The highly-dysfunctional Guardians of the Galaxy are back in a new game from Square Enix which builds upon the success of the popular and cinematic characters while telling a new story in an original timeline.
Players play as Peter Quill or as he prefers to be called; Starlord through multiple chapters as they get into trouble and one mishap after another. Playing from a third-person perspective; players will have to solve puzzles, give instructions to the other members of the team, and select various dialogue options to advance the story.
Players will also have the ability to have Rocket upgrade their weapons and abilities by using components gathered during the course of the missions.
While the look and voices of the characters differ greatly from their cinematic counterparts; the story is very engaging and loaded with lots of humor and depth and really helps players get immersed into the characters and events.
Missions are broken down into chapters and can involve events such as pulling a heist, search and recovery, and exploration and involve some very detailed areas that will make fans of the series happy by being able to explore various areas in greater depth.
The game has plenty of combat but for me, this at times became an issue as some battles became a bit tedious as they dragged on longer than expected despite my best efforts. The game also offers a “Huddle Up” option where the team can gather to rally during a battle. While it was interesting at first; it became a bit annoying to me as all it really seemed to do was provide a break in the action and an option to select a dialogue option which really does not do much more than giving players a respite.
The game does a great job of offering abundant tunes for Peter to enjoy during the game and having a trove of classics to select from or randomly play is a very nice touch seeing how important music is to Peter.
The interchanges between the characters are a high point of the game and offer plenty of humor as well as advances the storyline and does help fill in the time when traveling the very large maps and that players will face. Some segments are a bit frustrating as they require players to rapidly hold down a key in order to survive and advance to a new scenario. The issue is that many of them happen very fast and involve dying a few times to get an idea of what is needed and making players anticipate what is to come.
While elements of the game may frustrate some players; the winning storyline and highly-detailed locales with numerous opportunities to customize and explore make this one of the better Marvel-based games and one that fans will not want to miss.
4 stars out of 5
