Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

Batman: Arkham Asylum drew me in years ago to the point where I became intoxicated by the lore surrounding the world’s greatest detective.

As a video game setting, Arkham is packed with a strange and detailed history of Batman, one been detailed in decades of comics but one I regardless had avoided. For fans of DC, it was a treasure trove of referential collectibles and discoveries. Despite only being a casual Batman movie viewer, Arkham Asylum awoke a rabid thirst in me, so I took to the internet, reading Batman wikis and comics to satiate my curiosity.

When Marvel’s Avengers released last year, the same happened. A love for the Marvel Cinematic Universe helped spark a similar yearning in understanding the depths of Marvel, the knowledge inside the pages. Again, I took to the internet, hoping lore videos could fill some curious void. I told myself I would buy an omnibus or two but never did, instead reading a few Ms. Marvel collections to better understand the hero of the Avengers‘ campaign.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a phenomenal game. Just as importantly, it is an imaginative, thoughtful interpretation of a Marvel property. After playing it, I want more than nothing to dive into the pages that forged this ragtag group of heroes. And this time, I think I truly will because I’ve fallen even more in love with this universe.

Despite the world being inundated with superheroes on the silver screen, it’s only been in the last decade that gamers have been graced with truly unique and enjoyable titles based on comic book properties. Now, with Guardians of the Galaxy, players have one of the best comic book games available, one that is able to separate itself from the immensely popular MCU brand and lovingly transform the rich, illustrated world it’s based on.

The first hurdle Guardians of the Galaxy needed to overcome was differentiating itself from James Gunn’s vision. “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1” and “Vol. 2” were incredible movies that brought the Guardians into the limelight and injected much needed personality into the solo pre-“Avenger” films. Without a doubt, Eidos-Montreal has its work cut out for them. Guardians of the Galaxy was derided as cut-and-paste version of its MCU counterpart upon its first reveal. However, nothing can be further from the truth.

Eidos-Montreal undoubtedly uses Gunn’s stylistic choices to paint with. Star-Lord was ripped away from his home on Earth in the 1980s and is obsessed with the music of the time. Character aspects like Rocket Raccoon’s aggression and Drax the Destroyer’s tendency to take everything literally are in full force in the game. The acting and direction in those movies was superb and served to define the non-comic personas of those characters.

Yet after nearly 20 hours of the campaign, I barely thought of Chris Pratt or Bradley Cooper. I feel like there may be some players who will have trouble distancing the two properties from each other, that’s just how brains can be. But it’s less of a problem than in last year’s Avengers game where those titular heroes and voice actors weren’t given enough material to work with.

Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the most talkative games ever made. There are plenty of RPGs packed with inane conversations from one-off NPCs but I truly cannot imagine how many words and pages made up this script. From Chapter 1 until the end, Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, Drax, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot are talking, nearly nonstop. In a sense, you might call this the “Gilmore Girls” of gaming.

The rapid-fire banter between the five main characters is relentless. And while that word may have a negative connotation, I can think of no other to accurately describe it. Conversations are threaded through exploration, combat, idle walking, dogfights, and death-defying moments. Words fill the player’s ears as Groot may speak his trademark “I Am Groot” while Rocket translates, while Gamora and Drax are engaging in their own dialog.

These characters speak, yet it never feels without purpose. Every word, every dumb joke or mean-spirited comment comes from a thoughtful place that the writers used to further define these characters. It never felt like an unnecessary flood of verbose bullshit. This is just how the Guardians talk within their own group and to each other.

When I quickly realized the beauty behind Guardians of the Galaxy‘s dialog and use of words, I became fascinated by the interplay between the actions on the screen, what was going on in the characters’ heads, what they were saying to each other, and how I interpreted what was being said. In the lore of the game, the Guardians are only freshly minted with their current five members. Peter, Groot, and Rocket were together first, then Drax, then Gamora. There is a palpable mistrust in the opening chapter of the game because Gamora has only been with the team a short while and her and Drax have major beef since Gamora is the adopted daughter of Thanos who killed Drax’s wife and child. As Peter, players have the chance to try and diffuse the tension or express mistrust in Gamora.

These conversations feel as “human” as they possibly could. I was thrown off when characters spoke over each other but began to understand that it was done intentionally to serve the qualities of the character. Throughout the game, players will have the opportunity to speak up with a couple choices of response or stay silent. These offer a way to mold Peter into the kind of Star-Lord the player wishes, taking into consideration how the rest of the team might react. But unlike many games that use a similar mechanic, Guardians of the Galaxy rarely allows players the opportunity to hear out the end of a chunk of dialog. Decisions will pop up on screen and a small icon of Peter’s face will lose color indicating how much time remains to speak.

