The time has come for the return of the most cosmic crew of interstellar heroes.
Here are the members of this gang of adventurers: Gamora, Groot, Rocket Raccoon,Star Lord, and a guy who sounds like Kratos (Drax).
Okay, maybe these are adventures of a completely different team of heroes, but they are also galactic! The game was also released on PS4, Xbox One and Series X/S, Windows PCs, and even Nintendo Switch, but only in the cloud version. After last year's Marvel's Avengers, hardly anyone had high expectations for the next Marvel game published by Square Enix, but while Crystal Dynamics, known from Tomb Raiders, was unlucky because Square ordered them to make a game-service, so liked for the new Deus Exy Eidos, Montreal hit a lot better because the publisher let them do a normal single-player game. And of course, it turned out so much better. As you read, Square Enix in its annual financial reports still comments that Crystal Dynamics did not cope with the Avengers, because they have no experience in making games-services, until a man spits Rocket in his pocket.
Did you make them do a foul game and then complain that it stinks? Fortunately, Eidos Montreal drew easier, because Guardians of the Galaxy has no cooperation or multiplayer - it's a classic single-player adventure. Without farming resources, repeating raids three hundred times until better pants for Hulk emerge, and without a watered-down story. And although Guardians of the Galaxy is not a perfect product, it is a much more fun game. A coherent, fun adventure for several hours, which tells its story with the help of colorful events arranged into a coherent whole. So here are our Guardians of the Galaxy, who again, like in the Avengers, do not have the face of their movie versions, and it does not bother me at all. Chris Pratt is about to have had enough anyway, especially after we hear Mario and Garfield talking in his voice. Star-Lord and his interspecies crew again have no money, so they are looking for a mysterious monster to sell in the Forbidden Zone, the graveyard of ships from the last galactic war.
The hunt does not end well, the Rangers get into further trouble, and in the process, they accidentally release another powerful evil from which they will soon have to save the galaxy. The whole story is a large collection of twists and various adventures. Soon, the heroes, pressed against the wall, will, for example, try to push one of them - Groot or Rocket - a well-known monster collector. Wait, Groot or Rocket? Oh yes, because the game offers many choices. These are not choices that would somehow seriously redirect the story to other directions, but they can sometimes affect a few upcoming events and define whether we will, for example, sneak or fight openly.
Other decisions may affect how we will be able to solve a problem half a game later, or whether an ally will appear at a crucial moment to facilitate a difficult skirmish. The creators sometimes use this trick known from Telltale Games production, that an inscription appears on the screen suggesting that a character will remember our decisions and it is often a complete fake because what we did will not have any impact on the plot. A similar function is played by the possibility of interfering in the characters' conversations because they talk almost all the time and you can often add something from yourself by selecting one of the two options to slightly redirect the conversation. And since these exchanges are well written, full of humor and character - it's a nice opportunity. However, at times I had the impression that the writers wrote these dialogues so much that they do not fit in the game. Literally.
All too often, random conversation sequences are triggered here, and a moment later the topic is interrupted because we entered a new location and someone had to comment on what appeared to the eyes of the heroes. There is such a mechanic in the game that we can summon the team during the fight to get them back on their feet, motivate them and increase the damage they deal. The homies come running, saying a few words, and we have to choose the answer that best fits what they said for the effect to work fully. And here, perhaps, something was postponed too generally, because very often the available options seemed not to correspond to what my comrades were talking about. I chose something, and Star-Lord started talking some general coach nonsense that also had an average relationship to what I marked.
Once I was right, other times I was not. But I certainly like the fact that the subtitles for the deaf even contain information about the emotional charge of the non-verbal sounds made by the characters. Anyway, the game has quite a lot of accessibility options and I respect that. But back to the plot - I liked it. I indeed liked these smaller stories the most - some scam the Rangers are trying to pursue, visiting strange planets or the picturesque Knowhere Station. Unfortunately, the whole story eventually turns towards saving the galaxy, because if the heroes are called ... Corps ...Galactic Firefighters? ... it is known that they have to put out really big fires. But even when we fall into the ruts of saving the universe, scriptwriters still make some jumps to the side, send the characters to strange places to try to solve their problems in surprising, breakneck ways. And, for a linear, scripted, stuffed to the brim with dialogs, events, and different planets story - Guardians of the Galaxy is quite long.
It took me 18 hours on medium difficulty and it was one of those games that seem to be approaching the finals a few times, and then suddenly something new happens and adds a few hours to the whole adventure. And that is a cool story. Colorful, diverse, full of adventures in strange places, lots of humor, expressive characters, and crazy actions. Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket overcome further adversities, sometimes they meet their defeats, and in the meantime, stronger and stronger ties between them are formed and it is a terrible cliché, but well implemented and watching this process is very nice. And a lot is happening here.
And we try to cash our friend, and we get attacked by fibroids in some side alley, and then we perform a reconnaissance mission for a dog with psychic abilities. No I have never read comic books about Guardians of the Galaxy, but the story of this game automatically became my favorite story about these characters - better than both movies, and certainly definitely better than the other.
