Hi gang! I will keep this Guardians review relatively spoiler free, I know I know the game has already been out a little while but I know some people are still relatively on the fence about it so I don’t want to reveal any bigger, cooler moments that came as a surprise to me and ruin it for them
Let’s get right into it.
Oh Guardians, I expected so very little from you. After being incredibly stung by the vastly underwhelming Avengers game, I had very little excitement when it came to the Guardians of The Galaxy title and instead went Into the title with an air of caution rather than hype.
However…
The very second I booted the game I was met with Pat Benatar, Blue Oyster Cult and Motley Crue on the title screen which caused my caution to dwindle and be washed away replaced with instant hype and excitement to jump into the title.
The music on this title screen really sets the tone for what Guardians was going to be over the next 15 hours of gametime and I was… how would Drax put it? “I AM ENGORGED WITH THE THRUM OF BATTLE!”
This title screen also gave me my first real look at the graphics of the title on my own console and as I say, I was just completely caught up In the excitement right away.
MINOR STORY SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST HOUR TO FOLLOW!
The story opens up at Meredith Quills quaint little farmhouse where we see a young Peter rocking out in the basement and our first (literal) look at the games licensed music soundtrack from the band “Star-Lord” which is where our first taste of how on the nose this game is going to be. You then wake up as a grown up Star-Lord aboard the Milano with an already formed Team of Guardians – though admittedly they are still in their relative infancy in how long they have been together as a team.
The storyline was the biggest shock for me as I expected quite a shallow, typical marvel story but I was instead treated to a really fun character driven tale that pulled at my heart strings more than once and had me hooked from beginning to end. I cannot stress enough how much I fell in love with the Guardians during my 15 hour playthrough and though I binged it over 4 days – I never wanted my time aboard the Milano to end.
The characters themselves have been so well executed that I fell in love with each and every one of them, even Groot who was only armed with the classic “I am Groot” managed to convey more emotion than most video game characters that hit the market in recent years.
SPOILERS END
Gameplay wise it felt a little clunky at first as I flew around shooting at the enemies in the early stage but as each of the rest of the team members joined the fray (REALLY REALLY early on) this becomes a-lot more in depth and intuitive with many of the fights being nigh on impossible unless you maximise the teams efforts throughout
Star Lord himself feels very arcade-y but in a very good way, there hasn’t been a game in 2021 thus far that I have had quite as much fun playing and I have thoroughly enjoyed flying around and shooting the hell out of things, slicing them up with Gamora or blowing the scut out of everything using Rocket.
Overall the gameplay is simply a series of action set pieces interspersed with narrative hub-style worlds thrown in the mix to keep the story moving in a forward direction and what Guardians proves is that there is still absolutely a market for simple, linear titles which focus on just overall fun throughout a relatively short runtime.
Guardians is everything i wanted from Avengers right off the bat. The characters are so wonderfully and carefully designed and humerous to stick to their comic book origins that I found myself laughing away at their antics from the start, the conversations are on a Mass Effect style wheel and a suprising amount of depth to every conversation and choice that had me engaged all the way through and not checking my phone during cutscenes!
I haven’t had as much fun with any other game in 2021 thus far and whilst Guardians does nothing exceptional or unique, it executes what it does do so well that I just had a great time all the way through.
So with this in mind, I am going to give Guardians of the Galaxy:
9/10
I loved it. I keep saying how much fun it is, so if you like Comic books or fun then go get it! What are you waiting for you scut?
Images from Square Enix website