Microreview [Video Game]: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy by Eidos-Montréal

Get your Walkman ready for this one.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy begins with our eclectic heroes attempting to make a name for themselves. In typical Guardians’ fashion, they try to achieve this in a way familiar to them; by breaking the law. As one can imagine, this leads to conflict with the Nova Corps officials. After that, well, things get a little wild. At one point, with the protagonists entrapped, I found myself using the singing voices of the Guardians—to the tune of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin—to compel/repel a space llama to eat some wires so that we could free ourselves from our rooms. Yes, I typed that correctly.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy isn’t just ‘80s classic music, hair metal, massive explosions, hordes of religious zealots, vicious wild beasts, dogfights in space, intergalactic travel, and well-timed jokes sprinkled throughout a video game. Those things are all included, to be sure, but that only scratches the surface of this wonderful narrative-driven superhero game by Eidos-Montréal. Under all the wild theatrics of the galactic threat, the game digs into the trauma of each protagonist, fleshing out each character in the process (except for Groot who repeats the same three words). The game shows that no matter how jagged or irregular puzzle pieces are, if flipped around enough times, they may just be a perfect fit.

In contrast to many big-name superheroes, the Guardians' main draw is that they’re a team. The Guardians have the initial instinct to run when they need to deal with their problems, but find solace when they turn to their companions. Some of the best moments in this game come from the tender interactions between all of the Guardians, not only does the team become stronger as a whole, but so does the narrative. Overcoming personal hurdles unlock in-game abilities that can be used in combat. These abilities lead to more options while taking down the wild beasts and promise-driven enemies encountered throughout the adventure.

While the narrative has a great arc, there are some minor technical gripes I had throughout my journey. Stiff and sometimes janky animations lead to the ruining of some serious moments. For example, every time Peter Quill has a one on one conversation with one of his crew-mates, it ends abruptly with them quickly doing an about-face and exiting the room. They could have just discussed their years of enslavement or the death of their family, and then they quickly exit the room. It's an awkward animation that was overlooked, or worse ignored, by the developer. This game is also guilty of having button prompts in which the player unknowingly advances the narrative. This can sometimes be frustrating for someone who wants to explore an entire area before moving forward.

But what about the gameplay? Unfortunately, this is where the game loses most of its luster. The traversal is hindered by pedestrian platforming mechanics that don’t feel great when using them, not to mention the lack of a sprint button. While Star-Lord does have jet boots to boost forward, it’s irritating to have to constantly press the button every second to increase movement speed.

I am thankful for the puzzles, simple as they were, as they add a fun bit of variety that takes advantage of the different Guardians’ abilities. Groot can build bridges and lift platforms with his roots, Gamora can cut through certain objects or help boost Peter up to platforms he couldn't reach otherwise, Drax uses his strength to move otherwise immovable objects, and little fuzzy—sorry Rocket—can hack things and climb into small openings. This represents Peter Quill’s position as leader, as the player issues these commands wherever necessary to advance.

In between all the fun story beats and puzzles, there are some enemies to kill. If I’m being honest, the combat wasn’t the best part of the game. While no means awful, the combat doesn’t reach the heights of other great superhero games like Marvel's Spider-Man or Batman Arkham Asylum. Serviceable, unmemorable. You can use Star-Lord’s blasters and elemental abilities to take down enemies, as well as a few special abilities which can be unlocked through leveling up or spending some of the in-game collectible currency. In addition to Star-Lord’s abilities, the player can command the other Guardians to use their abilities in combat scenarios. There are moments of fun to be had to be sure, but I would sometimes get stuck in the command menu while trying to fight enemies, which in turn would ruin the combo I had. Over time, I figured out what was going on, but it wasn’t initially intuitive.

