Guardians of the Galaxy
Hand up.. I was one of the many people that assumed this game was going to be a similar let down to the half baked and bland mess that was Marvel’s Avengers game. Avenger’s felt like another awful game iteration of a beloved superhero franchise that we wanted to love so badly, but it wouldnt let us. My initial feelings were that this game was going to be more of the same, but as I fired it up and played a mere 15 minutes of the game.. I realized there was hope, and who would have thought it was going to be the Guardians of the Galaxy to save the marvel gaming universe. Let's get into it!
In guardians of the galaxy you’re thrust into the role of Peter Quill aka Starlord! While being paired with the now familiar and always-fighting cast of Rocket, Groot, Draxx, and Gamora. Without ruining any spoilers, you're tasked with completing a contract early on in the game that causes a chain of hilariously unfortunate events. These unravelings and resolutions throughout the story have the guardians bouncing around from gorgeous planet to gorgeous planet as they strive to save the galaxy once more. What I loved so much about the plot aspect of the story is that they created their own unique story to tell within the Guardians universe. This is not a rip of one of the two movies, but they so masterfully captured the essence, tone, and voice of the Guardians franchise. While it has its own unique story, it was enjoyable to see the developers incorporate little dialogue bits throughout the game that alluded to events that occurred in the movies which was a nice touch. Outside of the wonderfully fresh plot, where the game really shines and stands out is the dialogue and character development of all the guardians. The writing was masterful and captured the true essence of each character with their tone and dialogue. Whether it was Rocket flying off the handle, Groot taking witty banter to heart, Draxx missing any signs of sarcasm, or Gamora being annoyed at everyone’s existence.. It left me feeling like I was Starlord with his crew.
To give the dialogue that sense of impact and meaning there are conversation trees with the guardians, and others that would have an impact on how the mission would play out. Not all conversation trees had as much stake as others but even the playful trees often found you picking sides between two guardians arguing, giving you the freedom to choose whose side you’re on or how you want the rest of their conversation to play out. These were often hilarious altercations and i found myself always choosing the option to throw more gas on the fire because the creative writing was good in this game. They even go so far with the conversation trees, that there were multiple call backs later in the game from decisions I made early on. It was this level of nuance that fully immersed me into the guardians of the galaxy. If you love the marvel universe, this game is worth every penny for the story, and character development alone. Oh yeah, and this game is ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS.. No seriously, I can't tell you the last time I've laughed out loud from a video game this many times. It's so hard to incorporate humor into a video game that isn't just an occasional one liner that catches you off guard. This game has a level of comedy that you can have friends over who will legitimately just enjoy watching it while you play.
While this is totally a game that I'm confident can carry you from start to finish based on its story and humor alone, bad combat and mechanics can often derail a game with great potential. Thank the Starlord, that is not the case here. Does this game incorporate a game changing new mechanic? No. Does the game reinvent the wheel in third person combat? No. But guess what, I love them for that. Eidos knew that their bread and butter and what made this game great was going to be the storytelling and presentation. They understood what the game was meant to be and made sure that the combat complimented that. The controls feel tight, easy to pick up, and make it feel satisfying to kill enemies. The system itself isn’t complex with your abilities ranging from a close range attack, long range attack, defensive move, and an offensive move. Since you are always Starlord, the way they incorporate the other guardians into your combat set is by giving them attack commands. Their attacks have a similar variety of combat options with their abilities tailored a bit to each of their respective personalities. For example, Rocket is loud and explosive, Gamora is stealthy and lethal, Draxx is a brawler, and Groot handles large crowds.
The game does a great job here of not overwhelming the player with all of their abilities and introducing each character’s combat efficiency in ways that make it easy to grasp and then incorporate into your combat style. As you play through, you gain “style” points for chaining kill combos together in fights, ultimately adding those points to a skill bank which unlocks more of the guardian’s abilities. This is where you begin unlocking each guardians’ full potential, including your own,and that is when the combat goes from feeling safe and easy; to fun and wayyy deeper than I would have expected. By the end of the game, you’ll be having insane kill combos because you begin to intuitively learn how many of the abilities can be combined together creating massive damage and grin forming combos.
