Marvel’s Avengers
Initial Thoughts
Good isn’t a thing you are, it’s a thing you do
Summary:
Kamala Khan is a young girl, who after winning a fan fiction contest has the opportunity to meet her heroes, the Avengers. While she is there, the Golden Gate Bridge explodes. This proves to be a distract, as some bad people try to hijack the Chimera, the Avengers new helicarrier, and the Avengers rush into battle. During the fight the Chimera explodes with Captain America inside as well as releasing the core of the Chimera, called a terrigen crystal, which releases on the world like a mist. 5 years later the Avengers are no more and now a science and tech-based company called A.I.M. has taken the place of the Avengers. It seems that when the terrigen crystal was released it gave people powers of all sorts. A.I.M. calls these people Inhumans. A.I.M. is trying to round up the Inhumans claiming that they are sick and dangerous. We then see Kamala Kahn who still believes in the Avengers and thinks they were set up and we find out that she is Inhuman. Kamala discovers evidence that the head of A.I.M. may have had something to do with the death of Captain America and tries to meet up with a member of the resistance who fights against A.I.M. While she is looking for the Resistance member, she is found by A.I.M. and she narrowly escapes. Realizing she can’t go home she sets off in hopes of finding the resistances’ base or the Avengers. Will she be able to right some wrongs?
Characters:
The protagonist of this game is Kamala Khan. During the prologue of the game, Kamala is an eleven-year-old who attended the celebration turned catastrophe of A-Day. There, Kamala is a young and innocent little girl, who is fascinated and in awe with everything superhero. After five years pass, and with the acquisition of superpowers of polymorph, Kamala begins her search for the Avengers, which leads her to Bruce Banner, or the Hulk. Bruce provides a counter to Kamala’s optimism and general happiness with pessimism. Eventually, he does warm up to Kamala and begins to trust her. The last main character that we have met at this point in the game is Tony Stark, or Iron Man, and his arrival changes the dynamic of the characters, as he’s sarcastic and more verbal compared to Bruce.
Sebastian: 9.0/10
I’m not going to lie but I have been waiting for a game like this for a long time and I love it. Being a big Marvel movie and comic’s fan, I was eagerly waiting for this game as I have always wanted an Avengers game. Playing this game was everything I wanted it to be as I got to experience playing as my favourite heroes. There are many pros to this game but I would say that the first one is the story. As much as I love the movies, I was glad to see it was not a direct adaptation of the movies but instead it is its own story that draws inspiration from both the movies and comics. 6 hours in I have found the story compelling with reveals that I did not expect and the characters are all very engaging and they all have their little moments to shine and I never found myself bored by a cutscene. In terms of the gameplay I am glad that each character plays differently like the Hulk who is meant for big destruction and power moves does not play the same as Iron Man who can fly and use repulsors. The combat is simple enough that casual gamers should not find it hard while there are more advanced combos and attacks for people who like that sort of thing.
As much as I have loved this game, I recognize that it has flaws and while they don’t bug me too much they are worth mentioning. The first one is that after the prologue you spend a good half an hour playing as Kamala which is fun but most people bought the game to play as the Avengers themselves so it is surprising to some. The second thing is sometimes I feel like the Avengers are not as powerful as they should be, now I understand that there needs to be a challenge but sometimes it feels like it shouldn’t be so hard to beat an enemy. Lastly the loading screens are quite long and it can get annoying.
So far this has been a blast of a game that I can’t wait to see how it keeps going and I bet this will get highly recommended from me when it is all said and done.
Austin: 8.4/10
This game is not quite what I expected. The story follows a unique journey that proves to be both unpredictable and entertaining. Coming into this game, I had two potential concerns that could have potentially derailed this game. My biggest worry was that the combat was going to be boring after about an hour. While the beginning combat is quite basic and boring, I was happily surprised to see the use of combos and skill points to develop a deeper attack move list. As well, different characters have a drastically different feel, from Kamala Khan to Iron Man. The only character I have an issue with is Hulk. Through 6 hours, I felt that Hulk was nerfed. He is known as the strongest avenger, but he feels weaker than Kamala Khan. While Kamala Khan could be stronger than Hulk at some point, she feels stronger than him from the moment she gets her powers.
My second worry was that the plot was going to be the movie universe in video game form and as a result, predictable for those of us who have seen the movies a couple times over. I was super excited to discover the totally separate plot. It relates almost nothing back to the movies, and it stands on its own two feet. The game has proved a new look into some classic characters, as well as some new ones.
I am excited to see what the rest of the game holds, as well as some of the other modes such as multiplayer and the side missions, but after 6 hours I would recommend this one to anyone who enjoys action RPGs, especially if you enjoyed Marvel’s Spiderman.
Nathanyal: 7.0/10
Marvel’s Avengers is an interesting game, as it is a combination of a third person beat ’em up game combined with third person shooting. The main appeal of this game lies in its use of the Avengers. For me personally, I never found the appeal in the Avengers, which means the appeal of playing as the Avengers did not spark my interest as much. When you take away the name of the Avengers, the game is simple in nature. During combat, you spam the attack buttons and the dodge buttons until the enemy dies. Now, this game differs from other beat ’em up games, like Dynasty Warriors, in the amount of time it takes to kill enemies. In Avengers, killing a horde of enemies isn’t as satisfying as killing enemies in a Warriors game. Although they both contain combos and special moves, the pace in fighting in Avengers is slower, which leads to boring gameplay. The story on the other hand is alright. We haven’t made it too far into the game; however, the plot seems to be moving pretty slow. To control the pace of the story, certain missions are locked behind a multiplayer based level, such as capturing points on a map. Playing single player, being confined to limited space and combined with linear combat isn’t too enjoyable and many times, deaths will happen and lead to more frustration.
