An undisputed cinematic triumph, the Avengers have not always been successful in video games. Everyone therefore logically expected this original adaptation under the leadership of Crystal Dynamics. So, rally or not?
Crystal Dynamics / Square Enix Small flashback sequence. In 2014, Marvel Studios (finally!) Decided to change their minds concerning the video game versions of their licenses, most of the time catastrophic, with very rare exceptions. Because if the films under license Marvel regularly prance at the top of the Box Office, it was not really the same for video games ...
"When I first came to Marvel, I knew that with such a treasure chest filled with some of the best stories and superheroes ever created, it was our job to make great games that fans would enjoy." explained in 2016 Jay Ong, head of the Video Games Division at Marvel. "With the Marvel Executives and my team, we therefore changed our strategy to be very selective and now only work with the best studios and the best partners in the industry. We want to work selectively with them. partners who share our vision and our ambition to open a new era for the Marvel games business ". The first illustration of this profession of faith was the excellent game Marvel's Spider-Man, developed by the Insomniac studio, exclusive for the Sony PS4 console released in September 2018. The curse was finally broken. The second milestone, two years later, is Marvel's Avengers.
Formalized in January 2017, presented with great fanfare two years later at E3 2019, this interpretation of the Avengers universe has not necessarily convinced everyone. And for good reason, our heroes that are Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow or even the Hulk are not the spitting portraits of their counterparts on the big screen. After more than a decade of films on the subject, it was obvious that presenting the Avengers that were a little different from these was risky. That said, you don't have to be a great scholar to guess that such a past performance-capture cast for a game would have exploded the title's development budget. Instead, the characters have some pretty cool physical and vocal contributions, especially with the staple Troy Baker (Joel in The Last of us) and Nolan North (Nathan Drake in the saga Uncharted).
An original interpretation
It took courage to show the Avengers in a different light than the movies. "You have to keep in mind that Marvel has very often reinterpreted its own characters; they are the North Star for that. Also look at the James Bond for example: how many incarnations have you had? How many variations around? Batman have you had? It is not impossible to bring a real freshness to the characters, while remaining true and authentic to the roots " Scot Amos, the co-manager of the Crystal Dynamics studio, explained to us.
Crystal Dynamics
A risk-taking that we really welcome, and which ultimately pays off (but we only really realize it after having completed the campaign), both in substance and in form. Indeed, if the main adventure lasts only ten hours and begins quite awkwardly, the characters being then only decals of those that we know, we must admit that once the epic is over, our Avengers are more appreciable. Starting with Miss Marvel, a teenager lost during her debut who grows up to become a true member of the team. An initiatory journey which turns out to be only a tutorial telling a little inspired story, to prepare for missions in cooperation with other players, and to go up against high-level challenges.
And this is where the title is more interesting. Each hero is unique, with their own unique skill tree, specialized harvesting gear, and unique special moves. Cap 'logically exploits his shield from a distance and is an elite melee fighter, much like Black Widow who uses her guns from afar instead. For his part, Iron-Man and Thor enjoy the ability to fly to deal with aerial enemies while the Hulk will clean up and can even take on the role of Tank (the one who attracts the attention of enemies) to take the damage. instead of his companions, while Miss Marvel heals him for example.
Crystal Dynamics
This idea of a talent tree and numerous improvements for each of the protagonists is relevant, already proven in well-known titles such as multitude of menus, sometimes messy and awkwardly complex. What if in terms of gameplay, Diablo or destiny. he There is a lot of finesse and potential in this evolution system to shape your hero according to the missions available. Other side of the coin: the player must navigate (rather get lost ...) in a Marvel's Avengers turns out to be very nag at first sight, the defeat makes you think and you will end up stopping typing stupidly to intelligently prepare your missions, and, in fine, better exploit the weaknesses of your opponents.
Gathering ... of bugs
Say that this Marvel's Avengers is bad would be very severe, but it is impossible not to point out bugs, sometimes really damaging at the risk of making you lose your nerves, and an obvious lack of finish which could cost Square Enix dearly. With slowdowns that are difficult to swallow (more frequent outdoors), display problems or even game crashes (three in our case ...), the first hours of Marvel's Avengers turned out to be painful. But the developers, apparently very attentive to their community, are working hard to improve all this and, we hope, as soon as possible, via patches which will arrive in droves.
However, the real concern of the title comes from an obvious lack of readability, both in the menus, but especially in the game as there are light effects, enemies, etc. during battles. It is sometimes difficult to navigate this collective rat race, especially as the enemies are rather tough and will regularly give you a hard time, even if the difficulty levels are adjustable. There are also two major flaws: the first is a sound design that is not sufficiently supported (accompanied by uninspired music) and the second is a lack of fishing in the fights (characters too light who lack ground support, no strikes quite impactful ...). It all turns out to be pretty soft overall, and that's not really what you expect from a game. Marvel's Avengers.
Refine the recipe to secure your future
The title developed by Crystal Dynamics highlights enemies not yet exploited in the MCU. Indeed, MODOK, the brain, and the AIM (company which tries to replace the Avengers by robots to save the world in the face of threats) are not the adversaries we expected, even if it is, again, courageous to put them forward when this is not generally the case in productions peripheral to comics. Like you no doubt, we would have appreciated much more to do battle with Galactus or Thanos, or even Kree in large numbers. Here, in missions that generally tend to look too similar, the bestiary of enemies is 90% made up of AIM robots, called synthoids, and available in different variations (specialized in ranged attacks, melee attacks). bodies, explosives, equipped with shields ...). This lack of variety in the enemy's bestiary inexorably ends up boring.
But is it the Endgame for this Marvel's Avengers ? Obviously no. We took a certain pleasure with this title which interprets the Avengers in an original way, remains a fun vent, despite its bugs or its redundancy. Yes Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics manage to correct bugs, slowdowns, and especially to regularly offer varied content, the future of this Marvel's Avengers could be brighter than expected; as certain bases of the title (the powers, the complementarity of the heroes, the race for the equipment, etc.) are excellent and should be better exploited in the future. This could help to perpetuate the title in the already crowded landscape of the Game as a Service. A bit like the Destiny 2 of Bungie, also strongly criticized on its release. To be continued then.