I give Eidos-Montréal credit for ensuring the game had a plethora of enemies to be overcome with different strategies that consistently force the player to use their newly unlocked elemental and stagger abilities. When the team is down and out (or when you accidentally press the wrong buttons), Star-Lord can rally everyone with the Huddle ability. Here, the other Guardians come to Star-Lord with eager enthusiasm for the current battle or come to complain about their predicament. It’s up to the player to choose the correct dialogue option, a failed one only gives partial benefits, while the correct one excites the team. At one point, Drax told me that my speech made no sense, and then we launched into battle to the tune of “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley. I couldn't help but laugh aloud.

Speaking of laughing, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a treat when it comes to witty banter and well-timed punchlines. Drax’s consistent barrage of impeccably placed dialogue is commendable. I can’t count the number of times he made me chuckle, not to mention the rest of the team yelling at each other across the Milano. The fastidious writing team at Eidos-Montréal succeeded in capturing the comical essence of this ragtag group with utter proficiency.

In addition to the dialogue choices mid-battle, there are other areas of the game where choices are presented. Throughout the journey, Star-Lord is given options in how to respond to his teammates. Should he boost up the morale of the whole team, or give in to the melancholy to try and relate to how they’re feeling? Should he back Rocket or Gamora? Join in on the teasing or make everyone back off? Even better yet, there are some sequences in the game where the player choice will change the entire level that must be navigated. While they don't have any impact on the overall story, they do offer some extra replay value for a second run.

What would a comic-book-based video game be without references to its source material? Guardians has many unlockable costumes hidden throughout the game, some that reference the comics, others the MCU films. These are a nice nod to the other media appearances of these heroes while also contributing a little background info. Other collectibles include items that can be used to trigger unique dialogue with different members of the team. Finding these items was always great because I knew I’d get some more character lore once I got back to the Milano.

For all that Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy gets wrong, it does a lot more right. While the combat and platforming can be lackluster, the writing team deserves a lot of credit for lifting this game above its mechanics. The story, characters, music, and jokes are the heart of this microtransaction-free super-hero adventure and I look forward to seeing more Guardians games in the future.

The Math

Objective Assessment: 7/10

Bonus: +1 for well-placed dialogue throughout the entire runtime. +1 capturing the essence of the Guardians of the Galaxy. +1 for Lady Hellbender.

Penalties: -1 mediocre gameplay. -1 for odd and janky animations.

Nerd Coefficient: 8/10

Posted by: Joe DelFranco - Fiction writer and lover of most things video games. On most days you can find him writing at his favorite spot in the little state of Rhode Island.

Microreview [video game]: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided by Eidos Montreal

Classy Warfare

 
We've reached the fourth entry in the 17 year old series, and we've seen two games followed by two prequel games. The series famously started with the approach "all conspiracy theories are real", but the most recent entries, Human Revolution and Mankind Divided, have skewed away from the most outlandish conspiracies and closer to cyberpunk influences. Still conspiracy is at the center of the theme, and they're beginning to run out of steam with Mankind Divided.

You are once again Adam Jensen, mechanically augmented ex-cop, ex head of security for an augmentation manufacturer, now Interpol agent. You're based in Prague after The Incident, in which most augmented people lost control of themselves and attacked others until their controlling entity was stopped by Jensen. The world is now deeply divided into pro-augmentation and anti-augmentation, with a UN vote removing rights for augmented people coming soon. From this stage, Jensen must investigate the bombing of a subway station that is blamed on pro-aug extremists.

Mankind Divided takes the "any approach to a problem works" philosophy all the way through. If you're sneaky, there's cover to hide behind and venting ducts to crawl through everywhere. Are you shooty? Get your guns out, there's plenty to shoot. Want to hack computers and talk your way out of problems? That works! Lethal, nonlethal, silent, noisy, it all works. An amazing amount of work went into this game to give you the ability to play it as you like.

This is also reflected in Prague itself. By the end, you'll feel like you know the city because every neighborhood and location is well detailed and obviously lived-in. The amount of detail in the levels and thought that went into the gameplay really reflects the love the developers have for the game.