I was tripped up the first few times this happened because previous gaming habits often gave me the time I wanted to ponder the repercussions of my character’s words. But in the thick of an argument or another Guardian’s stream of consciousness, would they wait on me to respond? Absolutely not. When making a choice, sometimes the game will wait until a character finishes their sentence, sometimes Peter will interrupt what they were saying to interject.

Eventually I had to accept that I wouldn’t and couldn’t hear everything being said in this game unless I wanted to play through it multiple times. Getting over this panic, I would often play a meta-game where I tried to time Peter’s responses in the way that best suited my role playing of him as a caring, concerned leader trying to bring everyone together but not afraid to defuse the situation. Though conversations don’t branch out as much as they would in games hinging on narrative choice, Guardians of the Galaxy is surprisingly effective on allowing players to observe and control the cadence of the fast-paced dialog.

Late into the game, players meet a character that speaks in heavy alliteration that frustrates the Guardians. It’s initially off-putting but executed and written so majestically that it perfectly encapsulates the character, giving us a full picture of what they are like, despite just meeting them. Many of the side characters are written and presented in such a way that you never question what their personality is. Regardless, you still linger on their every word, just like you would turning the page of a comic waiting to read that next speech bubble.

It may seem strange to focus so heavily solely on the dialog in the game but it has remained one of the most unique standouts of my time with Guardians of the Galaxy. Again, these characters don’t stop talking to each other. The impressive amount of context provided during the most idle amount of conversation allows the entire Marvel universe to ooze itself into this one game.

Rather than being based on the movies, Guardians of the Galaxy is written with the events of the comics in mind. Earth’s Avengers are a distant consideration, Thanos doesn’t appear to have wiped out half the entire universe, Peter’s father isn’t a planet but an alien being, and a whole cast of characters written in other comics exists on the peripheral. Eidos-Montreal has a wealth of source material to work with and never gets too greedy with their referencing. Any player who is versed in the Marvel pantheon is going to recognize some or all of the names and proper nouns thrown around.

Eidos-Montreal recognizes the colossal scope of this universe and isn’t afraid to treat a renowned figure as a kind of status quo. Unlike us, these characters are living in this reality and deal with Infinity Stones and Fing Fang Foom and gelatinous monsters all the time. You can see the writers actually taking pleasure in the various name drops and Easter egg moments, providing excitement for dedicated fans and acknowledgement that there are millions of pages of material to cull from.

Perhaps that’s why I took so fondly to Guardians of the Galaxy. Despite possessing only a basic knowledge of the comics, I was still able to appreciate many of the broad strokes the story employed. Regardless of the massive size of this universe, the main story felt deeply personal. It starts out with the Guardians hunting down a monster in hopes of selling it to a vicious woman named Lady Hellbender. What follows is a domino effect that sees the Guardians meeting the dominant police force known as Nova Corps, a harrowing entrance and escape from Lady Hellbender’s planet, an encounter with an eerily unoccupied ship, mysterious prophetic caves, and a galactic outpost inside the head of a dead Celestial being.

Never did the ping-ponging across locations give me whiplash because the entire time, I was accompanied by these five unlikely allies. The dynamic of the Guardians is the glue of their planet-hopping quest for notoriety and money. It’s all realized with beautifully detailed planets and fantastic character models that give the game a look on its own. This is a game where the developers appear to have had fun making it, rather than it being forced down their throats because Square Enix had Marvel licenses to work with.

That all comes alive in the writing of these characters because they feel so… alive. Often the Guardians feel like a powder keg of clashing emotions and ideologies that Peter keeps hanging on by a thread. Do you coddle Rocket’s emotions and violent temperament in hopes that he won’t divert from the plan? Do you get Drax to quit bellyaching about Gamora because she’s reformed and a part of the team? The ebb and flow of depression, contentment, camaraderie, and triumph keep the Guardians grounded on their quest for purpose.

Over the course of the game, you watch these characters evolve into different versions of themselves, just like people would who are open to growth. Drax goes from a stiff guy who takes everything literally and seems pretty violent, to a destroyer with deep emotions and pain. Rocket often acts as a villainous force, being an asshole for seemingly no reason, until you begin to uncover the layers of his character.

At a certain juncture in Guardians of the Galaxy, players may come to realize the narrative’s heavy emphasis on emotional trauma. For any medium, this is a heavy, heavy subject matter to take on and not one that is often handled with much grace in gaming. I feel like The Last of Us: Part 2 showed the deep scars that trauma can have on a person. Guardians of the Galaxy does not shy away from surprisingly uncomfortable, difficult moments in which a character is coming to terms with seemingly insurmountable loss. As a player, you are forced to make gameplay actions that feel shocking or act as a narrative device.

