Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is hilarious, don't underestimate it | Tried

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is hilarious

During E3 we got to talk to you about the new Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, the new intellectual property of Eidos Montréal based on the most extravagant and irreverent superheroes in the galaxy. The game, scheduled for October 26, 2021, is a single player experience with a strong narrative imprint, deliberately detached from the movies and more inspired by comics.

In the last few days we have had the opportunity to preview it in streaming for three hours thanks to the Parsec system and we must admit that we were pleasantly convinced by the experience, all despite a playful apparatus perhaps a little too woody.

An unlikely team

Sia whether you have loved the Guardians of the Galaxy at the cinema, whether you have been a fan of the print version since time immemorial ... you will love the quartet in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy in both cases. By perfectly mixing the best of the paper version of Bendis, and McNiven, with the strengths of James Gunn's film adaptation, the new production of Eidos Montreal succeeds in the arduous task of offering a new version of the characters that manages to remain consistent with the stylistic canons. of the characters, without merely tracing a formula already seen.

The dialogues, the jokes and the games of glances between Star-Lord, Drax, Racoon, Groot and Gamora, are among the most successful things we have had way of observing during the three-hour rehearsal of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

Milan, which is not the well-known city of Milan but the main ship of our botched team, is the nerve center of our operations, as well as our house". Between missions we can explore the various sections of Milan, visit the rooms of our companions and initiate dialogues that deepen the lore, as well as upgrade our equipment at the Rocket Racoon work table.

For those who are afraid, despite everything, of a multiplayer drift after Marvel's Avengers will have to change their mind and we confirm it again: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a totally single player production and apparently also well done, with many dialogues and level cutscene. Why apparently?

Because what we have seen is based on a single mission in history, which forces Peter Quill and his companions to travel to a Nova Corps base, "The Rock" to pay a "hefty fine" due to unauthorized trespassing. A journey, which as you may think, will have completely unexpected implications. What surprised us is the desire to balance the moments of dialogue with those of exploration and combat in a well thought-out way, with the possibility of finding precious resources, documents and collectibles to further deepen the game lore.

The use of companions to be able to overcome and reach hidden rooms and places is essential, as is the use of the scanner to find hidden power-up materials or important roads and objects to continue the adventure.

80s-themed fire and sparks

Moments of exploration and relaxing chats with mates aren't the only component of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, not least our makeshift team is armed to the teeth and ready to defend against mad enemies and monsters.

The fights are one of the central parts of the experience and are quite frequent during the single levels. We are not dealing with a pure third-person shooter, not for anything else the clashes are more tactical than we would have thought and knowing how to use, at the right time, the skills of oneself and of the companions, is vital to be able to surprise the opponents. >
The enemies we faced were quite diverse, some of them offering shields and resistances that could only be easily knocked down by some elemental effects of our weapons, while others stayed in the rear with precision weapons.

The various situations allowed us to think about how to approach the battles, carefully choosing the exact mix of allied skills to use and the right combos to increase the damage inflicted. To give you an example, Groot can immobilize opponents, while Rocket can unload a series of blows in a vast area: being able to assemble, in the right way, skills and powers. It is clear that having the skills enhanced with skill points and weapons with more powerful mods help much more during firefights, which however always occur in rather large areas and with a series of environmental objects to use against enemies , such as boxes hanging from the ceiling or explosive barrels that Drax can throw at enemies.

When things go wrong it is possible to gather our comrades and motivate them with a phrase of your choice, if the phrase were to prove to be akin to their state of mind, the damage increases and the clashes become exhilarating plays of color, with particle effects on the screen, explosions, irreverent phrases and above all 80s music to go all out; imagine fighting enemies with a Holding Our For a Hero, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy allows it.

Beyond the possibilities offered by the clashes, it is precisely in this phase that the game shows its side to a series of small problems. First of all, it should be emphasized that managing the team during the battle is not complicated, but the use of one's special skills is already more cumbersome and we are not sure that just a little habit is enough to solve the problem. In addition to all this, the animations turn out to be a bit woody during the jumps and movements, sometimes we lost the moment against the enemies, risking death several times. Certainly these are not serious problems, but we certainly would have expected more fluid dynamics.

From a technical point of view we are quite calm: the title is extremely enjoyable, showing a good polygonal quality and first-rate effects. order. Too bad, as mentioned above, for not perfect animations and some textures in low definition, however the test was in streaming and it is not possible to ascertain 100% the graphic quality of the experience.

One thing is sure: the incredible musical quality of the chosen pieces, from Bad Reputation by Joan Jett, to Holding Our for a Hero by Bonnie Tyler and Cars by Gary Numan and again Iron Maiden, KISS, New Kids On The Block and Rick Astley: . Lots of variety and quality, for some of the best soundtracks of the 80s.

Summing up

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy had a lot of fun in its simplicity and this shows that the work of Eidos Montréal is bearing fruit. The characters are exactly as we expected them and the dynamics of action, albeit with some minor issues in terms of fluidity, are quite exciting. On balance, the game demonstrates character and a single player nature that seems to work.

To understand if this production will actually be able to convince us from start to finish we will have to wait until next October 26, 2021, days in which we will understand if the Guardians of the Galaxy are ready to give life to a new, great, gaming adventure.