Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a highly enjoyable and fun action/adventure romp that never strays from the beaten path.
When Square Enix signed the multi-year, multi-game partnership with Marvel to create games based on its prized IPs, Avengers was arguably the biggest intellectual property in entertainment. Infinity War was already on the horizon, due to launch in theaters about fifteen months later, and the hype for the hugely anticipated showdown with Thanos the Mad Titan led it to become the fourth highest-grossing film of all time at the box office. The second part, Endgame, did even better and snatched the first place from Avatar for a couple of years before a Chinese re-release of James Cameron’s masterpiece reversed the situation earlier this year. We know now that Marvel’s Avengers, the game made by Crystal Dynamics, turned out to be a far cry from the success of the MCU movies. However, Square Enix has another chance to take advantage of the Marvel deal with the new Guardians of the Galaxy game. Developed by Eidos Montréal, the sister studio that worked together with Crystal Dynamics to deliver Shadow of the Tomb Raider in 2018, this is an adaptation of the galactic team of superheroes featuring Star-Lord, Rocket the Raccoon, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, and Groot. Needless to say, despite the successful movies where Star-Lord is played by Chris Pratt, Drax by Dave Bautista and Gamora by Zoe Saldana, the Guardians of the Galaxy are still somewhat niche compared to the mainstream Marvel heroes; and yet, they will probably end up rescuing the situation against all odds. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy New Behind the Scenes Video Features Never Seen Before RTX Gameplay The big difference with Avengers is that this game’s structure is far more traditional. While Avengers did have a story campaign, the experience felt disjointed and confusing as both main missions and multiplayer missions vied for the player’s attention on the war table, creating something of an identity crisis on what that game wanted to be. In the end, neither part of Avengers was truly satisfying to play. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, on the other hand, has no such problems. It knows what it is: a single player only story-focused title, with no whatsoever distractions or idiosyncrasies. In this adaptation, the team has only been together for a relatively short time as the whole galaxy is still dealing with the aftermath of a huge war between Thanos and his Chitauri and the Nova Corps led by Richard Rider. With the Mad Titan apparently defeated, Peter Quill (Star-Lord) assembles a ragtag team and registers them as heroes for hire, looking to get rich in the process. Needless to say, the events take a completely different turn from the team’s plans as they are forced to deal with a mysterious cult that ultimately threatens the entire galaxy. As with any adaptation, the key element to figure out is whether the creators have managed to capture the essence of the original while reinterpreting it in some ways. On that count, Eidos Montréal passes with flying colors, showing they’ve really understood what Guardians of the Galaxy is really about: camaraderie, friendship, and lots of humor at any turn. The original story crafted for the game is well-written and interesting, but most importantly, each character is deeply fleshed out in a way that is consistent with what fans know of them. Over the course of the journey, they also grow a lot both individually and as a team, and players have the chance to learn more about each Guardian by engaging in conversations on the Milano starship.
