Marvel's Avengers (PS5) 2021 Review

THERE ARE SOME REASONS TO CARRY THE SHIELD

Initially released in August 2020, Marvel’s Avengers was slated to be a big-budgeted video game adaptation of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes at the height of Marvel’s popularity, spurred on primarily by the tremendously popular MCU films. At the time, the general consensus was that the game’s campaign, one that focused on the hopeful Avengers fan Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan, was the highlight of the game but it was an experience overshadowed by an endless grind riddled with micro-transactions. With the release of War for Wakanda (a Black Panther-themed set of story missions) and my recent acquisition of a PlayStation 5, I was willing to give this game a try. My hope was that a year’s worth of updates would make the game at least fun enough to scratch the continuous itch in my Marvel-addled brain. After about two weeks of playing through every campaign mission, including the stories of Hawkeye, Kate Bishop, and Black Panther for a total of four campaigns, I came away actually enjoying my time with Marvel’s Avengers. Yet, I doubt I will spend additional time in the game’s endless stream of end-game content. 

For those who haven’t played Marvel’s Avengers, this game feels more like a 3D approach to a beat-em-up than anything else, something that I really enjoy. Unfortunately, getting to those stages feels more like Destiny at its worst. Most of the game’s levels are accessed through the War Table which leads to picking levels on a map. Rather than try to pry through to find interesting levels, I chose to just play whatever was next in the campaign I was tackling. Thankfully, there was no grinding needed (I played on Easy) so I was able to experience all of the story content without having to deviate from the critical path. Despite playing on Easy though, there was enough challenge that I rarely felt perfectly safe but it’s also important to note that I played entirely solo. This could be a ton of fun to play with friends but I would still stick to the core story levels as they are just the most interesting. 

Throughout the main campaign, it was delightful to see Kamala Khan’s character explored. This is probably the main reason I would recommend playing Marvel’s Avengers; the main campaign is carried by Khan. She starts the game at a big fan festival where she won VIP tickets after writing a winning fanfiction. She’s the ultimate Avengers fan with a room plastered with posters and various trinkets. Her favorite hero seems to be Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers which explains the similar costume themes and the eventual adoption of her moniker, Ms. Marvel. Khan makes for an amazing protagonist; she is an insert for many of the players, a big fan of these heroes. Her character’s combat style is also fun with a ton of flair that feels non-traditional compared to other Marvel games of the past. Lastly, Khan’s appearance adds a welcome sense of diversity, even though I wish she was more prominent on the game’s box art and promotional materials which stashes her away in the background.

Playing the main campaign is also a great way to learn how each of the core cast plays. In the bombastic opening, after a bit of fangirling as Khan, we see the Avengers collectively take on an assault on the city in what is later known as A-Day. Each action scene brilliantly transitions from one character to another and it is genuinely exciting to play through. Of course, this is the segment that hyped up gamers at E3 a few years back. At the end of this scene though, the Avengers fail and society blames them for being dangerous, accentuated by the rise of AIM, a tech company that lifts from Stark Industries to make an era of robotic control. A-Day also creates a slew of newly empowered beings, known as Inhumans, which is how Khan gains her stretchy skills. Inhumans are treated poorly and actively persecuted. While all of this makes for a great backdrop for conflict and drama, AIM’s forces are actually the biggest weakness in Marvel’s Avengers. 

Most of the enemies to be found are a variation of a soldier or a robot. There are some creative variations of these foes but they visually all look too similar. Playing Marvel’s Avengers, at times, feels like going into autopilot as a parade of robots meets their doom upon green fists, blinding lasers, or a crackling hammer. Where I found myself most into the combat is when memorable villains stepped up to the plate. We get to fight Crossbones, Maestro, Taskmaster, Abomination, and more in epic clashes of ideals and Crystal Dynamics even managed to make MODOK’s battle fun. I’m still not a fan of MODOK overall, there’s something gross about villainizing a character like him and I just don’t find him all that appealing. At the very least, Marvel’s Avengers takes MODOK and makes him menacing in a way that I haven’t seen before. I would have loved to have battled more iconic Marvel villains or even more obscure ones that we haven’t seen in a while. 

