When you don't know how to enter the videogame industry... Marvel's Avengers
I love Marvel, since I was a kid I always had an affection for superheroes like Spider-Man or Deadpool as well as stories like House Of M or Infinity Gauntlet, there is some mysticism in their characters but for the most part the human factor plays a key role in these stories, the premise of many X-Men comics is that mutants are not accepted in a society that denigrates them as well as in Civil War the ideas of freedom and the common good are debated a lot, these are concepts that if properly transferred to video games would give rise to more than interesting stories with characters already recognizable in popular culture, Crystal Dinamics' The Avengers seems to be the closest example of how new technologies and gameplay mechanics go through these characters, but give rise to a soulless game, with the "game as a service" mentality fluttering all over the screen and with very little room to imagine new characters or situations with names we have known for a decade, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk or Captain America deserved a AAA game and that is not denied, but perhaps Marvel and Disney have taken lightly how to meet a challenge in the video game industry, and the result, at least for me, is not positive.
Marvel's Avengers falls into the worst category a game can fall into after its production, a predictable adventure with mechanics that are very generic considering how groundbreaking the characters are in the movie world, a plot disinterested in exploring the confines of the comics and an experience where its most relevant characters are the least exploited, Crystal Dinamics has done their homework representing these characters in the game with unique abilities in each of their playable characters, we will be able to use the Captain's shield in many ways as well as Iron Man's blasters but they have completely forgotten about the feel of the game in general, the fists feel without impact at the same time that several abilities visually don't seem to affect our enemies even if they are taking damage, affecting the feel again and eventually tiring us out.
The campaign tries to have these impactful moments between the avengers through cinematics that tell us the events after a fateful day for the team but something feels out of place, I don't know if it's that we know a variant of these characters so well and the game models leave much to be desired or if they lack personality but all the weight of the script falls on a new protagonist and throughout the campaign I didn't find any moments that kept me hooked on the game, the plot itself is not too interesting and the script is content to follow a simple structure with hardly any important dialogues and few twists (I understand that the DLCs take advantage of this point much better, I haven't played them yet). Kamala Khan if I consider her as a plus point of the game, introducing us a new perspective to the superheroes and leaving some shines, her arc is one of the best that the game has but still remains a wasted opportunity having so many iconic characters behind.
The missions are the lowest point in an experience full of ups and downs, most of these are repetitive to the point of tiring us, we will have the same missions that other companies like Ubisoft always present us, get to a place and finish with the enemies and then go to another place and destroy the objective, there are very few missions that really make us feel that we are playing a decent video game, moreover, I would dare to say that many of these levels are a pitiful filler to a game experience full of failures of direction.
The result is fun yes, but the feeling that a massive opportunity was wasted for Marvel to start grabbing ground with productions like Avengers is a constant throughout the game, the catalog of villains is another regrettable point having few final battles compared to the dozens of villains that Marvel has, Most of the time we will be hitting robots to then level up with a progression system that is the type of system that I hate the most, the techniques of our characters do not advance, they have no aesthetic changes or in its mechanics that motivate me to improve skills apart from the classic power up and increased damage or speed, it is too bland especially coming from these characters.
It has crossed my mind that maybe this is what Disney wanted, a safe game that is fun and doesn't risk too much but I'm sorry to say that in the eagerness to secure sales they have lost several fans along the way, Marvel and Disney still have a lot to learn in the video game industry and it would serve them well to turn their heads towards Sony who has had a spectacular launch with the Spider-Man video game and when it comes to video games Sony seems to move a lot better than most developers out there, I trust Marvel's Avengers to be a stumble in a long career of these characters in the AAA video game and I think in a short time Disney will make better decisions on what to do with these characters and their stories.