Guardians of the Galaxy had a tough pre-release. Coming off of Square Enix's first venture into the Marvel multiverse with last year's misguided Avengers, people were reasonably hesitant when yet another Marvel project appeared on the horizon.
The good news is that this game is fantastic and will likely go down as one of the surprise hits of 2021. Square's Guardians of the Galaxy is, ironically, the antithesis of Square's Avengers: a no-frills single-player campaign with excellent writing, fun combat and. best of all, no microtransactions.
The story is absolutely great. You can tell that these writers truly loved getting to play in the Guardians toy box and that they really understand what makes the core five members of the team tick. There is so much dialogue in this game that I only ever heard repeated lines during a few of the longer boss fights, and it never gets old. Several of the game's one-liners really made me crack up. There are some serious heartfelt moments too, this game never loses sight of it's emotional core and towards the end there are a few parts that really tug at the heartstrings if you get attached to the characters like I did. There's some real surprises in here as well. I do wish Gamora got as much time to build her character as Rocket and Drax get to build theirs, she has a few moments here and there but unfortunately they do feel a bit like afterthoughts. Maybe on a different playthrough there's more of that because the story can change depending on the dialogue choices you make.
The combat is the real star of the show here. While you can only play as Star-Lord, you can indirectly control the other four members of the group using Guardians Mode. Each of the other Guardians have their own abilities and specialties in combat: Gamora deals high damage, Drax helps build finisher bars, Rocket has AOE attacks and Groot specializes in defense and support. All four Guardians are absolutely necessary to optimize combat, and when one isn't in your party because of story reasons you really feel their absense.
And of course I'd be remiss not to mention the best part of the game, which is the Huddle. As you fight you'll fill up your Huddle meter, which when filled allows you to gather the Guardians for a pep talk. Choose the right dialogue option and everyone will be buffed, and Star-Lord will play a classic 80's tune on his Walkman for everyone to enjoy. The songs are randomized, so you might be treated to some hair metal, a power ballad, and for some reason Don't Worry Be Happy. It's hilarious how some of the songs either energize you to fight like crazy or completely defuse any tension in combat with a particularly silly choice.
There are a few qualms, like some minor bugs like text getting stuck on screen or once spawning out of a cutscene that do force a reload (thankfully the game autosaves frequently), and they made the collectible costumes for the Guardians way too hard to find, I was actively keeping an eye out for them during my playthrough but I only found three out of the over thirty included. In the end though these are very minor gripes.
Guardians of the Galaxy isn't just Square's redemption for Avengers, it's genuinely the best game I've played this year. It's a must-play for Marvel fans, or anyone who's looking for something great to play over the holiday season. Check it out.
TL;DR - I am Groot.
The good news is that this game is fantastic and will likely go down as one of the surprise hits of 2021. Square's Guardians of the Galaxy is, ironically, the antithesis of Square's Avengers: a no-frills single-player campaign with excellent writing, fun combat and. best of all, no microtransactions.
The story is absolutely great. You can tell that these writers truly loved getting to play in the Guardians toy box and that they really understand what makes the core five members of the team tick. There is so much dialogue in this game that I only ever heard repeated lines during a few of the longer boss fights, and it never gets old. Several of the game's one-liners really made me crack up. There are some serious heartfelt moments too, this game never loses sight of it's emotional core and towards the end there are a few parts that really tug at the heartstrings if you get attached to the characters like I did. There's some real surprises in here as well. I do wish Gamora got as much time to build her character as Rocket and Drax get to build theirs, she has a few moments here and there but unfortunately they do feel a bit like afterthoughts. Maybe on a different playthrough there's more of that because the story can change depending on the dialogue choices you make.
The combat is the real star of the show here. While you can only play as Star-Lord, you can indirectly control the other four members of the group using Guardians Mode. Each of the other Guardians have their own abilities and specialties in combat: Gamora deals high damage, Drax helps build finisher bars, Rocket has AOE attacks and Groot specializes in defense and support. All four Guardians are absolutely necessary to optimize combat, and when one isn't in your party because of story reasons you really feel their absense.
And of course I'd be remiss not to mention the best part of the game, which is the Huddle. As you fight you'll fill up your Huddle meter, which when filled allows you to gather the Guardians for a pep talk. Choose the right dialogue option and everyone will be buffed, and Star-Lord will play a classic 80's tune on his Walkman for everyone to enjoy. The songs are randomized, so you might be treated to some hair metal, a power ballad, and for some reason Don't Worry Be Happy. It's hilarious how some of the songs either energize you to fight like crazy or completely defuse any tension in combat with a particularly silly choice.
There are a few qualms, like some minor bugs like text getting stuck on screen or once spawning out of a cutscene that do force a reload (thankfully the game autosaves frequently), and they made the collectible costumes for the Guardians way too hard to find, I was actively keeping an eye out for them during my playthrough but I only found three out of the over thirty included. In the end though these are very minor gripes.
Guardians of the Galaxy isn't just Square's redemption for Avengers, it's genuinely the best game I've played this year. It's a must-play for Marvel fans, or anyone who's looking for something great to play over the holiday season. Check it out.
TL;DR - I am Groot.