To me, this game is alright. Besides being an Avengers game, the game itself doesn’t offer too much for the player. The one positive I can think of when it comes to gameplay is that each character feels unique to play. Other than that, the game just feels alright to me.
Final Thoughts
Sebastian: 9.1/10
So, I may have exaggerated how good I thought the first 6 hours of this game was. Why do I say that? I say that because the back half of the game was significantly better than the front half. The action seems to improve in the back half and maybe that is because the player gains skill points for their characters so that their characters are more dynamic with a bigger variety of fighting moves. The other thing that improved in the second half was the pacing as the first half, while it was trying to build to something, was quite slow whereas the second half seems to move with a sense of urgency which adds to the story as well as the gameplay. The actual assembling of the avengers makes the game more enjoyable with more characters to choose from and when you get to see the Hulk or Thor fighting beside you it is quite cool. I feel that the skill tree and the points system is actually noticeable in this game with the variety of combos and moves you can unlock to make your character play the way you want them to. You could specifically focus on one aspect of the character that you enjoy and upgrade that. I once again think the gameplay is simple but in a good way as a more casual gamer, like me, will enjoy the easiness of the fighting as it is not that complex though it is not entirely a button masher which is nice. I also thought that the final mission was a lot of fun that led to a great final battle and conclusion to the story.
Now on the bad side, this game did not really pick up any more negatives than the first half but the problems from before still are problems. This is still Kamala’s story so you play as her the most and so for those thinking you just got to play as whichever avenger you wanted that is not always the case. The characters still feel a bit nerfed with some of the villains feeling overpowered with the worst case being the Hulk who in the game feels weaker than Kamala. This game is simple and while I put that in the positives some gamers would consider that negative as it is nothing groundbreaking with easy mechanics. The worst thing is the loading times in this game as they can be up to thirty seconds after deaths or between missions and that is the worst. It feels as if you could get a snack and go to the bathroom and still make it on time for when the game loads back up.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this game and as an Avengers fan it only added to the enjoyment. I would recommend this to anyone as the story and gameplay should be enough to hook anyone and whether you are an Avengers fan or not this is still a fun game to check out.
Austin: 8.7/10
This second half was way better than the first half. The action picks up, and the missions become more intense. Coming in, I expected to fight as The Avengers, and through the first half I was disappointed. Each individual chara
cter plays differently and that aspect of the game is quite fun, but the game was missing the team factor. The second half changes that completely. From the longer levels to more enemies, everything about the last 3-4 missions screams intensity. Nothing compares to the final level. It took us a total of 2 hours and it was everything we could have asked for from a final campaign mission.
It was a pretty good game, with a few flaws mixed in. I didn’t like how long the loading screens after deaths or in between missions were. For certain checkpoints, the first 10 seconds were difficult, and if you died, it was another 30-45 seconds to try again. This became quite annoying if you got stuck at a point requiring timing or you died. Like originally mentioned in my initial review, I found Hulk to be nerfed when played by the user, but as we got deeper in the game and Hulk was CPU controlled, I found that strength returned. It was awesome to watch the pure destruction I expected to see from Hulk, but was super disappointed that strength wasn’t translated back into the user’s experience.
The skill points were justified, adding strength and combos to each character, but not at such a fast rate that the game became simple and easy. The individuality of each character was really good, and the story was intriguing. The side missions allowed for character development, as well as a few side stories that add to the depth of the game. I was also really happy to see that developers left the door open for a sequel to this game.
My final thoughts on this game are as follows. It was a relatively easy game to pick up, with a story and dynamics that flows smoothly. The combat seemed simple at certain points, but the skill point combos and individuality improves on that. The loading screens aren’t a deal breaker, but can test your patience after a few quick deaths. It took us 11 hours and 20 minutes to finish it, but it could probably be done a little faster. So it is not a super long game, but that time frame can be extended by the countless side missions as well as the co-op multiplayer mode that exists. Whether you are interested in it for nostalgia or because of the countless instagram ads,I would recommend giving it a play.
Nathanyal: 7.5/10
The first thing I have to mention is that the game got better in the second half. The pace of the missions and the plot move faster, as well as the selection of characters is more diverse. When doing any of the War Table missions, since we have more characters, each fight doesn’t take as long and gives each fight more variety. Every aspect that I have mentioned before in the last review still stands. The fighting is a bit monotonous, however the last few levels were enjoyable to play. Each character still feels unique, even after the acquisition of all the Avengers. The final level of the game took two hours to complete, which is both impressive and terrifying at the same time. For a superhero game, the last level did it justice. The only major flaw that I haven’t mentioned is loading screens. This game has very long loading screens. Even after ten seconds of gameplay, if you died, the loading screen would take a couple minutes to load up. This definitely slowed down the pace.
Overall, this game was just average to me. The combat was alright, the plot was alright, the characters were amazing, and the loading screens were garbage. The second half of the game picked up in both intensity and pace, which helped the enjoyment of the game. To any Avengers fans, this game would be fun and nostalgic, and for any other player, it was a fun game with an interesting style of gameplay.
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Marvel’s Avengers. XBOX One Version, Square Enix, 2020.