One of the hallmarks of Deus Ex is a globe-hopping plot. That doesn't exist here, but it's not necessarily a detriment. You'll spend almost all of your time in Prague. Again, Prague is so well fleshed-out that it's not Dragon Age 2 situation, but I did absolutely get worn out seeing the same subway train loading screen.

With so much attention given to the gameplay and the city, the conspiracy and the plot as a whole are fairly weak. It tells a very simple story with a lot of the more compelling elements taking place as side missions. It's got one beat (augs vs. non-augs) that it hits over and over. It's not a new beat, as this conflict has been at least touched on by all previous Deus Ex games, and that's a big disappointment. It also suffers from feeling under developed. It's not a short game by any means, but it feels like it ends just as it's picking up. The ending also obviously leads into the next game. This is a real bummer because it seems that the studio is moving on to Marvel games in the near future.

On a not-unrelated note, I would be remiss if I did not mention the presence of expendable microtransactions in this single player game. You can pay real cash for in-game cash or praxis points, the ability development currency. It is utterly unnecessary as I found no need for any more praxis points or cash to support my personal playstyle, but you could make the game a lot easier on yourself with straight cash. And, like currency in the game, once you use it, it's gone. It's not like you're buying yourself a permanently larger chest of cash for every playthrough. You spend your cash and your praxis points and they're gone. It doesn't detract from the game because the game is clearly balanced and designed to be played without external influence, but that just highlights how utterly unnecessary the microtransactions are.

With the future of the series in doubt, this isn't exactly the note that I wanted to see it go out on. Mankind Divided is fun and open-ended in ways that many games can't get close to, but it's hampered by a thin story in a series that used to get high marks for complex storytelling. I don't think Deus Ex is dead by any means, but Mankind Divided makes the case for spending more time on the Marvel games that are sure to bring in piles of money with less effort necessary to impress. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a good game that should have been great.

The Math

Baseline Assessment: 8/10

Bonuses: +1 truly a "play as you like" game

Penalties: -2 weak main plot for a plot-heavy series, -1 spending a ton of time criss-crossing Prague can get a little tiring

Nerd Coefficient: 6/10 (still enjoyable, but the flaws are hard to ignore)

***

POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014

Reference: Eidos Montreal. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided [Square Enix, 2016] 

brian's Summer Reading (and Gaming) List 2016

Summer for me is usually where I get to catch up on a lot of the mid-year video game releases, but this year I'm looking ahead. I've got The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine to hold me off for a while, but then I'll need fresh material, and they've all got a lot to live up to after Doom.

On the reading front, I'm still (slowly) trudging my way through Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen series, and mixing it up with some new books to keep up.

Books

1. Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson

God knows it took me all of last year and some of this year to finish Reaper's Gale but I'm continuing on with this series. It's not so much that they're hard to read, because I love them, but they're very long, I'm a slow reader, and I do take breaks to read more current stuff. Still, excited to get this one started after how Reaper's Gale ended!

2. War Factory by Neal Asher

Thoroughly impressed by Dark Intelligence, really excited to see where the story continues.

3. Behind the Throne by K. B. Wagers

It's not summer if I don't try something new, so I'm giving Behind the Throne a shot. I'm hoping a new author starting a new series will give me something else to read for more summers to come.






Video Games:

1. Overwatch

Overwatch is going to be my summer fill-in-the-time game. It's pretty much a refresh of Team Fortress 2, which is almost infinitely replayable. It's got a ton of character, and I've barely scratched the surface of it. 

2. House of the Dying Sun

I've been following the development of this game rather closely since the sole developer is a member of a gaming community that I've been part of for a very long time. The game looks incredible and I've been very excited to get my hands on it.

3. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided

 I'm a huge fan of the Deus Ex series and I will absolutely be lining up to play Mankind Divided. Human Revolution was an incredible game and I've been pretty pleased with what's been shown of this sequel. Including the composer from NeoTokyo is a brilliant move too.

***

POSTED BY: brian, sci-fi/fantasy/video game dork and contributor since 2014