After the manageable beta of the new superhero game Marvel's Avengers, we've now spent a week in the full version with Thor, Iron Man and his superhero friends. We will let you know if it's worth buying.
In the beta test shortly before the release of Marvel's Avengers, the game left mixed impressions. Now the new superhero game has been available for almost a week and we can now draw our first conclusions on the game.
Marvel's Avengers: Quick Facts
- Developer: Crystal Dynamics / Eidos Montreal
- Publisher: Square Enix
- Genre: Action Adventure
- Release: September 4, 2020
Marvel's Avengers Test: Kamala Khan Steals the Show
Anyone who had hoped to celebrate a reunion with the well-known actors of the MCU will be disappointed. The Avengers in the game are still the Avengers as we know them, who together save the world, but the gameplay falls short of heroic. Marvel's Avengers is a live service game, which will be gradually over the years be updated with new content in the style of games like Destiny or Warframe.
The Story Mode
The story campaign revolves around the young Avengers fangirl Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel) who is reuniting the warriors to save the world. On the one hand, this is all pretty predictable, but on the other hand, we like the story campaign quite well. Khan's transformation from a fan to a real Avenger is presented in a humorous and exciting way. The developers have created a likable main character that is a breath of fresh air.
Kamala's reaction to first meeting her idols is portrayed well. We would probably react in the same way if the God of Thunder or Black Widow were suddenly standing before us.
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An Unfinished Superhero Action Game
As coherently as the campaign is told, the basic gameplay has not changed too much compared to the beta. With Kamala or the familiar faces of the Avengers, we fight our way through tiny robot opponents until the buttons on the controller glow from mashing them.
The heroes play very differently thanks to their varied skills. Black Widow plunges into the turmoil with her grappling hook, Thor hurls his mighty hammer Mjölnir and Iron Man flies through the air. The nimble close and long-range combat talents and brute-force combos are great fun.
However, there are many reasons why Marvel's Avengers has mixed results from the beta test. Apart from graphical errors and frame drops, numerous small bugs and mistakes suck the fun out of the game. The title seems simply unfinished in places - even after more than three years of development.
The frequency of the mistakes testifies to the unfinished state of the game. The most sobering thing is the mission design even in the final version almost all the quests you go on feel the same way.
Marvel's Avengers throws us into an open area where uninspired level designers have distributed a few building blocks, loot boxes or side tasks to kill time before the game sends us into an enemy base. Here we battle our way through corridors that are always the same and lacking in any real detail. We then reach the actual mission goal. This formulaic gameplay doesn't really motivate you to keep playing the game.
Endgame Grinding and Co-Op Mode
In the best Loot Shooter fashion we are busy collecting new equipment for our heroes all the time. On paper, they have slightly better stats, but in use, it doesn't feel like our hero gets stronger in any way. Not to mention they don't affect the appearance of our heroes when used.
Speaking of optics. Graphically, Marvel's Avengers regularly fluctuates between impressive and a total failure. The lighting effects and character models do look chic. But, the biggest problem is the regular frame rate drops - it goes down to 20 FPS in some places when there are a high number of enemies on the screen.
But yet, the Avengers game is extremely fun at times. Especially, in the online co-op mode. As dull as the battles and missions may be, there's simply nothing better than plowing through hordes of enemies with friends and unleashing powerful special abilities. We really like the combat system and with various melee and ranged abilities, it allows you to make some pretty wild combos.
Conclusion on Marvel's Avengers
Somehow the final version of Marvel's Avengers feels like an unfinished game. It might be that the game is going to evolve in the future and improve upon its mistakes in upcoming patches. But for the release, the makers should have delivered a more polished game after such a long development period.
Technical inconsistencies, numerous bugs, errors, and sometimes heavy frame rate drops spoil the fun of the game. The dull gameplay and boring mission design also don't make things any better. But Marvel's Avengers reveals its potential in co-op mode. We can only hope that Crystal Dynamics is working hard on new content in the background, otherwise we'll be dealing with an Anthem 2.0.
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