Story – Good
Things Marvel’s Avengers Gets Right and Things It Gets Wrong
One of the most enjoyable parts of the Marvel’s Avengers game is the single-player campaign. The story follows Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), following the events of A-Day, where a terrorist attack was pinned on the Avengers, who were forced to disband and haven’t been seen since.
In her efforts to find out whodunnit and get to the bottom of just what the villainous AIM organization is up to, Kamala bumps into the Avengers and begins to slowly reassemble the crew.
While the gameplay is so-so — as we’ll explain later — the actual narrative is pretty good, albeit a little cliché. But aren’t all superhero movies? That’s what makes them so darn enjoyable, and it works in the game, too.
Add to that some excellent voice acting that do the characters proud and it’s fairly easy to recommend playing through its 10-12 hour duration. If you’re willing to roll with the punches…
Combat – Bad
Things Marvel’s Avengers Gets Right and Things It Gets Wrong
This is arguably my biggest complaint with Marvel’s Avengers. During my time with the campaign, it was the narrative that kept me hooked and wanting to push forward, not necessarily the gameplay. The combat varies from hero to hero, as you’d expect, and while the likes of Ms. Marvel and Thor can feel satisfying to play as, others like Hulk and Cap simply don’t.
Given the game’s been heavily marketed as a multiplayer looter shooter, having some playable characters feel less enjoyable to play than others severely limits player choice, and… well, you know how the arguments are going to go with your friends when you all want to play as Iron Man.
Even with the characters that feel a little more enjoyable to play as, the combat just feels a little too button-mashy and monotonous. Abilities are a mixed-bag, and the parry and vault moves decide when they want to work. Perhaps with a bit more polish the combat could have felt tighter, but when the likes of Destiny 2 and Borderlands 3 are currently out, it’s difficult to recommend Avengers as an endgame grind when the combat feels so lacking.
Multiplayer – Good
Things Marvel’s Avengers Gets Right and Things It Gets Wrong
It cannot be denied, the Avengers can actually be some good fun in multiplayer. I mean, who doesn’t like playing superheroes with friends and smashing the hell out of some bad guys? Nobody, that’s who!
If you’re willing to commit to the grind and each of your strike team chooses a main hero to level up, then the combat can feel a little more satisfying as your heroes grow more powerful and you begin to combine abilities and powers to become a formidable force.
The only area multiplayer could have been even better would have been campaign co-op. While Kamala does slowly assemble the Avengers over time, there’s still ample opportunity for two, three and four-player co-op along the way.
Endgame – Bad
Things Marvel’s Avengers Gets Right and Things It Gets Wrong
Where you are able to enjoy multiplayer is the endgame. You can join up with your friends to level up your main’s Hero Level and Power Level to 50 and 150 respectively.
The problem is, the content just feels uninspired. Environments are repeatedly used throughout, and the structure is basic in almost each of the mission types.
That being said, we are in the very early stages of Avengers’ life-cycle as a ‘game as a service.’ Crystal Dynamics will continue to release content over the coming months and into next year. Given the game’s also releasing for Xbox Series X and PS5, there’s plenty of time for things to change, and we’re sure they will.
Right now though, the endgame is a difficult sell. If you’re interested enough in playing through the campaign, do so and try returning to the endgame at a later date. The grind may be more enticing in a few months.
Team Synergy – Good
Things Marvel’s Avengers Gets Right and Things It Gets Wrong
We’ve already touched on multiplayer, but one thing that is particularly noteworthy is the amount of time Crystal Dynamics has poured into the team synergy aspect of the multiplayer.
Some heroes team up and work together better than others, and the various abilities, powers and melee moves each one has can allow for some crazy, devastating combos when you work together with friends. Add on some gear that buffs your abilities and cooldowns and you and your friends can form a perfectly syncrhonized whirlwind of destruction.
The issue is, to reach this point, you’ve really got to dive into the nitty gritty, complex mechanics of Marvel’s Avengers, and you simply may not want to. It’s disappointing that these synergy mechanics only truly come into their own later on, as many are unlikely to ever truly utilize them.
Performance – Bad
Things Marvel’s Avengers Gets Right and Things It Gets Wrong
Marring the entire experience, unfortunately, is consistent poor performance. Whether its severe framerate drops during a cutscene to the point they’re unwatchable, subtitles that don’t sync-up with the actual dialog, crashes to your console home screen, horrendous loading times and countless other bugs and glitches, Avengers has them all.
While some framerate stuttering could be forgiven on the base console, this was all experienced on a PS4 Pro, and not just by myself. Various other critics cite performance issues, and it’s problematic that even on the half-step consoles released just a few years ago, the game still cannot deliver a AAA experience.
Perhaps a few more months in the oven could have given the developers time to give the game that last bit of polish it so desperately needs right now.
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