The hand-to-hand fighting gives the game a small touch of a beat-em-up feel as you take out many generic goons, but it’s made fresher thanks to the gunplay and team-based mechanics that ensure big battles are won by the team and not an individual.
The core combat feels very similar to Avengers, with a blend of short- and long-range combat mixed in with a lot of teamwork. As in life, the bonds are tested and some wind up broken and others frayed a bit – but his character remains the centerpiece of the drama and it works surprisingly well as a way to keep the player coming back. His painful past makes him want to build a better future for not only himself, but all of his friends and allies. From the second you start the adventure, you get a feel for just who Peter Quill is and why he is so driven as a guardian. There, it was fleeting, and while it worked to a degree, it didn’t suck players in. Sifting through the in-game world is something that made the original Shenmue so special in 2000 and has allowed it to hold up well today, and going far beyond what was done with Avengers for slice of life content is smart. It’s very much like the start of The Last of Us or for a tamer example, Uncharted 4 where being able to explore the home gives the player a sense of the character. We start off with him as a young kid with his mother and get slice of life moments that absorb you into the world.
The story told is an original one focusing on Star-Lord’s past, present, future and how they all intertwine. Star-Lord plays that role here and fittingly, Gamora winds up being a bit like Goemon with his “living deus ex machina” nature thanks to swordplay that can slice and dice anything when needed for plot purposes. The structure in that regard is very much like the classic manga/anime Lupin III where every person in the cast uses Lupin as an anchor to play off of. The key to the franchise’s explosion has been a mix of not only music, but largely the chemistry that the cast has with one-another and how they all play off of Star-Lord. Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, Rocket, and Gamora are all featured prominently with a blend of comic and MCU sensibilities. However, when comparing it to Guardians of the Galaxy, it’s clear that Square-Enix went in with the mindset of sticking with what worked about the core action of Avengers while improving upon the mechanics by focusing on minimizing the amount of playable characters while still keeping the well-known Guardians’ teamwork in play. Those expecting an epic tale were left disappointed, while those going into it expecting a fun popcorn game with high-end production values and a lot of Marvel fanservice were generally left satisfied by it. Last year’s Marvel’s Avengers was a well-crafted game – but one of the most divisive of the modern era as well.