Azurephile gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Azurephile gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
In Marvel’s Avengers, you get to play as some of the Avengers (duh, right?). Although this is a Marvel title, it is not an MCU title. Characters are not voiced by MCU actors. The voice actors aren’t bad, though. I was most impressed with the voice actor for J.A.R.V.I.S, but I thought the one for Thor was interesting, too. Characters don’t even look like they do in the MCU. That may take some getting used to, but I didn’t think it was bad. One interesting difference from the MCU that I noticed is that Hank Pym is about the same age as most of the other Avengers. He’s also lost the ability to use his Pym Particles, but he’s also not a playable character. Other familiar characters are missing such as Vision, Wanda, Captain Marvel, and Falcon. Black Panther is joining the game in a few weeks (August 17, 2021, see trailer below).
The overall story is separated into different parts. The Hawkeye DLC continues the story from the main campaign. It introduces Kate Bishop and Clint Barton, who both go by the name “Hawkeye,” as playable characters. I was unaware of Kate, but apparently, Clint trained her. They are very similar in the game and I think Kate is coming to the MCU.
As for the main campaign, it introduced me to “Ms. Marvel” Kamala Khan, who is coming to the MCU. She is a teenager and a very big fan of the Avengers. In the beginning of the game, something happens, which makes her an “inhuman.” If you saw Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., you may recognize that term and how they got their powers. Kamala’s powers actually look much like Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, but they differ. She’s called a “polymorph,” meaning she can transform her body. She can stretch, like Mr. Fantastic, but she can also make her body (or body parts) bigger or smaller. She can grab enemies at a distance or throw a big fist forward quite a distance to hit an enemy. She seems to have other abilities mentioned in the comics, but not in the game, so look her up if you want more info on her. I honestly think I like to play as her most. I think this is in part, because I got used to playing as her, since you start out as her. I think another reason is because one of her special abilities is that she can heal herself. Throughout the campaign, you’ll meet up with some different Avengers, which will make them available to play.
As an Avenger, you will go on missions. Not all missions are necessary to complete the story, most are optional. Most missions allow “1 to 4 players.” So, there are multiplayer options, but if you opt out of this feature, the AI will control the others. It seems you can chose which Avengers come along with you, but I always left the option open, so it seems random available Avengers came along with me. While on missions, you pretty much “beat up” the “bad guys” using different attacks and combos. The game play reminded me of the Batman Arkham games. Each Avenger has different attacks and abilities. There are three more powerful abilities that can be performed, but these aren’t always available. I can’t explain in detail how to increase the gauges for these as I didn’t dive too deeply into the system. Basically, you get to use them once and then they have to recharge. Enemies do sometimes drop orbs, some of which give you some health back, but there are also ones that add to the special ability gauges.
Above each mission’s icon is a green (positive) or red (negative) number. This number relates to your power level. This gives you an idea about the difficulty of the mission. You can change the difficulty of most missions and there are more than a few options for this, but lowering a difficulty will not guarantee that it’s still “easy.” You can go to missions that show that your power level is low for the mission and that it’s more difficult, but there seems to be some missions that will not allow you to access them if your power level is a lot lower. I can’t explain the power level system in detail as I didn’t get into it very deeply. However, it appears that it’s based on the gear you have.
Each Avenger has a set of gear and each piece can be upgraded. You can get more pieces from chests located in each mission or as rewards for completing missions. These pieces come with randomly generated attributes. It’s kind of like the items you acquire in the Diablo and Borderlands games. You can carry a number of them, but when inventory becomes full, it may be necessary to disassemble ones you don’t want, which will give you resources. These resources can be used to upgrade each piece. You can also find resources in chests or in crates, which you can simply hit to get them.
Your characters will have their own level, which increases when experience points are gained. I believe you get a skill point for leveling up in this way. Skills are pretty much very similar among each character. For instance, one skill you can unlock is a certain combo, which is available for each character. Other skills can increase certain attributes. They don’t seem to be very unique, although they may change how a certain character’s abilities behave.
I didn’t play the multiplayer parts, but it seems the game can do some quick match making. It might be fun to play with friends. I didn’t have much trouble with the AI, though even they sometimes needed to be revived. This is done by standing near to them for a brief period of time. The AI can revive other AI teammates and you as well.
While you can play with a keyboard and mouse, but I think using a controller is probably best. At least, that’s what I decided. I played it with the Xbox One controller I bought exclusively for PC gaming and it worked out well (as usual).
Perhaps the worst part about the game, in my opinion, is the fact that there are numerous cosmetic items you can get, but if you really want them, you’re most likely going to have to pay for them. The game has credits, which can be used to purchase many cosmetic items and the easiest way to get them is to buy them. I find this disappointing and that credits are not easy to get in-game. However, cosmetic items aren’t very important, so this doesn’t really matter too much, unless you see something you want. You can unlock some cosmetic items just by playing the game, but they may not be the ones you want. You can acquire credits in-game, but it takes a lot of effort to acquire a significant amount. Some of the items I saw cost about 2,000 credits and I finished my game with only 100.
Overall, I think it’s a good game. I enjoyed it. I just wish those cosmetic items weren’t something you need to spend money on in order to get. If you like Marvel and the Avengers, you might enjoy this game, especially if it fits the kind of game you’re into. If you’re into multiplayer, then there’s that option, too, though it doesn’t seem necessary. I’m looking forward to the Black Panther DLC (all DLC is free, BTW), but I’m not sure how much more time I’m going to spend in the game. I might go back and try some of those missions there were more difficult and I might also try to get my power level high enough to take them on.
