Marvel's Avengers in replay: pathetic rescue attempt by Hawkeye
Marvel's Avengers in replay
Comics giant Marvel, the home of iconic superheroes such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, the Fantastischen Vier or Captain Marvel, remains one of the most successful entities in the global entertainment landscape - with or without Corona! The ongoing Covid pandemic destroyed the many cinema plans of mastermind Kevin Feige, thanks to the successful streaming series WandaVision (our podcast episode!) And Falcon and the Winter Soldier - also located in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - successes and records remain not from. In addition, the venerable company, with over 100 million streaming subscribers, is becoming Netflix's biggest opponent.Table of Contents
1 No kidding: Help us, Hawkeye! 2 The future is actually bleak and barren 3 Not really "Maestro" 4 Technically a good and important step You might think that it is one thanks to the impressive success of the last few years, the countless comic stories since 1939 and the creative and varied universe It's child's play to establish yourself as a "big player" in the gaming world - well, wrongly thought.Recommended editorial content At this point you will find external content from [PLATTFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. Although Spider-Man, developed by Insomniac Games in 2018, is considered to be one of the best superhero games of all time and was one of the most successful games of the PS4 era, one looks in vain for similar Marvel hits in recent years. That should change with the Marvel's Avengers developed by Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics (buy now € 27.99). The actually successful story about the teenage girl Kamala Khan and the quarreling Avengers failed miserably and soon turned out to be an expensive million-dollar flop for Square Enix.
Avengers outsider Clint is supposed to save the day ?! After the million dollar debacle, the team with Hawkeye tries to breathe new life into the game - daring. Source: Square Enix Now, a few months after the release in August 2020, things should finally improve. Crystal Dynamics wants to breathe new life into the superhero blockbuster with the help of a free jump to the new consoles and the DLC "Operation Hawkeye: Future Imperfect", which is also available for free.
Who would have thought that the Avengers, made up of legends how Steve Rogers and Tony Stark actually need the help of Clint Barton? Let's be realistic: Nobody sucks. To what extent Hawkeye and Crystal Dynamics succeed in bailing out the superhero epic, we clarify in our replay test.
No joke: Help us, Hawkeye!
The ambitious large-scale project Marvel's Avengers by Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics, which was announced in January 2017, created a lot of hype and gave superhero fans hope for lots of action-heavy hours of play in the Marvel universe. Shortly after the release in August 2020, however, there was a disastrous crash landing, which caused a lot of ridicule on the web. A combat system that was much too shallow, little variety in the hero's everyday life, boring and empty environments and a multitude of technical problems made Marvel's Avengers disappear from the scene surprisingly quickly - almost as if someone had flipped.Lichtblick Hawkeye: Great combos, lots of variety and clever skills ... Who would have thought Hawkeye would bring so much fun to the battlefield? We are not. Source: PC Games That a service title can save itself even after a messed up start with clever improvements, a lot of work and fresh content is shown by prominent examples such as Sea of Thieves or Rainbow Six: Siege. It's clear, of course, that Marvel's Avengers wants to embark on a similarly successful path. In December 2020 there was the first go-ahead for this venture in the form of a free update including a brand new character: Kate Bishop, also known as Hawkeye's student. Solid additional content, but nothing that lifted the blockbuster out of oblivion. So the hopes are clearly on the shoulders of Hawkeye and the second DLC, Operation Hawkeye: Future Imperfect.
The Eternal Mystery Fury: Whether in the films, comics or games, there is hardly a character like that often disappears from the scene like Nick Fury. Source: PC Games In addition to the approximately two-hour story, fans can look forward to Hawkeye as a new character. Anyone who is now afraid that Hawkeye would differ only slightly or not at all from Kate Bishop - after all, they are two similar battle-hardened characters who prefer to reach for a bow - we can reassure them. While Kate relies heavily on her teleportation skills and a very agile fighting style, Clint presents herself with a satisfying mix of fun long-range and close-range combat elements. In addition, the new character adorns itself with many exciting abilities, such as three different types of arrows that can be used strategically, a sword and various explosive arrows that can be activated at will. In addition, there are a lot of interesting skills, some have to be unlocked first, others are available to us at the beginning. For example, Clint can fire a healing arrow in a predetermined area, which gives members valuable life points.
How fun Hawkeye controls in the wild battles of Marvel's Avengers actually surprised us. Also the fact how powerful Clint feels compared to other game characters. We wouldn't be surprised (and would be recommended) if Crystal Dynamics made some improvements to adapt the archer's fighting strength a little more to the rest of the group. But as well as Hawkeye plays, a large part of the free expansion failed. First and foremost the boring story, which adorns itself with exactly the same problems as was the case with the original game.
