In short, between the IP and the people behind it, there was reason to be excited. As we approached the game's release, we began to learn more about it...that it wasn't just a well-designed single player campaign, but more focused on multiplayer, looting, and grinding. Quickly, it became clear that it wanted to be similar to games like The Division and Destiny. Despite that, I stayed positive. The gameplay looked like a lot of fun, I still hold the hypothesis that this game is going to be connected with the Marvel Spider-Man game (even though they deny it), and how cool is it to get to play as Hulk, Black Widow, Iron Man, Cap, and Thor all in one game?
In hindsight, there was more to worry about that I should have been focused on, as the game that we have (as of September 2020) is one that has great bones, but is ultimately incomplete and hollow past a short, but well-designed campaign. In that sense, Marvel's Avengers represents a game that is pure potential at this point. And how far it falls or flies will all depend on how fully it is supported in the coming months.
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| Can we make Avengers Day an actual holiday? |
Despite all the issues that Avengers has - and there are a considerable amount of them - gameplay and the campaign are not ones they need to fix. In fact, these two are the strengths. The campaign features a been-here-done-that story that still packs a lot of heart and reminds me of the first Avengers film in the MCU (please note if you're confused: the MCU and this game have NO relation to one another!). Even through the familiarity, the plot of MODOK becoming a villain and Ms. Marvel growing into a heroic role is fun, and often thoughtful. No, it doesn't have the "oomph" that something like Infinity War / Endgame had, but it's good nonetheless and acts as a good way to introduce our heroes. It features wonderful voice work all around with Nolan North and Troy Baker being the heavy hitters. Truth be told, I initially anticipated this game to be a single player campaign only that would be lengthy and exciting so a short (i.e. 10ish hours) campaign is a definite bummer, but, all things considered, it's the most fully-realized element about this game. 
Cool to see Avengers actually
includes One World Trade Center
Gameplay is also strong because of the variety, but similarity between the heroes to where you feel like you can pick each one up and do well. I loved some heroes (Black Widow, surprisingly) more than others (Hulk...yawn) but they're all similarly mapped from a button perspective, but have uniquely "deep" features that you can master if you choose to dive in. I put "deep" in quotes because nothing here is as deep as God of War or, more recently, Ghost of Tsushima, for example, but that doesn't really matter when you have 6 heroes at your disposal that all feel distinctly their own. For example, Iron Man has 3 variations of his "ranged" ability with lasers, rockets, and repulsors. This means that he gets quite nuanced with his ability to hit people with different ranges and and different intensities. Black Widow meanwhile plays like a Bayonetta / Devil May Cry character of sorts who can move swiftly around enemies and has an incredibly powerful superhero ability. Unlocking the new characters and getting to level them up is one of the most compelling things about Avengers as I didn't want any one character to get too far behind. Leveling up your heroes unlocks some new, gorgeous moves and options to take advantage of, many of which you'll likely not truly get "capped out" on unless you fully double-down on a single hero.
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| Thor plays like a beefed up (but not quite as deep) God of War |
Unfortunately, the loot and cosmetics surrounding your hero is where Avengers starts to stumble pretty significantly. Loot basically comes down to "gear" that attributes to your power rating through ranged, defense, melee, and heroic items. Within this, there's a rarity system, like many games, that ID clear "better" gear based on their color (and subsequent stats). But whereas other games combine loot with visuals (think Borderlands), Avengers loot is purely based in incremental percentage increases to stats. For the first several hours of the game, I didn't even have any idea that my loot upgrading was actually doing anything because it takes a while to recognize, "Oh wow, I'm powerful now." Then there's the ability to upgrade this gear with a random, highly unclear hodge-podge of materials (I couldn't even tell you the name of them) that I ended up having a ton of so it never became an issue. Cosmetics are disappointing too with most of them locked behind grind-walls and the only truly affordable ones being emotes or hero banners. C'mon now! People want to unlock Iron Man suits! And different Black Widow disguises! Too bad the best ones of these are quite expensive and collecting all of them requires grinding + completing specific gameplay tactics. These two things are particularly disappointing because the solution here is an easy one: make the loot that you find have cosmetic impact. Sure, keep the all-black Iron Man suit for a certain price. But if players want, they can combine pieces they pick up in the game to give them both stats boosts and cosmetic upgrades. Other games have already done this well (i.e. Assassin's Creed soft-reboots) and it's a way to keep things interesting during the grind. 
Broken loot system where none of what
you do on this screen actually shows
up on your character. Yay!
