Save the Galaxy (Or Not): Guardians of the Galaxy Game Review
Half-baked heroes, choice-based scenarios, teamwork, and cosmic fun in space. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game lives up to the hype!
Gamer Gushing About Video Games
Half-baked heroes, choice-based scenarios, teamwork, and cosmic fun in space. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game lives up to the hype!
As a huge superhero fan and typical geek, I am not sure why it took over a year to start Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game. I guess it worked out though because I have a brand new PC that really highlights the high quality graphics and performance. Since I’m halfway through the game, I need to get some gush out of my system! Half-baked heroes, choice-based scenarios (minimal impact on overall story), team chemistry (or lack thereof), and just general cosmic fun in space. The Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy game continues to live up to its hype from 2021!
First things first. It’s the start of a new game. Who’s caught jamming out to Starlord in their mom’s basement? Yeah, definitely Peter Quill. Music is a main component of Peter Quill’s character, so let’s talk more about the famous mixtape. In typical Guardians of the Galaxy fashion, the mixtape has a variety of classic 80s rock songs which are super easy to sing along with and jam your heart out to. Eidos Montreal, the developers, use the mixtape to hit a lot of story beats. Most often, it plays automatically during high-action sequences or special moments in combat. During downtime on the Milano, music is free to play on the boombox. If you keep up with the blog, I did a recent Game Gush about Metal Hellsinger. I feel a similar atmosphere to Metal Hellsinger when listening to Peter’s mixtape in those special combat segments.
Let me shift back to loud noises in the Guardians of the Galaxy game. Let me tell ya, the Guardians almost never shut up. When the initial dialogue happens to run out, I was surprised to hear another conversation start in only about 5 seconds of silence. In a strange way, it’s kind of refreshing after playing indie games with silent protagonists. You kind of get used to people talking again. This array of speech also effects the tone of the story. In moments of silence, Guardians of the Galaxy feels… Depressing. And sometimes, when the Guardians are down in the dumps like that, a little song from the mixtape helps drown out that abysmal silence.
Transporting shipment to Story and Character Design. Do I love games for their gameplay? Oh yeah, you know I do! But what really keeps me exploring game after game after game are the sweet, sweet, storylines. Guardians of the Galaxy has plenty of story to go around. The game universe is slightly altered from the MCU version. I love to see how these Guardians’ lives are different. For example, in the game, Peter’s exit from Earth is due to being captured by Chitauri and not being captured by Yondu. Gamora is still alive after Thanos’ defeat. Drax and Groot are pretty much the same though.
As far as how the Guardians of the Galaxy look, I am so impressed by their designs in the game. I honestly think the outfits are my favorite iteration. Starlord’s jacket with the 4 gamer pins, a tattered long sleeve shirt, and those infamous jet boots. Drax with the arm candy, broad shoulders, and rigorous texture formatting on his skin. Gamora with her slick-style assassin body armor. Rocket Raccoon in his cute and methodical tech outfit jumper. Groot being Groot in all of his woodland glory.
Regarding combat gameplay, Guardians of the Galaxy is hit or miss depending on your playstyle. In simple terms, gamers play only as Starlord. Then we command the other 4 party members to activate their special abilities. Although the enemies appear different, the way you dispatch them are all the same, so it can feel stale from a gameplay standpoint. Since the game is definitely more about the experience/storytelling versus the combat design, the repetitive combat is not too much of a big deal. It feels almost like a really aggressive visual novel!