MARVEL Avengers Review for Stadia

I think the world needed a MARVEL Avengers RPG for quite some time, and now we have an original story by Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics. You may be expecting something closer to Endgame given how prevalent the series has been for the past 10 years, but it feels like a reimaging combined with some elements from the movies. Does it work? Well, let’s talk about it. 

Similar to Square Enix’s JRPGs, MARVEL Avengers is an adventure story in the most linear sense, offering a detective vision to guide you from point A to point B. We open the game with a memorable tutorial that allows us to play as our favorite members of the team. A dramatic series of events leads to the deaths and mutations of several hundred citizens in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Avengers and Stark Industries are immediately liquidated, enabling a new and invasive security force to maintain the peace. Much to the chagrin of the Avengers, a resistance is born to undermine authoritarianism. Once we get into the main story, we fully control Kamala Khan as she adapts to her newly acquired powers. These powers make her a target, and a night out on the town veers her away from a normal life and into an adventure. 

I personally enjoy the combat system. You have a series of light attacks that can be carried out by mashing the left mouse button. The F button delivers a heavier attack, and when held can be used to charge the attack as to deal damage to enemies or to clear obstacles. Holding the right mouse button activates our range mode, and when click the left button we unleash a distanced attack. This is the standard for all of the characters, but the style varies. Black Widow is clearly going to use her guns whereas Captain America is going to throw his shield. As combat goes on, we charge our ultimate abilities, which are also specific to the character in play. 

Is Kamala fun to play as? Yeah, I think she’s an interesting new addition to the world. She comes off as every other young Marvel hero, finding herself in the thrill of an adventure. She is a hardcore Avengers fan, which gives her the encyclopedia-grade exposition at certain points in the story. Kamala’s superpowers are much like Reed Richard’s, in that she is elastic and can stretch out. One of her ultimate abilities is to grow exponentially, which only makes her regular attacks stronger. Most of my experience has been full of navigating the environment, sneaking past robot enforcers, and looking for collectibles. 

You can also level up and unlock new abilities, which is a welcome addition to any progression-focused game. When I first leveled up, I thought it was random because there was no indication that this was available. I can say the same thing about equipment, which I am not fully convinced shows up on Kamala. I saw the vambraces, but not the body armor. Essentially it works like in your regular role playing game; equipping certain equipment will provide better armor, health, or other attributes. 

There really isn’t much else to it besides teaming up with the Avengers from time to time and being able to play cooperatively with friends. There are some moments to hit you in the feels, and some that make you laugh (like a roadtrip with Hulk). The game looks amazing, and the effects are just what you would expect from a Marvel movie. There is a clean transition from gameplay to cutscenes every time. The soundtrack is fitting for the title as well. The story is not much to get excited for in my opinion, because it appears to be just like the Hydra infiltration or the strict security policies that sparked Civil War. Overall, I think MARVEL Avengers is a good time with hours of content. A fair rating for this title should be an 8.5 out of 10. 

Check Out the MARVEL Avengers Trailer:

MARVEL Avengers is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia, and PC via Steam.

For more information, please visit https://avengers.square-enix-games.com/en-us/

John Pruitt

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I like to think of myself as the average Joe who grew up alongside video games. I have fun playing strategy games, RPGs, shooters, sandboxes, the whole shebang! Every game provides an experience whether it strikes you as profound, mundane, or someplace in between. I'd like to weigh in my two cents before you spend a single penny.

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