Guardians of the Galaxy Review

I will never forgive gamers for letting this game fail

I know in my Midnight Suns review I said Marvel games have been rough in quality recently unless its Spider-Man. Now I am questioning my memory. Guardians of the Galaxy was a random surprise announcement from Square Enix of all companies. I remember when the game was announced I was really sour (still am) about the quality of Enix games in the last 5 or so years. I said I wouldn't be surprised that the game was a lazy execution with some good ideas.

I bought the game around the time it came out because the reviews were average. I never bothered to read the actual reviews, the scores were good enough for me. I can safely say I was so wrong about this game. I loved every bit of it. The story is great, the characters are fun, and the art direction is incredible.

I've said time and time again that comic media should find ways to embrace the ridiculous aspects of comics in their movies, shows, and games. We have too much comic movies and games with “grounded realism” when the only game to do it well were the Arkham Batman games. Even then, Arkham Knight was not very good. With that said, Guardians of the Galaxy completely leans into the absurdity of the team. This goes for the story, characters, and small Easter Eggs only dedicated fans will notice.

The hardest thing about this review will be to prevent spoilers when discussing my favorite parts of the game's story and characters. As such, I am going to be short and vague because not knowing what happens is going to enhance the enjoyment factor of the story.

You play as Starlord and your team is your standard GOTG roster. It consists of Starlord, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot. I will say that due to the MCU's popularity, most people will associate these characters with their movie counterparts. As such, that is what I will be comparing them to. While they will have some resemblances, they are very much closer to the comics in terms of their backstory and past feats.

The Guardians in the story have been a team for a few years and there is some animosity between them. Particularly with Drax and Gamora. Drax's family was killed by Thanos and it is implied he is the one that killed Thanos. The banter between the teammates is great. These definitely are a group of people that are an unlikely team. They have arguments, they'll encourage one another. You see and feel their trust building as the they endure hardship together when the story progresses.

Starlord and friends find each other searching for a rare monster to sell to Lady Hellbender, a creature collector with deep pockets and a massive army. They venture into quarantined space and while exploring, Starlord unknowingly unleashes a mysterious monster. A small gem falls to the ground that burns when he tried to pick it up. Avid fans will recognize this as an Infinity Stone. Eventually they're caught by the Nova Corps increasing their bounty. The new plan to pay back the Nova Corps is to sell either Groot or Rocket to Lady Hellbender. Whichever you choose, once you go back to the Nova Corps ship you see it's weirdly empty. Thus kicking off the rest of the story that evolves into saving the galaxy.

What initially feels like a small scale adventure slowly becomes a galaxy level threat filled with twists, turns, and cameos. We finally get a game that isn't open world for once. It is very easy to pick up and play again thanks to its simplistic and dynamic combat. It is divided up via chapters, you can easily revisit levels to get any collectibles you miss. Specifically the incredible variety of skins available. Seeing actually good skins for these characters was such a breath of fresh air compared to what Marvel's Avengers attempted to give us.

Part of the charm with GOTG's story is how self contained it is. There's no greater universe to connect to. You don't have to play or watch anything before it to enjoy the characters. Everything you need to know is already in the game. It thrives on being a story about JUST the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I will say that the story and different character arcs are why anyone should play this game. The humor is clever but it knows when to take itself and its characters seriously. We joke about MCU humor killing the vibe a lot, but I do think sometimes the MCU doesn't need to be so jokey-joke to break the tension. To make the story more interactive, there is a dialogue choice mechanic. Most of the choices will directly change who shows up during the end of the game but some are more immediate.

I cannot stress this enough, Jon McLaren's performance as Starlord will make you wish Chris Pratt wasn't what we got for live action. After re-watching the two movies he is easily the most replaceable part of them. It isn't necessarily due to the character's writing, Pratt's performance is just so, dull. Meanwhile, everything about McLaren's performance is charming and endearing, even when he is being difficult. All of the performances are so good. I am bitter about what James Gunn did to Drax. Drax is allowed to be funny but he's just a joke in the MCU. This time around, his backstory, love for his family, and trauma surrounding Thanos hits in just the right way.

There's not much to say about the combat gameplay itself. This is a very simple action shooter. You'll only control Starlord but as the team leader you will issue commands for everyone. There are three basic abilities that you will level up as you gain levels and the fourth ultimate ability unlocks for everyone during the story. Different enemies respond to different abilities. Effectively using them in the heat of battle has just the right amount of stressful quick thinking.

In addition to abilities, Starlord's guns have a the ability to change elements. You'll use them to solve simple puzzles and they'll have different effects on enemies. For instance, there will be enemies out of reach, you'll use the wind augment to pull them towards you to perform a melee combo. Combat does a really good job of keeping you engaged. Later in the game fights will get bigger and more drawn out.

My favorite combat mechanic is the Huddle System. After a meter full charges you are able to call a huddle and give your team a pep talk. Based on what they say, you are given two dialogue options. When you choose the correct one, your entire team is buffed with extremely short cooldowns. If you choose wrong, only Starlord receives the buff. Because it is Starlord and he is always carrying his cassette player, a hit from the 80's will play. My favorite one that would play was “I Need a Hero”. No matter the fight it always worked so well. My only regret was not using the mechanic enough. I always saved it but the game does such a good job teaching you how to play, you get really good at combat and encounters tend to feel shorter.

Starlord is hyper mobile and combat is fast paced. There's not much to it other than dodging and shooting. Having a simple system like this actually benefits the game. Not everything needs a complex combo system, drastic weapon customization, or a massive skill tree.

While I can sing the praises for hours about this game, it is far from perfect. The biggest issue with Guardians of the Galaxy has is what also hinders its playability, the bugs. The reason why it took me over a year to play and finish the game is because when I initially played it on my PS4, my save files would routinely get corrupted. Even after I would reinstall the game. I got frustrated and waited until I got a PS5 to play it.

Even the performance on the PS5 was not that great. There are so many issues with clipping. Capes would randomly stiffen on some skins so when characters would bend down the cape would phase through the body model. Or when characters are holding objects they vibrate in place or lag behind. There were multiple problems with staying on the map during sections where you slide down rocks in caves. I would fall through or clip through the wall. It is really hard for me to sell people on how great this game is with the fear of the game just not working for them if they do end up playing it.

Everything else about Guardians of the Galaxy makes it an entertaining shorter adventure. It feels oddly nostalgic. I remember during that golden age of gaming there were shorter adventure titles we would rent from Blockbuster. They were never 10/10 big games. But you were never disappointed in getting them. Like the first Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter. Before they became franchise giants.

If you can pick Guardians of the Galaxy up for 50% it is well worth the time and potential buggy headache. The story is fun, emotional, and the scenery is pretty. It's a well rounded game that is severely held back because of technical bugs.