Feel free to let me know what you think about this game if you’re aware of it or have played it. Feel free to also comment on the Marvel characters I mentioned that I was not familiar with or whatever else about the game you’d like to discuss.
Here's a trailer for the free upcoming Wakanda expansion: https://youtu.be/pqaCQk7Xvqs
The overall story is separated into different parts. The Hawkeye DLC continues the story from the main campaign. It introduces Kate Bishop and Clint Barton, who both go by the name “Hawkeye,” as playable characters. I was unaware of Kate, but apparently, Clint trained her. They are very similar in the game and I think Kate is coming to the MCU.
As for the main campaign, it introduced me to “Ms. Marvel” Kamala Khan, who is coming to the MCU. She is a teenager and a very big fan of the Avengers. In the beginning of the game, something happens, which makes her an “inhuman.” If you saw Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., you may recognize that term and how they got their powers. Kamala’s powers actually look much like Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, but they differ. She’s called a “polymorph,” meaning she can transform her body. She can stretch, like Mr. Fantastic, but she can also make her body (or body parts) bigger or smaller. She can grab enemies at a distance or throw a big fist forward quite a distance to hit an enemy. She seems to have other abilities mentioned in the comics, but not in the game, so look her up if you want more info on her. I honestly think I like to play as her most. I think this is in part, because I got used to playing as her, since you start out as her. I think another reason is because one of her special abilities is that she can heal herself. Throughout the campaign, you’ll meet up with some different Avengers, which will make them available to play.
As an Avenger, you will go on missions. Not all missions are necessary to complete the story, most are optional. Most missions allow “1 to 4 players.” So, there are multiplayer options, but if you opt out of this feature, the AI will control the others. It seems you can chose which Avengers come along with you, but I always left the option open, so it seems random available Avengers came along with me. While on missions, you pretty much “beat up” the “bad guys” using different attacks and combos. The game play reminded me of the Batman Arkham games. Each Avenger has different attacks and abilities. There are three more powerful abilities that can be performed, but these aren’t always available. I can’t explain in detail how to increase the gauges for these as I didn’t dive too deeply into the system. Basically, you get to use them once and then they have to recharge. Enemies do sometimes drop orbs, some of which give you some health back, but there are also ones that add to the special ability gauges.
Above each mission’s icon is a green (positive) or red (negative) number. This number relates to your power level. This gives you an idea about the difficulty of the mission. You can change the difficulty of most missions and there are more than a few options for this, but lowering a difficulty will not guarantee that it’s still “easy.” You can go to missions that show that your power level is low for the mission and that it’s more difficult, but there seems to be some missions that will not allow you to access them if your power level is a lot lower. I can’t explain the power level system in detail as I didn’t get into it very deeply. However, it appears that it’s based on the gear you have.
Each Avenger has a set of gear and each piece can be upgraded. You can get more pieces from chests located in each mission or as rewards for completing missions. These pieces come with randomly generated attributes. It’s kind of like the items you acquire in the Diablo and Borderlands games. You can carry a number of them, but when inventory becomes full, it may be necessary to disassemble ones you don’t want, which will give you resources. These resources can be used to upgrade each piece. You can also find resources in chests or in crates, which you can simply hit to get them.
Your characters will have their own level, which increases when experience points are gained. I believe you get a skill point for leveling up in this way. Skills are pretty much very similar among each character. For instance, one skill you can unlock is a certain combo, which is available for each character. Other skills can increase certain attributes. They don’t seem to be very unique, although they may change how a certain character’s abilities behave.
I didn’t play the multiplayer parts, but it seems the game can do some quick match making. It might be fun to play with friends. I didn’t have much trouble with the AI, though even they sometimes needed to be revived. This is done by standing near to them for a brief period of time. The AI can revive other AI teammates and you as well.
While you can play with a keyboard and mouse, but I think using a controller is probably best. At least, that’s what I decided. I played it with the Xbox One controller I bought exclusively for PC gaming and it worked out well (as usual).
Perhaps the worst part about the game, in my opinion, is the fact that there are numerous cosmetic items you can get, but if you really want them, you’re most likely going to have to pay for them. The game has credits, which can be used to purchase many cosmetic items and the easiest way to get them is to buy them. I find this disappointing and that credits are not easy to get in-game. However, cosmetic items aren’t very important, so this doesn’t really matter too much, unless you see something you want. You can unlock some cosmetic items just by playing the game, but they may not be the ones you want. You can acquire credits in-game, but it takes a lot of effort to acquire a significant amount. Some of the items I saw cost about 2,000 credits and I finished my game with only 100.
Overall, I think it’s a good game. I enjoyed it. I just wish those cosmetic items weren’t something you need to spend money on in order to get. If you like Marvel and the Avengers, you might enjoy this game, especially if it fits the kind of game you’re into. If you’re into multiplayer, then there’s that option, too, though it doesn’t seem necessary. I’m looking forward to the Black Panther DLC (all DLC is free, BTW), but I’m not sure how much more time I’m going to spend in the game. I might go back and try some of those missions there were more difficult and I might also try to get my power level high enough to take them on.
Feel free to let me know what you think about this game if you’re aware of it or have played it. Feel free to also comment on the Marvel characters I mentioned that I was not familiar with or whatever else about the game you’d like to discuss.
Here's a trailer for the free upcoming Wakanda expansion: https://youtu.be/pqaCQk7Xvqs