Dealing with and accepting loss is a key element to what causes the individual Guardians to be hesitant about strengthening their bonds with others and the foundation for how they grow into a family. Let me tell you, it was a surprise to be playing a game with a talking raccoon and tree person and have these tragic themes seep their way into your subconscious. Gunn’s version of the Guardians achieved this in a two-hour runtime whereas Eidos-Montreal gives their characters hours to mold themselves into these people. Lengthy sections of exploration or forward movement are devoted to allowing character to work out their differences or come together as a team to figure out what the problem is.

Near the end chapters of Guardians of the Galaxy, the hours of conversation between this group comes into full circle. If they weren’t constantly speaking, expressing themselves, a narrative and personality shift may have felt less earned. Idle moments where Peter and the player walk around the Milano or the environment aren’t filled with silence, instead you hear your partners talk to each other. Maybe it’s about the situation at hand, maybe it’s about Galacticus or the culture of a planet that houses priests. Yes, the game has quiet moments when it matters. Otherwise, you are getting character development or an opportunity to learn something more about the world.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a humorous game, not just a heartfelt one. Its comedy often lands because it crafts humor not only with words but visual and gameplay direction. A boss fight is queued up with a health bar and nameplate only for it to be devoured by another entity before the fight even starts. Peter will go off the beaten trail to find collectibles and his teammates will wonder what the hell he is doing and ask him where he’s going. It’s a joke that could get repetitive if it wasn’t for the fact that most side paths seem to result in their own unique dialog.

Thankfully, the voice acting and direction in Guardians of the Galaxy is superb. There are no weak links in this lengthy chain. Often, a side character is introduced just to add a bit of flavor and then they move on. But you better believe that character is imbued with personality delivered by their voice actor. The core five characters are impeccable, bringing a conviction and depth to a role that has already been filled by an actor making big bucks on a blockbuster film. The shoes might seem fairly large but I feel like the cast treads their own path. Rocket sounds fairly similar to his MCU counterpart but here, we get dozens of hours with him and during that time he will make players laugh and infuriate them with his insubordination.

One particularly striking moment for me was when we learn a crushing detail about Gamora’s backstory. The actress expresses the pain in Gamora’s voice, holding back tears, her words becoming increasingly raspier, her voice trembling as her screams of fury fade into agonizing torment and hurt. Some players may have qualms about the visual or voice direction of these now popular entities but Eidos-Montreal has handled them about as expertly as I could imagine.

As Peter Quill is the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy and captain of the Milano–despite Rocket’s objections–it makes sense that players only control him in and out of combat. Guardians of the Galaxy frequently puts players in an open space and allows them the opportunity for Peter to pick up collectible objects to examine or later talk about with a fellow Guardian back on the Milano. His visor can scan objects in the environment for small tidbits of lore. I enjoyed these tame exploratory sections of the game that allowed the narrative room to breathe or allow for the impact of previous events to rumble through.

In combat, players run around shooting their elemental guns at baddies and dodge around using Peter’s rocket boots. The closer Peter is to an enemy, the more damage he will do. Firing doesn’t last forever as eventually the guns will overheat but can be rapidly reloaded by hitting R2 at the right time. As Peter, players are meant to fight with a tactical sense in mind. Through story progression or earned ability points, Peter and the other Guardians have four skills that are unlocked and assigned to face buttons. Peter’s abilities are activated by clicking the left stick, which can feel somewhat clumsy at times in the heat of battle. His team is activated by holding down L1, targeting an enemy, pressing a face button assigned to a specific teammate, and then hitting a different face button assigned to that member’s specific skill.

It’s a strange system to describe and one that feels a bit chaotic when learning how combat works. Groot primarily acts as crowd control, as his abilities focus on holding down enemies or bursting a group into the air. Drax is useful to deal stagger damage to enemies, which temporarily stun them and leave them open for more damage. Gamora, as an assassin, has high damage attacks that can be used on single or multiple targets. Rocket tosses grenades that serve as variations of stagger, damage, and crowd control.

At first I wouldn’t be surprised if players spend early battles spamming whatever moves aren’t on cooldown to any nearby enemy, with Peter mopping up damage. Soon enough, though, varying enemy combinations come into play that force players to be mindful of when is the best time to use the skills of the team. Larger enemies with bigger health bars should always be staggered and contained while focusing damage on easier to kill mobs. Throughout the course of the story, Peter’s guns get upgraded to use elemental attacks. Ice can freeze enemies while lightning can chain damage to nearby enemies. Some enemies have elemental weaknesses that should be exposed, rapidly destroying their shields immediately chipping into their health pool.

