A phenomenal example of Marvel’s meteoric rise in popularity can be easily seen with the Guardians of the Galaxy. A ragtag team that only debuted in their known comic forms in 2008 and have since become household names. The adventures of Star-Lord, Drax, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot have been watched and loved by millions around the world. And with great renown comes the inevitable video game.
Unfortunately, Marvel video games have a spotty track record. There’s bound to be some hits and misses when you’ve published over 150 games stemming from the 1980s, but the last few years we have seen a consistent growth in quality. Despite the massive disappointment of Marvel’s Avengers, we’ve seen the successful releases of the Marvel’s Spider-man Playstation franchise and Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3: the Black Order. I’m now proud to add Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy to that list of successful titles.
In fact, I’m happy to say that Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is my favorite Guardians story ever, a fantastic game, and possibly my favorite story of 2021.
We Built this City
The story begins with our ragtag group already together and bickering as they attempt to make money any way possible. They get on the bad side of both the Nova Corps and a monster collector, known as Lady Hellbender. Their journey to a restricted zone leads to a small bet which causes a small accident, which causes a domino effect that snowballs into a galaxy level threat. Life as we know it is doomed if the Guardians don’t own up to their mistakes and overcome.
Guardians of the Galaxy didn’t reinvent the wheel of storytelling, but told a wholesome story involving familiar and foreign characters.
I’ll be honest that it took me a little bit to connect with the characters because of them looking slightly similar to their MCU counterparts. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are some of my favorites in the MCU, but these characters start similar and then transition into a much more comic-driven story. And it’s a comic story with character development down to its core.
Holding Out for a Hero
Spectacular stories and amazing characters go hand in hand. I’m partial to the character driven story, especially when each character shines. The titular characters have phenomenal stories as a team and as individuals, but all of the side characters have great moments too. I love that this game takes the time to develop and grow each character.
Another key point is the fact that this is a Guardians of the Galaxy story. Marvel could have easily thrown in a popular Avengers character to sell copies, but instead focused on developing and growing the Guardians as a team ready to take on anything. As you advance through the game, the story and gameplay lock into place and you really feel the synergy with the team. I really loved how you could feel the growth of the team. They worked together seamlessly.
Outside of our loveable miscreants, my favorite character was definitely Mantis. She’s a huge part of the story, hilarious, and incredibly powerful. That is a stark contrast from the MCU version being a slave to Ego in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2.
Everybody Have Fun Tonight
The core gameplay of Guardians of the Galaxy revolves around Star-Lord as he leads the team through combat and occasional puzzles. Combat is pretty straightforward with a targeting mechanism and two guns constantly shooting, but with a twist that the guns have elemental attacks against different enemy weaknesses. There’s also RPG elements by being able to pause combat and control your teammates to use special attacks. Different attacks unlock as you and your teammates level up, which helps restrain the various enemies that get thrown at you. And let me tell you that there’s a lot of enemies. Towards the end it gets a little repetitive because the enemies become bullet sponges, but the core gameplay and story elevate it enough that I ignored it. I had fun with the combat despite it being nothing groundbreaking.
There were also dialogue and situation choices, which I felt added to the overall experience. Throughout the game there were random choices that could affect the story later in the game. I don’t believe the overall story would have changed much, but the path to getting there could be different. There were also points in the game where the action came to a halt and you could get to know the squad through dialogue. It was a nice world building touch, even though I could tell these cutscenes weren’t given the same amount of love as the main storyline cutscenes. The characters looked a little robotic…
The voice acting was fantastic throughout the game, however. The emotion in the character’s voices really came through.
I also wanted to give a shoutout to Richard Jacques, the composer of the soundtrack. It’s similar to the MCU Guardians with 70’s and 80’s music, but there is also original music too. It’s phenomenal!
I had a blast with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. This game is absolutely one for you if you like great stories in your video games. It’s also a game for anyone who loves the MCU but wants a great introduction to the comic book characters. The story kept me enthralled throughout despite the gameplay being a little underwhelming.
Verdict: 4.25/5