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| Hulk about to clap that mech's a**! |
Past the hollow loot system, the effort in variety seems to have stalled out with the heroes themselves. Locales, enemies, and mission design quickly find a "rinse-and-repeat" feel. Now, to be fair, this happens in most all games (Spider-Man is a good comparison), but I'd say I got double the gameplay out of that game - with a single hero no less - than I did with Avengers before it started feeling this way. Now, I'm actually still enjoying the game, but when the maps of locales and enemy variety and "run here, defend this area" structure starts to get into the 30+ hour region (I'm probably 15 hours right now), I can't guarantee I'll still be playing. To be fair, there's actually probably 30+ enemy "types" but they basically amount to wimpy robots, strong robots, flying enemies, and big mechs. Locales are "open" but also range from square-ish open worlds with trees, snow, different trees, or skyscrapers. 
Dont worry, Cap! No need to get me
up or anything! Thanks!
(Yes, I actually died from this)
There's also just a handful of bugs and annoying "miscellaneous" stuff that I could do without. I had one mission crash near the end and boot me back to the PlayStation home screen, there's cutscenes that stutter, and there's some UI features that I'm not sure they fully thought through that could be streamlined. Some of the voice blurbs when you're playing as the heroes grate too. Ms Marvel - despite being a great character in the campaign - is so f**king annoying when you play as her, narrating everything she does. "Here I go!", "Gees, this is creepy!" -- but perhaps none are worse than Iron Man's snobby and deadpan, "All I do is win. Win. Win.". [cue damn eyeroll]. On top of all that, I struggled to know what all the horsepower was going to when the graphics, while perfectly fine for this generation, are certainly not the top of their game for how close we are to new consoles. There's a lot going on sometimes, but again - this isn't a Ghost of Tsushima.
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| I'd play a solo Black Widow game in a heartbeat |
I've dipped into the multiplayer somewhat and it's fine, though, like many things it could use work. Most of my instances included playing with someone else who was paying attention, though I was never able to fill an entire lobby with people, which is slightly concerning. Then there were times where I played with awful players who would go do their own thing on the map, die, and be too far away for me to come get them and we'd fail the mission. This is exacerbated by a strangely hollow multiplayer experience when teaming up with strangers, particularly in 2020 when a simple "ping" system take straight from other successful games would pretty much solve the problem.
Pew pew! Pew Pew!
All these issues aside, the most exciting part of Avengers is the potential. Everything listed above is fixable and has been rectified before by games that had it much worse. And the developers plan on releasing new heroes with new missions for free with a rumor that there are 12 more in total. Hawkeye is apparently first, Spider-man will come down the road, but then you figure the likes of Black Panther could come into play...it makes Avengers a current disappointment, but a game that could be insanely fun and addicting in under a year. Right now it serves to provide a fun story, let you play as your favorite heroes, but not totally itch the scratch of RPG-loot games that they were going for.
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| Avenger's Assemble! |
CONS
- An awful and unexciting loot system. It's a strangely huge miss because cosmetics in any superhero game are enticing (just look at all the outfits we had in Spider-Man) but it's a grind-fest here. Otherwise, powering up your gear is all "behind the scenes" on stats that you don't truly realize have changed until you're many power levels higher. It needs a total overhaul
- Enters the realm of monotony quicker than most games
- Similar level structures
- Lack of enemy variety (this is the least-guilty culprit)
- Lack of objective variety
- Hollow multiplayer experience. Some things missing in 2020 that aren't excusable
- Some character quips that grate at the senses
- Handful of bugs and UI things that annoyed me. My game fully crashed at one point
- Not sure anyone really wanted an Avengers game to be a Destiny-clone vs. a really compelling campaign...
- The graphics aren't bad by any means, but they're also not on the same playing field with other games from this year, so I struggle to understand why the game has the bugs/framerate drops it does
- Speaking of the campaign, though short, it's fun and features a familiar, yet engaging story with some great setpieces
- Well-crafted versions of these iconic characters, including some strong voicework. Kamala Kahn (though sometimes annoying as you're playing as her) is a memorable core figure
- The gameplay shines throughout. Each hero is a wonderful balance of unique and familiar, allowing you to be dangerous with any one character, but to approach perfection with a couple. Everyone will have their favorites
- My ranking would look something like: Black Widow, Thor, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Captain America, Hulk
- There's something undeniably awesome about getting to play as any character in an Avengers game. The ambition here is not lost on me
- Unlocking skills for the heroes kept me playing and became the strangely addicting part. They influence your play considerably, especially as the game becomes more difficult
- Speaking of difficulty, it definitely has its challenges, which I appreciated
- Solid original score to accompany your gameplay
- Endless potential with strong bones at its core. With an overhaul to loot/cosmetics, and a consistent stream of content, this game could easily be 1-2 points higher than what's reflected below in 6-12 months
- Promise of free heroes in future is exciting; it'll force me to keep the game past when I think I'm done with it
Rath's Review Score | 7.5/10
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