Guardians of the Galaxy managed to create a fun, easy-to-pick-up combat system that was a perfect bridge between the story and cutscenes. Nothing about the combat felt out of place, unnecessary, or clunky which is exactly what they needed to help drive you through this amazing story. One of the funniest aspects of the combat is the “Huddle Up” ability which is best for when your back is against the wall.
When you use this ability, you’re ‘teleported’ from the combat and into a team huddle with the crew where you’re fed with some hilarious and sometimes harsh words from the other guardians. Based on their comments, you’re presented with a conversation tree where you have to make a choice, and you better hope it's the right choice. If you pick the answer that fires up the team and rallies the troops, then you get a buff where your abilities refresh quicker across the board. If you don't motivate the crew, well, they roast the crap out of you until you either die or finish the fight. It's just another way they added style, character development, and humor throughout the game and in the most unexpected of places.
Speaking of places, the worlds that Eidos built for Guardians of the Galaxy are awe inspiring and will leave you oftentimes taking a pause from what you’re doing to gaze out and appreciate the stunning spacial landscapes. Each world felt like it was plucked directly from the Guardians movies and had its own unique life to it. By creating such memorable landscapes for each level and planet, I truly felt like we were jumping around the galaxy like wanted space cowboys trying to save the world. Even the level of detail inside Starlord’s ship (No it's my ship) sorry rocket, mmhmm.. Even the level of detail inside of the rocket's ship adds to the immersion with each character having their own rooms with their personalities splattered throughout the room. The graphics are very well done in this game and they stand out most in the character’s facial expressions. Eidos’ ability to capture a wide variety of emotions in these characters is truly impressive, further adding to the development and empathy of each character.
If you weren't already feeling like you were part of the guardians of the galaxy, the soundtrack in this game will take you the rest of the way. I can't think of a game off the top of my head where the soundtrack of a game not only complimented the game and it’s characters, but elevated it. The Guardians soundtrack consists of 80’s rock and hair metal classics such as Kiss, Billy Idol, Pat Benetar, Flock of Seagulls, and Rick Astly to name a few. The soundtrack was such a big part of the movies, and it's great to see the studio recognize that and bring in songs that embody the guardians of the galaxy spirit. While on your, i mean, Rocket’s ship, you can switch between the songs on a jukebox which was a nice touch and something i did every time i stepped foot on rocket’s ship.
Just like a properly maintained ship, it's important to mention how everything looks under the hood. For 95% of the game I didn't experience any framerate dips except for one of the last chapters in the game where frames seem to drop left and right. I restarted the game shortly after and didn't experience any frame rate drops after that. The only other noticeable inconvenience was the occasional clip-in during in-game cutscenes. Even with these minor performance bumps, it isn't anything that ruined my experience or took away from the immersion into the Guardians universe.
Overall, this is going to be the game that, in my opinion, flies under the radar and wont get as much love as it truly deserves. Help me buck that trend and go check out Guardians of the Galaxy. It is my sleeper of 2021 and a must-play game for anyone looking for a hilarious and engaging trip into the Guardians of the Galaxy universe.
Eidos’ knocks the story telling, character development, and dialogue out of the park while pairing it with an easy-to-learn but surprisingly deep combat system. Even if this game is the opposite of everything you love to play as a gamer, I am confident that you will love this game and not be able to put it down until you’re done saving the galaxy. Guardians of the Galaxy has re-instilled hope in movies turned video games and I'm hoping other studios are taking notes because Eidos Montreal have truly outdone themselves in this one.
Thank you for taking the time to check out this review of guardians of the galaxy. If you’ve played it, leave a comment below and let me know what you think and tell me if you loved the storytelling as much as I did! I'm Josh Robinson with Joystick Gamer, and as always.. Stay gaming out there
