Guardians of the Galaxy - Review
When Square Enix revealed that they were going to be making games, based around Marvel characters, I wasn’t sold on it and while Avengers is an ok game, it was not at all what I was hoping for. Seeing Guardians of the Galaxy as their next project, it restored some of that hope, the question had to be asked though, could a game about a ragtag group of less-than-honest folks, really rock?
Right off the bat, let me dispel any questions you might have about this being an origin story for Star-Lord, aka Peter Quill, the game does have some flashbacks, but the adventure kicks off with him and the rest of the Guardians heading into a quarantined zone, in order to capture a deadly and vicious monster, in order to sell it to Lady Hellbender, in order to make some units. While this is not an origin story for the crew, they are not a well-oiled, or even remotely successful team, as the banter/insults back and forth will quickly highlight for you. While on the hunt for this creature, Rocket challenges Quill to a game, the person who can shoot the most of some alien thing, wins and in the final moments of the game, they discover a yellow stone and while Quill is successful at getting his hands on it first, something comes out of it and takes off.
Soon after the team take off when the derelict ship, they were in starts to break apart, after one massive critter crashes into it and while they manage to make it out of the zone, they are immediately captured by the Nova Force. From here things get explosive, as an explosion sends Quill after a junior Nova Force cadet, who just happens to be the daughter of his former girlfriend, who is also the captain of the ship, once that is sorted and Quill manages to talk his way out of jail, they need to get cash to pay the fine, that part was non-negotiable. This takes them to the castle of Lady Hellbender, the same basic sequence that we saw during the games reveal and then after betraying her and heading back to pay the fine, they discover that something has gone wrong, that members of the Nova Force are attempting to kill others, including the Guardians themselves.
Going any deeper into story or characters will sadly start to spoil things and as the tale is very linear in nature, that would ruin the outcome of the adventure. What I will say though is that each of the Guardians has a moment where they confront their past, like with Rocket and his aversion to water and while some of them are just ok, the time when Drax does is honestly quite heart-wrenching and something that caught me by surprise. The downside to the tale, again comes around thanks to its linear nature, in that there really isn’t any time to explore the history of other characters that you meet, so when you encounter Cosmo, you can’t just ask him all the questions you want, once the story moment plays out, you are on your way to the next step in your journey.
Speaking of journeys, a lot of the gameplay is broken down into two large parts, with a smattering of smaller aspects throughout, the first is the exploration of point A to B and while I use the word exploration, there is nothing for you to do, outside of the main story. While that might sound like a negative, almost all the locations that you get to visit are wonderfully realised, with detail that makes them feel alive and no matter which planet the crew went to, I found myself amazed at what I was seeing. The second major part of the experience is combat, but more on that in a bit, the smatterings that layer the rest of the experience are around interactions with the Guardians and inspecting or hunting for items around the place.
Exploring the locations can be rewarding, as you will often find resources to upgrade your gear, new costumes from comics and movies and even items that have value to the members of your team, letting you learn about their pasts, but only when back on the ship. Being able to spend time on the Milano and having chats with the crew is great fun, not only because some of them are just plain bizarre, but more so that unless you are in the room of one of them, the others will chime in. You could be speaking with Gamora in the main living space of the ship, only to hear Rocket chime in from the hold, which makes Gamora get angry and what is said and then things go from there. The upside to the conversations is that you get prompted to offer your opinion, sometimes they are mean, other times supportive and occasionally funny and depending on how you react, the outcomes may change.
Choice is not just limited to random chitchats in the ship, as you wander around the various locales, the team will talk about random topics, the place they are at, or even characters that they have encountered and again, you can choose on how to respond. Beyond the conversations, the choices can actually impact how the game plays out, not in drastic ways, but smaller ways, one easy example to provide is around the fine, there is a point in the game where you can opt to pay the fine and there for regain full control of your ship, or you can not pay it and run the risk of your ship failing you. There are other choices that can make things easier or harder, depending on what decision you go with and as sometimes, the timeframe in which to make the choice is narrow, you have to be willing to think fast. Even though the story is linear and you do unlock New Game Plus once done, the ability to make different choices could make for an interesting replay.
When Star-Lord and his Mötley Crüe, I mean motley crew are not having conversations, they will occasionally get into combat, who am I kidding, they do it more than anything. Combat is a little unique in that you control Quill directly and you can leave it there, but you can also tell the rest of the team what to do. While you make a decision on that, they will not just stand around and wait for it, they will get into the fight, sometimes even falling in battle, but once you have made a choice, they will execute it perfectly. The choices are tied to the face buttons of the controller, you need to pull up the menu, doing so will slow the game down a little bit, (though you can modify that), then you select the Guardian you want to attack, then select the attack. It does take a bit of adjustment, as the button, needs to be held down to see the menu, though while you are doing that, you can still be attacked and if enemies are larger than you, that can be dangerous.