Well, this game probably made me realize what I miss in the new Star Wars ... except for any sense, of course. Guardians of the Galaxy are more absurd and crazy, but they offer the feeling of being part of a crazy adventure full of likable characters and humorous dialogue. And it refers to my sentiment more subtly, throwing in a lot of references to the culture of the 80s and feeding my ears with boomer rock music that I love from an early age. After all, that's what Peter Quill listens to on his Walkman. And I'm old enough to listen to Iron Maiden on my Walkman sometime. But how is it played? The gameplay in Guardians of the Galaxy is unfortunately not so good anymore. First things first. This is a classic third-person action game. We lead Peter Quill, the Star-Lord, but we almost always have the entire team with us. And futuristic guns. Because nothing says "futuristic guns" like cheap plastic! We spend a lot of time traversing linear locations, listening to dialogues, and throwing our three cents here and there.
From time to time, we are stopped by simple puzzles, and then we have to look for interactive objects, and then command various team members to break the wall, throw something or create a bridge of branches over the abyss. Oh, nothing difficult, but it's a nice change. Sometimes we can deviate from the main path a bit, because there are also various collectibles on the way - and these are additional clothes for heroes, and these are resources used to build Star-Lord equipment upgrades. However, we do not have any extensive character development here. And this is an additional firing mode, and this is faster armor renewal. Similarly, we also gain skill points here and we can unlock several special abilities for each hero, and these are useful in combat. And combat is the main game here in terms of gameplay, and it's… okay. We run Star-Lord, shoot enemies, give orders to other heroes to use certain skills here or elsewhere. The shooting itself is probably the worst because it only looks like shooting.
We lock the camera on the enemy with one trigger on the pad and press the other one so that Peter Quill begins to slowly and monotonously scratch the enemy's health bar. Nude. The creators tried to diversify it by hovering on jet boots, dodging, actively quasi-reloading when the guns overheat or shooting elements such as fire or ice. Guns like this come in handy for making drinks at parties. But the real fight is more about using special abilities , because at any moment we can select any enemy and use some skills of our companions on him. Enemies have a health bar and a stunning bar. The first one has to be scraped to kill, and the second one fills up under the influence of certain attacks, and when it is full, the enemy is for a moment confused like a Rocket in a washing machine, he cannot defend himself and takes more damage. So, for example, we send the enemy Drax to hit the floor with a type several times and stun him, and then the precise cuts of Gamora's sword will drop a lot of blood on him.
We can also use a special Rocket grenade, which knocks everyone into a group and then uses the Star-Lord's ability to throw explosives in the vicinity. Or ask Groot to hold the greater fool with his roots. The funny thing is that these abilities are supposed to belong to our companions, but, in use, they are more like Star-Lord powers. When we tell Drax to kick someone, they teleport to their destination. When he is to knock down opponents with a galloping charge in a straight line, he does not run from his current position, but quickly moves behind our back to run ahead of us. Are we going to order Rocket to throw a grenade? No matter where it stood - the explosion will still take place in the indicated place. Gameplay-wise, it works, but sometimes it looks a bit absurd. And this is the form of this fight - we run around the enemies, dodge, and in the meantime shoot them with ice, electricity, etc., if they are sensitive to it - we combine the abilities of our companions to stun and eliminate groups of enemies as effectively as possible. Over time, we unlock more of these abilities and the pool of possibilities expands a bit. And it works, it's not bad, but not very good either.
The fight quickly becomes very repetitive, and chaotic, because the arenas are filled with excitable enemies throwing everywhere, and we have to stay in motion and at the same time try to give the right orders. Fortunately, the whole thing is enriched by spectacular boss fights, and besides, the pace of the game is well designed, because the creators try not to tire us with the excess of clashes - intertwining it with exploration, puzzles, and story expositions. We also have some kind of tiny space battle now and then, but those are very short and simple sequences. Unfortunately, Guardians of the Galaxy also seems sloppy. Characters teleport, latch onto objects, pass through them, and at one point a bug is made. These are not serious or progress-blocking errors. Just something that makes the product seem a bit underdeveloped. On PlayStation 5, you can choose a quality model that works in 4K, but at 30 frames per second, and the default performance mode, which squeezes a relatively stable 60 fps but lowers the resolution down to 1080p. And although I played mainly in performance mode, I had a lot of doubts as to whether this was the best option, because on a 4K TV the decrease in the chapter to Full HD is very noticeable, and the game is nice - it has wonderfully modeled worlds and characters, brilliant animations and effects.
As a rule, I prefer liquidity, but here the price of this liquidity was probably a little too high for me and I'm not sure if I made the right choice when I opted for a blurry image. I have not tested the version for the previous generation, but according to what specialists from Digital Foundry say - while the semi-generational PS4 Pro and Xbox One X can be played, the base PS4 and Xbox One have significant problems with liquidity. You can see that although publishers do not want to let go of publishing games on old platforms, they are slowly starting to die. And here is the entire Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy! A great, varied, linear single-player adventure. Spectacular, well-written, full of humor and character. The gameplay is only correct, not very delightful, it can be a bit repetitive, and some of its elements are boring, but it is still good enough not to spoil what is playing first fiddle here, i.e. stories and presentations. And although the thing is rough in places, I'm glad that I went on this journey to fight star monsters, travel through space, sell my friend to steal him, and finally save the galaxy and watch the bonds of this strange, mixed team tighten. Well, enjoy your dog report entry!