In spite of its rough edges and games as a service trappings, Marvel's Avengers triumphs against most overwhelming odds by allowing players to live out a multi-faceted superhero fantasy with friends.
Among the flurry of fists, muon beams, and godly thunder of Marvel’s Avengers, I wonder how many people at Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal spent their youthful weekends furiously mashing controller buttons to the droves of atrocious and amazing licensed games available during their childhood.
Who was tarnished by The Uncanny X-Men? That barely competent brawler was one of the first instances where players could group up with a friend as a small cast of Marvel stars. But it was so, so awful.
Renting a game because you were attached to a popular character or franchise was hit or miss. There was so much 8- and 16-bit trash I sifted through in my early gaming years to eventually uncover a great or even decent Batman or Star Wars or Nickelodeon game. And I know I wasn’t the only one.
Eventually, thankfully beat ’em ups became the genre phoenix that rose from the ashes of messy platformers and claustrophobic shooters. Who knew that beating the shit out of evildoers as overpowered heroes would be fun? Oh, that’s right, the kid in all of us. Translating the love of comics into a functioning, enjoyable game has resulted in a few gems across any console generation, including the near-impeccable PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man.
The torch has now been passed to Marvel’s Avengers. A game that shifts focus from hero to hero, fueled by that simple thrill of landing a solid, heroic punch in the name of justice. While it may linger in the shadow of the blockbuster Marvel Cinematic Universe and haunted by the freshman struggles of games as a service, players should delight in Avengers‘ surprisingly wonderful campaign and a long tail that may keep dedicated fans engaged for some time to come.
After years of teases and insinuation about what kind of game it would be, the most shocking thing about Marvel’s Avengers is that Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal created a campaign that should hook into players from the start. More so, it is a story that doesn’t allow itself to be shackled to the Avengers legacy, either on film or comic pane.
Kamala Khan, a character only introduced into the Marvel universe in 2013, is the star of this game. Not the mighty Thor, brash Iron Man, or noble Captain America. The game opens on a young Kamala bursting with joy at the opportunity to meet the Avengers. She’s won a contest after writing her own fan fiction and is aboard the massive Chimera helicarrier where a celebration is unfolding to commemorate the opening of a second Avengers headquarters in San Francisco.
Before any action occurs, players control Kamala as she walks around the Chimera soaking up the themed Avengers booths and activities. She’s thrilled. Who wouldn’t be? It would be easy to dismiss Kamala as the player surrogate, the character meant to be a virtual representation of our awe at fighting alongside Earth’s mightiest warriors. Sure, her frequent moments of shock and exhilaration may border on breaking the fourth wall but her moments in the campaign are continuously poignant in their ability to capture the essence of a comic. As she bounds across the crumbling mountains of Utah searching for remnants of the Avengers or attempts a rescue on her own, Kamala becomes a strong character in her own right. Strengthened by the voice work of Sandra Saad, it’s clear that Kamala is the smartest building block to craft a single player Avengers story around.
The early playable levels of Marvel’s Avengers focus on Kamala’s efforts to bring the Avengers back together five years after the Chimera’s Terrigen crystal reactor exploded. It was an event that destroyed a chunk of San Francisco, killing citizens or turning them into Inhumans, and seemingly resulting in the death of Captain America. Before the dust had even settled, the Avengers were forced to disband and a corporation called AIM took over. Affected by the Terrigen mist that gave birth to the Inhumans, Kamala snoops around where she shouldn’t have and becomes the target of AIM. Her journey for answers quickly leading her to cross paths with her heroes.
Marvel’s Avengers single player story is best when it focuses on cinematic missions that are punctuated by combat. A bulk of the first hours feature Kamala platforming around large, open areas, an obvious thread from Crystal Dynamic’s work on the Tomb Raider games. Players are meant to use these moments to learn the ropes of movement and combat since there are few opportunities for failure.
After butting heads with Bruce Banner, Marvel’s Avengers begins to open up just enough to get a glimpse at its endgame bits. Players will have access to the War Table where they can continue with main campaign missions or splinter off and tackle virtual training rooms, side quests, or mission chains focusing on a specific Avenger. Outside of the curated single-player levels, missions off the beaten path are usually a string of fights with voice chatter about unremarkable events that may or may not affect the effort to reassemble the Avengers.
While these side missions have enough meat on them to become more invested in the world being created, most players will want to speed through the 10-15 hour campaign ignoring the finer mechanics of gear upgrading and any attempts at grouping up with friends.
Binging on the campaign has its benefits but several times I felt that a cutscene would end abruptly or not enough time was spent fleshing out character arcs or narrative beats. Unfortunately, the campaign also is host to several technical problems that will be found throughout the entire game. Graphics would glitch or the framerate would stutter. Narration or dialog would often be cut off unceremoniously. Once, Kamala’s hair disappeared during an emotional cutscene yet I never encountered similar moments where a character’s face or clothing would disappear like some of my friends did.
Before I finished the main campaign, I made the attempt to play random multiplayer missions with friends. Dubbed the “Avengers Initiative” on the main screen, players have the option of skipping straight to multiplayer at the risk of campaign spoilers. To be fair, those spoilers are pretty light at first blush. However, attempts to group with friends proved to be tedious. After joining a friend’s strike team I was informed that any character I chose was still in a campaign mission and that I needed to pick a new one. But instead of selecting a new character, I was pushed into the mission loading screen. This caused my entire group to be stuck in the pre-mission screen indefinitely until I left the group. It required several workarounds and there were even instances where our in-game chat would stop working. For launch week, it’s definitely frustrating but I’m sure these issues will be constantly ironed out.
Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal slowly push players into the varying systems without allowing the campaign to get steamrolled. Over time, players will level up the six playable Avengers and unlock the three skill trees available to both. The complexities of the gear system are touched upon as a constant flood of rewards comes your way. Optional faction challenges and vendors become available to make use of the several types of currencies players can use.
Without any expansions available, the ecosystem of Marvel’s Avengers isn’t too bulky. Additionally, it’s significantly easier to understand than similar games like Destiny. Gear will drop with six tiers of quality, with higher quality gear offering more and better bonuses. Gear power is a separate consideration to actual player level, as more power allows players to tackle harder content. One of the things I liked about Marvel’s Avengers loot system is that a piece of gear can be instantly power-boosted by spending a small amount of resources. This allows players to jump quickly in power and eventually exceed a soft power cap. Boosting gear also unlocks additional perks.
Honestly, it makes little sense to fret about keeping gear around until after hitting endgame content. Players will be gathering up near-meaningless loot because something comes along minutes later as a replacement. It’s nothing to be annoyed by unless you are playing the campaign at higher difficulties. At first I played the game on Hard, expecting to be challenged and possibly needing to do more side quests to get better gear. Eventually I turned the difficulty down because I died about a dozen times on a frustrating mission where I had to stand my ground on a small circle as Iron Man as I was rushed by deadly robots–one of the lowest points in the game’s campaign.
Gear truly becomes exciting when players work on focusing towards specific builds. Based on how you might play as each Avenger, it’s important to consider things like ranged attacks, overall health, melee, and more. As Iron Man, I kept more Stark Industries gear because it improved ranged attacks. I loved Pym tech for it’s ability to shrink enemies, including bosses. Eventually, gear will make significant changes to combat, providing a wealth of status effects and bonuses that will prove to be valuable rewards for players who are hungry enough to fine-tune characters.
I feel that some will partially dismiss gear in Marvel’s Avengers because it doesn’t actually change the visual appearance of your hero. Though it’s a valid issue if that’s an important consideration for you, the course the developers are taking to release a complete look makes sense considering the countless ways these characters have been drawn over the decades. While it’s easy to scoff at how a character’s challenge card can be unlocked with real money, I think dedicated players won’t mind performing specific challenges to reach cosmetic goals over time.
None of this would matter, however, if Marvel’s Avengers wasn’t inherently fun to play. Born from the root of classic beat ’em ups, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal landed the feel of each Avenger. The chaos of getting together with three other friends and tearing through rooms of enemies is a joyous and ridiculous blast. Even when the framerate drops its hard to ignore how cool it is watching Thor and Hulk pummel a massive android while Kamala embiggens herself to flail her arms around the room.
Each hero has an ultimate attack and two other powers that charge over time. These three skills have additional utility outside of their basic use once unlocked on the skill tree. At first, I was frustrated that I didn’t have every ability at the start. Soon that frustration turned to appreciation because I had the time to learn each ability and grasp the combinations of each Avenger. Players will start out learning how to dodge and parry attacks at the right time and soon unlock skills that amplify these moves. For those who don’t want to just deal constant damage, Marvel’s Avengers provides support skills meant to boost the entire team. There’s coordination to be done for skilled teams that can pop abilities off at the right time. And when gear plays into this, it makes the combat shine even more.
Unfortunately, Marvel’s Avengers contains a hefty amount of repetition that is likely to quickly get under the skin of those who aren’t already keen on this genre. Eventually, players are going to see the same environments and enemies and objectives for the hundredth time. Running through the same AIM lab to defend a point or destroy turbines is fun the first ten times, even though it’s a shock when the mission ends after a couple minutes. After that? Sure, it becomes stale. Considering the wealth of comics the team could pull from, it’s a shame that robots and humanoids are used so much and that there aren’t enough interesting and challenging boss fights.
Marvel’s Avengers needs more spectacle in its endgame, that much is true. Being tasked with increasingly difficult versions of the same challenges and ascending enemy rooms will lose its luster if players aren’t strapped in for the extreme, grinding ride. But I’m the kind of crazy who soaks up games as a service because the challenge is deliberate and easy enough to latch on to.
An argument can be made that Marvel’s Avengers would have been better as a completely single player experience with no games as a service mechanics to get in its way. I understand the sentiment as both Crystal Dynamic’s Tomb Raider and Eidos Montreal’s Deus Ex games have proved to be incredible without the need of systems found in Destiny or The Division. I think it’s impressive enough that the game doesn’t feel trapped by the precedent set by the MCU. When the game was first revealed it was jarring to see these Avengers with different looks and voices. Yet the cast blew it out of the water. Nolan North’s Tony Stark may quip way too much but Troy Baker delivers a great, subdued Bruce Banner. I’m just glad there are a lot of great ideas found inside of Marvel’s Avengers, ones that are hopefully expanded upon due to the fact that the game is meant to be constantly updated over time.
That’s where Marvel’s Avengers should excel, in its long game. The curve thankfully hasn’t flattened as sharply as with Anthem, despite that being a somewhat better “Iron Man” game. With the promise of new, free heroes and content, my interest is piqued. Will the Hawkeye and Kate Bishop content arriving in the next few months provide an exciting glimpse into the game’s future? I hope so. Ir is ripe with possibility. Could we see the X-Men? Will there be raids? Is Galactus or Thanos ever going to show up? Only the developers know. But for right now, Marvel’s Avengers is constantly fun to play with its easily accessible combat and a story that should not be missed. Yes, some assembly may be required but like every great superhero story, you need a great origin.