This is where the downside of the combat comes into play, some enemies can take a lot of hits and I mean a lot, leaving you to be stuck shooting them for quite a while and while the Guardians can help you out, until you stagger the enemy, most of their attacks are just as in-effective as yours. Quill can use his blasters to shoot pretty continuously, but they will overheat if not left to cool down, but you can swap out to use the elemental attacks that the guns unlock as the game progresses. These attacks are what is going to help you immensely, as some enemies will be almost invulnerable, unless you stagger them, using the element near their health bar and as some of them require elements you don’t unlock until near the end, that can make them harder to fight still. None of this is a bad thing, as once you start to learn how some of the enemies attack you, you can build up plans of attack, for example getting Drax to throw something heavy, or explosive at groups of enemies is great for giving you some breathing room. Combat is punishing at times, some enemies and bosses can just about leave you floundering on the ground, but once you start understanding how it all comes together, it feels so satisfying.
Something else that is immensely satisfying is just how incredible the game looks, it is honestly one of the best-looking games I have seen and not because it is photo-real or anything like that, but because it has design in spades, it also does look real. Sticking the Guardians, while they do look very much like their comic counterparts, there is enough of a visual change, that they are not those characters, excluding any costumes you equip. The most obvious is Star-Lord himself, who looks more like someone who works for a band, though the signature items are still there, Drax as well looks like himself, but this design has him taller, thanks in part to the use of the tattoos up across his shoulders and upper chest. The character that stood out as the best looking was Rocket, purely due to the amount of detail on him, you can see individual hairs on him, while also not losing attention in his overall design. Groot feels larger than any Marvel Cinematic Universe viewers will remember him looking, but Gamora looks smaller, though her hair is wonderful.
It isn’t just the characters, from the Nova Force, Lady Hellbender and beyond, it is the worlds themselves at look amazing and a lot of that, at least for me, comes down to the geodesic design. A lot of the planets you visit, make use of shapes in ways that we are just not used to seeing, have plants grow up, but look weak and if feels alien. Most of the time, by the time the landing sequence has been completed, that sense of alien wonder is replaced with a design to explore. Even a location like Knowhere, it is a giant city of bars, clubs and other less that reputable establishments, but while the signs are written in an unknown language, it still feels familiar, that is of course until you step off the main path and have to start exploring the rest of the giant head that the place is actually built within.
For the most part, the game looks flawless most of the time, though the rare instances when it doesn’t are just that rare, sadly though when it does look weird, it looks really weird. There are times when the camera will throw itself into odd positions, especially during the group takedowns and that can cause the scene to break, you see out behind walls and such. If that was the worst, it wouldn’t be so bad, that sadly comes down to random shakes, I don’t know what causes it, but there were multiple times when the world would shake, not extremely of course, more like bouncing. The problem is, when it happened, it would last for a good 20 seconds, if not longer and the result is that everything you are seeing feels like it’s going to fall apart.
The audio side of the presentation though is even more mixed, part of that is down to the song choices that are included and others are just issues but let’s start with the music. One of the big reveals for the game is that you can summon the team to you, give them a pep talk and then send them back into the fight, raring to go and it works. What is weird about it is that the song it plays is random, meaning you might get Holding out for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler or Where Eagles Dare by Iron Maiden, both songs are different, but still feel right for those moments. Where it falls apart is when you get songs like Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley, Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! or Don’t Worry Be Happy by Bob Marley. None of those songs are bad by any stretch of the imagination, though the thought of being Rick Rolled is weird for a game, but they are just so slow that they really don’t fit the frantic on-screen action.
The other side of the audio is the voice work and that breaks down into two parts, the first is that you will likely compare the voices to the MCU versions earlier on, which will leave you thinking things are not right and while you will quickly lose that comparison, it is something to note. The other issue is that the voice of Star-Lord never sat with me, the main reason is he is supposed to be from Missouri in the USA but sounds more Canadian, so it left me with a disconnect that even as the credits rolled, I couldn’t find myself connecting with. The other issue and this one is an issue, is that Groot’s voice would occasionally not play, I would see his mouth move and then here Rocket give the translation, but I wouldn’t hear those words, there was one time though when I heard the character speak English and that was weird.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a game that looks, at least from a surface glance, like it’s a knockoff of the MCU movies, but look a little deeper than that and you will quickly see that the game, flips that preconception. The main characters are fantastic, while not a family at the start, each overcomes a problem and grows, letting the others in and it feels organic in how it all comes to be, even under the bizarre scenario they find themselves in. The few issues that I experienced never detracted from the amazing experience that I had playing this game, so if you have even the slightest interest in these characters, then I can’t recommend you getting this one enough, it was a pure delight right from the start.
The Score
9.5
Review code provided by Square Enix
The Pros
+Amazing characters that feel alive and connect with the others in the team
+Combat offers up so much more than you might think, if you want it to
The Cons
-Audially some music tracks don’t gel with the action and there are a few voice issues
-Not really enough for a second playthrough, especially if you are thorough the first time through