There does come a time when players may grow exceedingly confident and just spam whatever attacks they wish. Either way, combat encounters never feel excessively long. Instead, the longest ones maybe last about four or five minutes. A sense of repetition and diminishing returns may arrive in full force near the end of the game when players have acquired all skills and fully upgraded Peter’s equipment. This is a fair assessment but the brisk pace that combat is completed at never wore out its welcome for me. Combat arenas also introduce interactive pieces that Peter can have the Guardians target. Drax will throw explosive barrels or large rocks while Gamora slices down heavy cranes and Groot thrusts his roots up through a piece of Earth.

Environmental puzzles also exist that have Peter using his comrades to navigate tricky terrain, direct the flow of electricity, or stop a waterfall from getting Rocket wet. As small setpieces that never feel overly challenging, I appreciated how these moments would break up the pace of combat and simple exploration, giving players something extra to accomplish.

In desperate times, players can also huddle up during combat. Sometimes accidentally triggered by holding down L1 and R1 because you meant to direct a teammate to use a skill while firing an elemental blast, the Guardians huddle up with Peter switching into first person as the other four express disdain or excitement about the flow of battle. Light white words will pop up behind their heads, indicating the kind of response players should make to inspire the team. Choose the wrong response and only Peter gets the boost. Choose correctly and everyone is revived or healed and has their skill cooldown times drastically reduced. The best part? Huddling up queues one of the incredible retro songs from the game’s playlist to play during combat. Hearing “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley or “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham! while floating around and blasting away monstrous beasts is unmatched and a perfectly appropriately amazing thing to happen in Guardians of the Galaxy.

The use of licensed music in Guardians of the Galaxy never wears thin. Several times a recognizable song will play for a poignant narrative moment and it doesn’t take away from the gravity of the scene. Additionally, the game’s score is equally stellar, providing equally memorable themes that would make an MCU composer jealous.

In my pre-launch time with Guardians of the Galaxy, I did encounter a number of visual and gameplay glitches that didn’t entirely detract from my experience but did color it in a few ways. A couple times I had to restart a checkpoint. Once, Gamora disappeared and never showed up on the elevator to trigger a prompt. Another time, an enemy was either stuck somewhere or never appeared, leaving me stuck in a combat sequence that I couldn’t get out of. During a cutscene the gorgeous blue of space crackled with black static. Occasionally, characters wouldn’t move their mouths or would animate weirdly and one time, Drax never put away his blades and, while cross-armed would talk to me with the sharp objects sticking out his back. Not completely distracting but definitely funny, like a lot of the clipping I encountered before a patch is pushed out to hopefully clean a lot of the noise up. I did hate how very infrequently, dialog would cut out or play during a cutscene, breaking my immersion as multiple characters talked at the wrong times.

Guardians of the Galaxy, despite these minor issues and somewhat less than stellar combat, is a contender for one of the best video games based on a comic book franchise. While I enjoyed the Batman: Arkham series, it often felt like a superhero stealth game with a dash of Metroidvania. A great game, though. Marvel’s Spider-Man is a pinnacle comic book game, bringing the action and drama of the friendly neighborhood spider to life. It’s an incredible game.

But hear me out.

I think Guardians of the Galaxy might be the best comic book game. Spider-Man is brilliant. But when I played through the game, web-slinging through New York City and stopping criminals from ruining Peter Parker’s day, I never felt soaked up in the pages of the comic. Rather, Spider-Man played like an incredible, focused action game that used Spider-Man and his established villains to deliver a story I had almost played before with open world tasks that eventually lost their luster. That being said, it’s still a great game based on a comic book franchise.

Guardians of the Galaxy, however, breaks through the mold of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and culls countless source material to establish the Guardians’ world and make it work for the game’s narrative. Each new chapter offers a thrilling moment or a shift to a new planet or a new threat while always maintaining that core, comic conceit. It felt like all the dialog and visuals popped off the screen, just like they would on the pages. I could imagine little text bubbles appearing above everyone’s head while the bright, inventive visuals splash across the screen. Either way, it’s a welcome addition to a growing roster of incredible properties based on the superheroes we read about as kids and could only imagine as more than just two-dimensional beat ’em ups because that’s just what licensed gamers were at the time.

Guardians of the Galaxy is a strong contender for Game of the Year in 2021. Constantly, the game surprises with its inventive use of the Marvel formula. Eidos-Montreal has managed to do the impossible, creating a vision for the Guardians that isn’t beholden to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and can stand on its own. Featuring rich dialog and a character- and personality-driven story, players will be able to forge their own path as Star-Lord, leading his ragtag group of miscreants across the universe. Combat may not offer many surprises but is explosive and fast-paced enough to allow for exciting tactical teamwork. Guardians of the Galaxy has set a new standard for games based on comics and while there may be competition in the future, this game proves the genre can evolve to new heights.