipping it in the menu. A majority of skins, extra takedowns, and even character-specific emotes can be attained through sheer grinding to earn in-game currency & gaining five character levels, or, not surprisingly, by purchasing “Hero Challenge Cards” with real money. Though the game does give the player some cool skins by completing the story, a majority of character skins or the impressive extras will never be seen by the player outside the preview menu without spending actual money or way too many hours.
While certain aspects of the combat and even the loot system are disappointing, the story mostly isn’t with the early hours being some of the most fun. In the beta, Kamala Khan was presented as the “chosen one” who just so happens to befriend Bruce Banner after the fall of The Avengers following a catastrophic event. The actual full story presentation showcases a young woman who found power through superheroes before she becomes one herself due to an incident beyond her control. The early time spent with Kamala sees her realize how difficult it truly is to be a powered hero while potentially losing everything she holds dear physically, emotionally & even fictionally.
Unfortunately the story’s latter half really peters out due to mission padding and some reunions feeling like they come out of nowhere after Iron Man is introduced. Thor literally returns to form via a fleeing crowd with no build while dressed like he’s a tour guide. There are also too few boss battles with the first two of five (though the Warbot & Warship battles could be considered sub-bosses) happening in the first two hours and the other two being saved for the last pair of hours. The final mission is, easily, the most epic presentation point in the entire game and what “Avengers” could’ve been if the focus was more on the narrative and not on monotonous multiplayer missions meant for grinding.
Though some story missions have the same qualities of the multiplayer offerings, it isn’t until entering “Avengers Initiative” that the player sees how unimaginative the mission objectives and settings are. The player(s) will most likely start in a wooded area, abandoned city, arctic tundra, or the Utah badlands before reaching a laboratory where the Avengers will have to destroy something like a turbine or stand in a block so JARVIS can hack into the antagonist’s server. In some cases the scenarios mix & match the victory stipulations to extend missions without actually adding any true variety. The most unique missions like fighting Taskmaster outside of the story features characters being at a rather high level (a common theme for the harder challenges where enemies aren’t really any different, just hit harder because of their level) without changing any type of strategy or gameplay methods. At release, the multiplayer mission presentation is lacking at best and monotonous at worse.
Technically, the game is definitely rough. Trying to gain players in multiplayer via matchmaking can take a good amount of time (an issue associated with beta as well). Thankfully a majority of multiplayer experience is solid with few to no disconnects; though matchmaking according to levels is nonexistent with under-leveled players being paired with someone at character level 100 being the norm. Performance issues are plentiful with graphical & audio glitches occurring randomly, the game not registering checkpoints at times, and frequent framerate drops during the most heated moments where a plethora of enemies are onscreen at one time. Loading screens are ridiculously long be it trying to load up a multiplayer game or reset a failed mission. Thankfully hard crashes were nonexistent on a base PS4 while losing connection to the server only happened when the game updated itself.
Considering what’s come before it such as the PS4-exclusive “Marvel’s Spider-Man” or even the “Arkham” Batman games from the past two generations, expectations for “Avengers” were high until the information of what “Marvel’s Avengers” truly is came to light: a grind-heavy, multiplayer experience that has a fun, though all-too-short story padded by the same type of missions players will inevitably take part in during “Avengers Initiative”. While not a bad game in the least, the idea of what this could have been and what it is leaves a lot to be desired in its base form.
Should You Play “Marvel’s Avengers”?
For those who were hoping for something similar to the PS4 “Spider-Man” game will be sorely disappointed after the first ten or so hours of playing “Avengers”. Instead, “Avengers” plays like a super-powered version of “Destiny” or “Anthem” where the players are meant to jump into the world, beat up some repetitious enemies, stand in a single spot for several seconds to minutes, and test out the new Gear gained from completing the previous mission. Players who aren’t against the idea of a “games as a service” “Avengers” experience will mostly enjoy this offering once a majority of the free DLC expansions are released, or the “Complete/Ultimate/Game of the Year” edition is inevitably made for both current & next gen systems and PC (though Spider-Man may still be exclusive to the Playstation versions). Hopefully by the time that “complete” edition arrives a majority of the gameplay issues will be ironed out and feature more mission variety. No matter if you get it now, wait for a sale, or pick up the “complete” version when it arrives, it’s hard to believe you’ll fully be in awe with everything the game has to offer post-story like a fan girl getting to be just like her heroes.
