Marvel’s Avengers EGX 2019: hot people assemble!
When Aimee and Ed went to EGX this year, they both were lucky enough to check out Square Enix’s hottest game: Marvel’s Avengers. It’s a game that has been set for a 2020 release, and yet has caused more than a fair amount of scrutiny from fans.
Nonetheless, both Aimee and Ed had two different opinions of this game. Aimee has never watched a Marvel film outside of Guardians of the Galaxy, whereas Ed has.
Here’s what both of them had to say about this newest iteration of Marvel’s Avengers after experiencing the game at EGX.
Ed
When Crystal Dynamics showed off their new Marvel’s Avengers game at E3, fans were quick to moan about the character models and their lack of MCU likeness. I’m no comic fan so I can’t comment on that. But at least they’re all really good looking, despite a lack of diversity.
No, the most disappointing thing about the game is the actual gameplay. The demo takes place on the Golden Gate Bridge on A-Day as the Avengers defeat hordes of soldiers leading up to a boss battle against Taskmaster. Switching between each character, it’s meant to show off their distinct gameplay, but really they’re just not different enough.
Sure, each has their signature move that feels authentic enough. We start off with Thor who can throw and pull his hammer (though not nearly as satisfying as God of War), before flying as Iron Man and destroying enemies with his chest laser, leaping and smashing with Hulk, shield-flinging as Captain America and finally beating up Taskmaster himself as boss bitch Black Widow who, let’s face it, is the true leader of the Avengers.
Each character has light attacks and heavy area of effect attacks, with combat very reminiscent of the Spider-Man and Batman games. But the feel of each character just isn’t different enough. The demo presents a gauntlet of button-mashing and quick-time events that’s flashy as hell, yet practically plays itself.
There are cutscenes and animations every couple of minutes that provide plenty of cinematic flair. And it looks absolutely gorgeous – watching the heroes kicking ass amongst explosions and crashing set pieces is an absolute thrill ride. Yet underneath the visuals, it’s all too simplistic and linear.
Of course, this is just a demo – it seems that the main game will have much more variety in its missions, plus tons of customization options in terms of both abilities and cosmetics. How much of an impact this will have on the gameplay remains to be seen.
There’s also the potential for an intriguing story. Ms Marvel will be taking a central role as a young student who develops superhuman powers, likely providing a more human story beyond the usual Avengers-save-the-world stuff. It’s doing enough to appease Marvel fans, but hopefully there’s depth to it beyond being incredibly good looking.
Just hands off Bruce Banner. He’s mine.
Aimee
Cool, everyone is really hot and I’m enjoying watching them beat up bad people I know nothing about. Also, what kinda name is Taskmaster? Who the hell told this guy that it was a cool name? Because it really isn’t.
Marvel’s Avengers has been criticized for a lot of things. Not looking anything like the Disney Marvel heroes (which is certainly a take), and a near overwhelming reliance on the same sort of combat style between each hero you play as. The former take seems ridiculous to me, but the latter may actually be onto something.
I won’t rehash everything Ed’s already said, but you basically have your strong attack, quick attack, super cool hero move and then super, SUPER cool hero move. Every single Avenger has that, and as such, it wasn’t too hard to figure out what to do when it came to combat. In fact, combat wasn’t that difficult at all. I rarely felt I had to even look at my health bar, I was just busy being too damn awesome.
That said, it’s quite obvious that this is a tutorial mission that eases players in rather than a mission where the game assumes you know everything there is to know. As I was queuing up for the game, I could see that combat wasn’t going to be as basic as it appears. There looks to be a combat tree, where you can select which moves you want. So there’s hope yet!
As someone who doesn’t know a lot about Avengers, or even about Marvel, I have to admit that going in, I didn’t really expect to be blown away in the same way avid fans might be. Lo and behold, I wasn’t. That said, I think this might be the piece of media that actually makes me want to know more about Marvel’s Avengers. Considering how big the movies are, and how less-than-hyped I am about anything Marvel, I consider this a pretty big deal. So, well done Square Enix, you managed to make me care about the Avengers.
Let’s see if they can keep that interest going before the release of the game in 2020.
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