Marvel’s Avengers also has these weird moments where an exciting fight will happen with a short cutscene that ends with a brief cut back to the menu or war table screen. It’s so sudden and poorly placed that I thought my game was messing up. Thankfully, the PS5’s load times are short so I just shrugged them off and moved on to the next mission. This was most evident when fighting Maestro at the end of the Future Imperfect campaign.

I also wish they would have kept that final boss a secret as he’s on the splash screen of the campaign selection. Regardless, that encounter and the setting of that campaign were super cool.

I think was most impresses me in Marvel’s Avengers are the character models. Sure, lots of people criticized the designs because it’s weird how these are not the same likenesses of actors we have come to internalize with these characters and I still think that’s a fair assessment since the game tries to hit a similar tone. However, the detail in these models is insane. I found myself just staring in awe of the movement of Hulk’s musculature or the texture of Captain America’s suit. This sense of detail carries into the visual effects of attacks. Thor’s lighting, for example, is stunning in motion. Each of the characters looks and plays how one would expect and I had a lot of fun jumping around from character to character and unlocking new outfits. Said outfits brings me to the aggressive push towards spending additional money in a retail game.

Marvel’s Avengers has lots of microtransactions, locking out some of the coolest costumes that the game has to offer. The game’s premium marketplace is, of course, where one can find movie versions of the characters or popular comic renditions. There are ways to grind out for costumes and there are some really cool ones unlocked by just playing the campaign but that doesn’t reduce the temptation to spend money on the really fun ones. I might be inclined to spend a few dollars for my favorite characters but thankfully I just don’t feel like playing the endless content.

This is primarily because I loathe the game’s loot system. It’s similar to Destiny or Diablo in the sense that the item doesn’t matter so much since there are few uniques and they all have similar icons. I spent my entire playthrough just auto-equipping the best gear and tossing out anything that wasn’t that. Not once did I feel any incentive to get more loot and trying to buy new gear was just confusing. In most instances, I actually couldn’t figure out how much currency I had while shopping. It took far too long to figure out where my resources were being tracked and once I saw the spread of items used to upgrade and such, I gave up. It feels like Marvel’s Avengers was pitched as a cooperative action game with huge set pieces and deep character moments but some executive or marketing team saw the potential to squeeze players out of more dollars. Whoever made this decision ruined Marvel’s Avengers, preventing it from being an exceptional use of the Marvel universe in video games. 

That said, Marvel’s Avengers was recently on sale for about twenty-five dollars, and that grants access to all of the campaigns. Even at the full retail of $39.99 USD (as of this writing), the campaign missions are fun enough that I recommend this game to Marvel fans. Of course, I would recommend Marvel’s Spider-Man from Insomniac Games over this one any day but maybe pick up Marvel’s Avengers, grab a few friends, and punch some robots for a decently good time. 

There’s also this to consider in regards to the War for Wakanda missions. Black superheroes have been few and far between for a long time, especially in video games. The fact that we have a visually stunning rendition of Wakanda, even if those levels leave more to be desired, is something that is worth celebrating. The Black Panther film showed how compelling and important this side of Marvel can be and we just need more representation in media so these missions will undoubtedly be a much bigger deal to others than they were to me. I think that the potential for a kid’s eyes to light up when they learn that they can be the Black Panther and save Wakanda is something special. Everyone could use a superhero in their lives, so I’m thankful that this exists in Marvel’s Avengers. 

Hopefully, we’ll see even more diversity in games at all levels of scope. 

All in all, I was surprised that I had as much fun with Marvel’s Avengers as I did. I still dislike the loot system and the microtransactions keeping me away from the best costumes but there is a good Marvel game beneath these elements. Hopefully, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy from Eidos-Montréal will take the criticisms of Marvel’s Avengers to make something that’s easier to celebrate as a fan of games and comics. It certainly looks like Guardians was built on a similar framework judging by the latest trailers. 

SCORES

GAMEPLAY - 6/10

VISUALS - 9/10

SOUND - 7/10

CONTROLS - 6/10

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

OVERALL - 7/10

More information about Marvel’s Avengers can be found on the official website. A digital PS5 copy was provided for the purpose of review. Screenshots were captured using native PS5 features. 

For more visually stunning games from Square Enix, check out my review of Final Fantasy VII Remake. I plan on playing the Yuffie DLC on PS5 soon, so please look forward to that review. I also recently played NieR Replicant on PS4 which was bizarre, inspiring, and beautiful.