Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (PS5) Review

A MESSY JOURNEY HELD TOGETHER BY FAMILY

A blobby cube slorps out from a crack in the rocks, green goo shifting and morphing while Drax gags from afar. Rocket, the engineering genius, has already requested a plan of action and maybe something that will slow the creature down. Gamora readies her blade, looking for the precise moment to cut the creature’s core. Groot hoists Rocket onto his shoulder with a resounding, “I am Groot.” As Peter Quill, known throughout the galaxy as Star-Lord, raises his blasters to kick off another well-meaning escapade through space, an iconic guitar riff booms on his tape player. These characters and the strangeness of Marvel’s alien worlds are what makes the stories of the Guardians of the Galaxy so perfect for entertainment and by extension, a game. While this outing bears all of the scars of decades of AAA game design tropes, there’s enough heartfelt character writing that is frequently funny to make the game a worthy weekend event. 

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy from Eidos-Montréal by the way of Square Enix publishing appeared to be treading familiar territory when compared to the studio’s previous work (alongside Crystal Dynamics and Nixxes) Marvel’s Avengers. Avengers featured incredible character models and some fun-enough beat-em-up gameplay with a few flashes of brilliance in the various story modes. Upon seeing trailers for Guardians, I expected another attempt at capturing lucrative live-service players but what the game actually is left me pleasantly surprised. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a single-player adventure game where players control Star-Lord and command the other four Guardians with various active abilities. These abilities stack with stuns and stagger meters for extra damage that rewards timing and layering moves. Outside of the combat, Star-Lord and the gang visit various familiar locales throughout the galaxy and players even have to make various choices in dialogue and actions over the course of roughly 15-hours for observant players looking for all of the upgrades and extra costumes. 

While there appears to be more money flowing through live-service games than ever before, I think education and awareness are steadily making these egregious financial schemes less impactful. This doesn’t just appear to be me; the expectations felt so low for Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. I was so happy to just find new outfits with actual comic book history, unleash new attacks, and upgrade my characters by just playing the game. This isn’t some stellar title that will stand as one of the best games of the year or anything but it is a pretty good licensed superhero game.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy lacks new gameplay ideas but these systems nonetheless easily keep the player engaged while a story of connecting with people unfolds. There are lots of moments where players will arbitrarily slide down a slope while dodging rocks or balance over a skinny chasm for no reason or squeeze through a tight space other than that’s the sort of actions these sorts of games do to hide loading blemishes. It’s a completely uninspired way to go about this sort of presentation but it gets the job done. 

The action scenes are frequent, teetering on the edge of being actually engaging. Unfortunately, just about every scenario results in holding down Quill’s blasters, popping a shield with an elemental shot, maybe hitting a reaction command, and generally layering in abilities as they’re available. There’s a little nuance, such as lobbing Rocket’s grenades into a pile of Groot-rooted baddies, but things move so quickly and it’s just as effective to just get as much damage on the field as possible that I didn’t feel much of a need to learn the finer details of battle. Funnily enough, this combat system feels similar to Final Fantasy VII Remake but with primarily ranged attacks rather than beautifully realized sword swings. Some abilities in Guardians have enough punch to feel satisfying but then Quill’s melee attacks feel stubby and way weaker than they should. I do appreciate the combo meter that rewards extra ability points but I wish there would have been more optional bosses or extra segments that allowed more exploration of the galaxy.

Performance on the PS5 was mostly sound but there were a few awkward moments in my playthrough that resulted in weird jumps and collision or even getting stuck in the game’s geometry. Thankfully, in many instances, I was able to activate the game’s pep rally mechanic to teleport me out of there. Eagle-eyed players will probably notice weird glitches and bugs sprinkled throughout but there was never anything that ruined a play session. I did find myself laughing at some of the final scenes though. There’s a moment where the heroes walk proudly to their ship to the applause of those around them. Through stiff animations and awkward pacing, this becomes one of the funniest scenes in the games because of how far it missed the mark. This is unfortunate because most of the final act is super fun and exciting. 

Players will spend the game controlling Star-Lord as he leads the Guardians through harrowing battles with aliens, space police, and more.

As it stands, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy feels more like a serialized season of a show than it does a game. That said, the gameplay is fine enough and it was generally fun to learn how to be a better leader of the Guardians. I just think that there are lots of areas for improvement.

Where this game shines brightest are the characters and the presentation. Each of the characters feels like an extension of what we’ve seen in the MCU films. There are lots of favorites from the comics that make an appearance and they are a delight to see here. The writing has a lot of moments of sadness and hope, diving into themes of what it takes to be a family, how to deal with loss, and how to grow with others. I am sure there are players who will go through this story and be moved by the scenes. Again, it’s not perfect but this is good character writing in a game and we can always use more of that. Subtleties arise in the game’s backdrop of space and the gorgeous art direction used to capture those feelings. 

While the level design is fairly drab from a pure geometric sense, the spaces are conceptualized wonderfully. Structures are carefully aligned with the player’s perspective to create scale. Amazing oddities of worlds far removed from Earth stretch from horizon to horizon. Colors wrap around stars in ways that are truly awe-inspiring. Some of my favorite moments of playing this game were quiet opportunities to stare at the stars and listen to music. 

There are lots of areas where players can take in the breathtaking scenery.

This is a game that realizes that there’s enough time to take a moment and listen. Whether that’s listening to the team or just listening to a new rock album all the way through, the player has a lot of chances to just take in some tunes and think. I haven’t seen that done as much as I would like in games like this and it’s something that stood out as such a point of contrast. Sure the music doesn’t always fit the mood (I fought one of the last bosses to the calming tones of Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy) but it was a perfect way to further flesh out Quill’s character and his relationship with music and how that connects him to others, especially his mother. 

For a game about an 80s rocker galavanting through space with a group of unlikely friends saving the world from a cosmic cult, there’s a human element to Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy that I feel really attached to.  

Yes, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a fairly average game that reflects years of design tropes. Yet, the game’s commitment to narrative, characters, visual design, and music results in a surprisingly rewarding experience. Fans of the Guardians will find lots of references to a sea of comics history and even those who just like the movies will also be satisfied with this adventure. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 6/10

VISUALS - 10/10

SOUND - 9/10

CONTROLS - 7/10

REPLAY VALUE - 8/10

OVERALL - 8/10