Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

Although you can’t say you’re alone on this space opera. Even before the release, I was a little surprised that the Guardians of the Galaxy would only play for Peter Quill, because five heroes is more than one and it won’t actually be a bit boring to play in such a diverse world only as an “earthling”? But in the end, it makes sense, because this adventure is to some extent Star-Lord’s inwardly personal story and builds on its dynamics with the rest of the party: The Intrepid Warrior Drax, the agile killer Gamora, the raccoon experiment Rocket, and all the popular comic ento Groot.

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

In terms of genre, the Rangers successfully continue the tradition of the popular “daddy’s games” in recent years. Not only because of Quill’s potential biological fatherhood, around which the central plot revolves, but mainly because of his position in the gang of quite incompatible galactic apostates. You have to crave a party, resolve conflicts and a broken refrigerator, keep the fireplace of the home boat Milano and keep the referee often during the stroking.

And that the five are stroking almost constantly. Guardians of the Galaxy is an incredibly clever game, where everyone often shouts and even with subtitles turned on, you may have a bit of a problem learning everything if you are not proficient in one of the dubbed languages. But you will be deprived of this a lot, because in terms of script, the dialogues are mastered and the acting performances do not lag behind them.

Although, used to the film version, I had to get used to a different concept for a while. In the end, however, the game Star-Lord wrapped me around his finger more than Chris Pratt with his stupid smile and hard-to-hide geek. After all, the story doesn’t interfere with Marvel’s current film universe, but you won’t even tell a hundred-story story about how the Rangers got together.

However, if you only know them from the cinema screen, get ready for a slightly different version of the universe, where Quill’s father doesn’t eat his children and Drax doesn’t trust Gamora, even though he killed Thanos. But you will quickly catch these nuances, and if, on the contrary, you have read comics, you will revel in a number of allusions and encounters with old acquaintances from the good and the bad. The game can be surprisingly funny, it doesn’t push the saw with humor, and for example the whole-game gag with Peter’s toothbrush is absolutely excellent.

You often have the opportunity to intervene in conversations both in the cutscenes and when running around the galaxy by choosing from the dialog options. But others don’t stop talking because Peter has a thought, and sometimes it may even be best not to say anything at all, even if the chat button on you flashes convincingly. 95% of the elections in the story play no role and only concern the given conversation, but the remaining few will allow you to avoid a particularly tough and unnecessary shootout or to solve a passage by sneaking. But in terms of overall direction, the vast majority of the game will be exactly the same for the second time.

Rock Rock Till You Drop

Speaking of skirmishes, fighting in the Guardians of the Galaxy is actually a little less than I expected, and you’ll often get to the first action in 16 chapters after ten minutes or more. Which doesn’t hurt to say that the Rangers are more of a Mass Effect than a Doom.

In the fights, Peter’s pistols, which he inherited from his alien dad, will come to the fore. Again, you do not control the four partners directly, but through commands, which activate their up to four special abilities.

With his sword, Gamora deals a lot of damage to a single enemy, Drax can weaken the strongest enemies to greater vulnerability, Rocket’s specialty is explosives, and Groot has roots. You will not go far without giving orders, because automatic attacks are more of a tickle for humanoid and animal juices.

Star-Lord’s pistols in the story will experience their own natural expansions, plus you can fly around the battlefield in rocket boots. Aiming is automatic, but when shooting you have to watch out for overheating, after which you have to take a break – or hit the reloading rhythm with which you can skip forced rest. Fights are not a big science and at first I didn’t have much fun with them, but after unlocking a few new abilities they got juice.

Even your galactic adversaries are variable and diverse enough to make their health indicators satisfactory throughout the campaign. In the course of it, there will be several bosses, where you have to pay a little more attention to the individual synergies of abilities and time your attacks reasonably.

Peter’s iconic walkman will also come into play – if Drax and Gamora are rolling on the battlefield in a swoon and a blue tiger with a worm’s head no and not die, you can start a special motivational dialogue, where you try to raise your partners’ morale and drop some 80s on full balls. peck. If you motivate them successfully, they are all healed, they get a bonus to the attack and you can still swing the emzas accompanied by Kickstart My Heart, if you are lucky. If you’re unlucky, something less striking or even comical comes into play in the playlist, but the funny mistakes to the party, which saves the galaxy by mistake, somehow simply belong.

Holding Out for a Hero?

Naturally, your friends will not be silent even during fights, they will often warn you of more effective tactics, or ask you if they can finish someone. If the quick time events represent a console plague that was supposed to die with the PS3, I have bad news for you – you will meet quite a few of them.

And not only in fights, but also in the “reconnaissance” passages between them, for example during a close landing on a platform. Exploratory in quotes because both the Guardians of the Galaxy are linear and relatively strictly scripted. You can deviate slightly from the prescribed path only in designated places, and there is a high probability that a collector’s item will be waiting for you there. Alternatively, materials for some improvements for Star-Lord.

So think carefully if you are not too spoiled by open worlds and are willing to get on the rails for a few hours. Perfectly oiled but a little binding, the tracks will take you through beautiful cave worlds, dilapidated space stations, a cosmopolitan city and a few other planets. Sometimes you have to look for a way forward, which you and Peter get thanks to a scanner and then using your gang.

Everyone has a role to play again – Rocket can stretch through bottlenecks and can hack, Groot can build bridges and push loose tiles up, Drax can handle heavy objects, and Gamora will get you to hard-to-reach places with his sword. You have no chance of getting stuck or getting lost in the search for a solution, as Rangers, even in open spaces, usually gather around the point with which you have to interact.

Don’t Fear the Reaper

The technical side of the Guardians of the Galaxy is to some extent based on the limits of the older generation of consoles, where the game is also based. On the one hand, it can graphically enchant on the PS5, especially in the opulent passages from the temples of the galactic sect with an excess of gold, on the other hand, it is sometimes not so dazzling.

The main thing that comes to mind is the moment from the beginning, where you have to cut out of a gelatin lake. Peter turns it into ice, which becomes just a ridiculously flat texture without his own physics. Also, the facial expressions, especially in some details, do not push the boundaries anywhere, but you have to be quite meticulous so that imperfections explicitly hit you in the eye.

But what hit me a few times were bugs. I didn’t like the game, but the frightened script blew me a Star-Lord a few times outside the game location. He got stuck several times as he crawled through the narrow crack and climbed back and forth three times before I freed him out with a steady jump. I had to restart the game once when Peter’s head disappeared and I lost control. There were quite a few mistakes for 20 hours, but also nothing that would prevent me from moving on.

The Final Countdown

The Guardians of the Galaxy aren’t perfect, but in the end, this intergalactic ride turned out to be the best it could. Faithful to a comic book masterpiece turned into a film universe, it is at its core simple and accessible to a wide range of players, most of whom will be the most satisfied, who do not want to find friends for a mulcher and just want to have fun without slowing down with a ton of fill content. I guess I’m tired of open worlds and multiplayers, but in the end I had a lot of fun with this space opera in the first place.