The future is actually bleak and sparse
The history of the expansion focuses on the post-apocalyptic future vision of the Marvel universe, first established by the appearance of an alternative Wolverine version called "Old Man Logan" by comic legend Mark Millar. However, Old Man Logan only gained worldwide fame through the 2017 film adaptation of James Mangold (there were actually plans for a crossover with Deadpool). Evil has triumphed once and for all and many of the iconic superheroes have passed away. One of the few survivors is the old hermit Clint Barton, who has roamed the wastelands alone for many years.At the start, Hawkeye explores the remains of the A.I.M. and also follows the mysterious footsteps of S.H.I.E.L.D. boss Nick Fury. That sounds quite exciting on paper, but in the virtual realms of the superhero epic it could hardly be implemented more dryly. The wasteland looks frighteningly familiar to anyone who has played the main game. Despite the destroyed lands, the many remains of the long dead civilization and the orange color scheme, the new area is reminiscent of the already well-known Utah Badlands.
Style costs: As with the other characters, there is one Variety of pretty outfits for Hawkeye, but the particularly exciting ones are difficult to earn. Source: PC Games In addition, there are no new approaches or fresh ideas to fill the game world with more life. You fight your way through A.I.M. hordes, collect fragments, find chests with boring equipment and in general it is almost impossible to catch a spark of tension. There are of course cool costumes like the "ronin outfit" that fans know from the comics, but they are difficult to unlock and join the content that can be unlocked more easily with a few real money bills. In addition to the post-apocalypse, there are also game sections in the present. Here we take on the role of young Clint Barton. In other words, in addition to the weakened recycling in the wasteland, there are plenty of known mission sequences, areas and opponents from the original game - very disappointing.
Not really "Maestro"
In the course of the Plot we also meet the Marvel antagonist Maestro, a dark and vicious version of the Hulk. The choice of villain makes sense, of course, if you take a look at the comic book template, but that doesn't help against the strong feeling of recycling. In addition, hardly anything is extracted from the new characters, the characters and their intentions are hardly explained and remain pale over the entire course of the game. The new story is rounded off with familiar ones such as the Taskmaster. A great antagonist, but one that we have already defeated several times in the Kamala campaign.It is again possible to play the plot with up to three partners, far too few interactions and uninteresting dialogues between the popular ones But even in this area, characters ensure little fun and a lot of monotonous processing of the tasks. But there are also things that Marvel's Avengers does really well. In the field of technology, Crystal Dynamics has put a lot of effort into it.
Technically a good and important step
The very last chance? The big expansion "War for Wakanda" is to follow at the end of 2020. If anyone can bail out the Avengers, it is King T’Challa. Source: Square Enix Marvel's Avengers has moments in which the superhero epic cuts a great figure, but especially the falling frame rate and extremely long loading times caused a bad atmosphere inside and outside the Chimera (the home of the Avengers). With the free jump to the new consoles, there are now two modes that we can choose between. The "Highest Performance" mode offers a targeted 60 FPS in dynamically scaled 4K resolution, while "Highest Quality" only offers 30 FPS, but in native 4K resolution with more detailed objects and nicer shadows, reflections and effects.The great next-gen feature of the PS5's dual-sense controller, haptic feedback, is also finding its way. The feeling of playing archery with Clint and Kate in particular benefits from this, but you shouldn't expect a similarly impressive gaming experience as in Astro's Playroom (our detailed check). The loading times are also impressive. In the last-gen version, you often had to wait longer than a minute for a mission to start, but now it usually takes a few seconds. If you have a PS5 but want to play with friends who have not yet enjoyed the new Playstation console, you can look forward to cross-gen matchmaking. Spatial audio, also a feature of the PS5, is also available in Marvel's Avengers. Technically, Crystal Dynamics has done a lot right with the new next-gen version of the superhero party - but unfortunately not beyond.
Recommended editorial content Here you can find external content from [PLATFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. It remains to be said: The new story extension is quite short at just two hours, but what is much worse is that even with such a short playing time, Crystal Dynamics does not succeed in breaking away from the often criticized mission processes, the boring enemy types or the much to resolve excessive monotony. Hawkeye is a small ray of hope, but everything else suffers from exactly the same problems as the rest of the content of Marvel's Avengers - tending to be even worse than in the main campaign. In the story of Kamala there were at least a few quiet and beautiful moments that drove the desire to play. In the DLC content, on the other hand, it's a flood of boredom. Of course, capacities are always limited and you can't expect a completely new gaming experience. But if that's the direction of the wind you're trying to get Marvel's Avengers out of a jam, then there's no superhero in the world who can save it - not even fan-favorite Black Panther.
What do you think of the current status of the action adventure Marvel's Avengers? Do you see the situation more rosy and how much are you looking forward to the first big DLC about Wakanda King T'Challa, which should appear at the end of 2021? Write us your opinion in the comments.
