Guardians of the Galaxy was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed, and it really nailed what it wanted to be : an interactive movie. However, as a game, it does fall a bit short in my opinion.
Firstly, let's start with the good stuff : the story and characters are on point. The guardians are insanely likable and funny, and all of their characters are spot on. The only one which is a bit botched in my opinion is Gamora, who shouldn't be as sociable as she is at the beginning of the game. But even then, it's no deal breaker. Drax is hilarious, Rocket is just the right amount of scumbag, Quill just the right amount of idiot, and Groot sure is Groot. As for the story, it perfectly encapsulates what the Guardians are about : moving on from tough times by getting help from others. It's not amazing or anything, but it more than does the job, perfectly encapsulating the essence of Guardians, at least as presented in the MCU.
I also really like the "social system", by what I mean the dialogue options and alternative branches. They don't matter very much as they'll just make certain parts pf the game easier, but they are satisfying to get right. Also, it's just a perfect idea for a Guardians video game.
Now for the low points. I have a few, mainly to do with the gameplay. It's not bad per say, but it is poorly paced. The combat is good and enjoyable, comboing the guardians abilities is fun and the huddle-up system is great, but you don't get much of said combat for long parts of the game, or you get too short a burst of it. For the last few hours of the game, it's the opposite problem: you get too much of it. You just go into fight after fight after fight, and it really exposes how simple it is. At the end of the day, it's just maintaining L2 and R2, and issuing orders to the guardians. It does the job when you get one encounter every 10 minutes, but at the end of the game, you really feel how simplistic it is, even though you coudl see that as early as the E3 gameplay demo. Also, the enemy design and variety is pretty cheap, and the boss fights aren't very interesting at all.
As for the rest, it's a lot of walking around. And even though the charisma of every team member and the quality of the dialogue makes it all very enjoyable, it sometimes feels like it drags on ever so slightly. The pacing of the game simply isn't the best, partly because it is too long, also because the different fighting sequences aren't very well balanced through the game. Exploration isn't particularly interesting, as the guardians' abilities in that field are never used in interesting ways, although I will say that seeing the chemistry between members evolve during the game through their gradual encline to perform certain actions without even being asked was nice.
Overall, Eidos really succeeded at makign what they wanted to make : a Guardians of the Galaxy interactive movie. However, with better pacing and a bit more complex gameplay mechanics, wether that be in combat or exploration, the game could've been way better, so that's a bit of a shame.
Firstly, let's start with the good stuff : the story and characters are on point. The guardians are insanely likable and funny, and all of their characters are spot on. The only one which is a bit botched in my opinion is Gamora, who shouldn't be as sociable as she is at the beginning of the game. But even then, it's no deal breaker. Drax is hilarious, Rocket is just the right amount of scumbag, Quill just the right amount of idiot, and Groot sure is Groot. As for the story, it perfectly encapsulates what the Guardians are about : moving on from tough times by getting help from others. It's not amazing or anything, but it more than does the job, perfectly encapsulating the essence of Guardians, at least as presented in the MCU.
I also really like the "social system", by what I mean the dialogue options and alternative branches. They don't matter very much as they'll just make certain parts pf the game easier, but they are satisfying to get right. Also, it's just a perfect idea for a Guardians video game.
Now for the low points. I have a few, mainly to do with the gameplay. It's not bad per say, but it is poorly paced. The combat is good and enjoyable, comboing the guardians abilities is fun and the huddle-up system is great, but you don't get much of said combat for long parts of the game, or you get too short a burst of it. For the last few hours of the game, it's the opposite problem: you get too much of it. You just go into fight after fight after fight, and it really exposes how simple it is. At the end of the day, it's just maintaining L2 and R2, and issuing orders to the guardians. It does the job when you get one encounter every 10 minutes, but at the end of the game, you really feel how simplistic it is, even though you coudl see that as early as the E3 gameplay demo. Also, the enemy design and variety is pretty cheap, and the boss fights aren't very interesting at all.
As for the rest, it's a lot of walking around. And even though the charisma of every team member and the quality of the dialogue makes it all very enjoyable, it sometimes feels like it drags on ever so slightly. The pacing of the game simply isn't the best, partly because it is too long, also because the different fighting sequences aren't very well balanced through the game. Exploration isn't particularly interesting, as the guardians' abilities in that field are never used in interesting ways, although I will say that seeing the chemistry between members evolve during the game through their gradual encline to perform certain actions without even being asked was nice.
Overall, Eidos really succeeded at makign what they wanted to make : a Guardians of the Galaxy interactive movie. However, with better pacing and a bit more complex gameplay mechanics, wether that be in combat or exploration, the game could've been way better, so that's a bit of a shame.