REVIEW: Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

Many would be quick to compare Guardians of the Galaxy to the Marvel’s Avengers game. Yes, there are similarities in some ways — they were both developed by the same studio, but the games are substantially different experiences. If anything, Guardians is bigger and better in every way. Terrific storyline, vast worlds to explore, satisfying combat, hilarious dialogue and outstanding visuals.

The single player action-adventure game sees the player take control of Star-Lord himself, aka Peter Quill, as the lead protagonist. While it was disappointing at first to realise I wasn’t able to take control of the other Guardians, I was soon to realise the interactions you do have work a treat. While you do only play as the one character, it certainly doesn’t feel that way.

The game begins inside the world of 13-year-old Peter — before space, before the events that shaped who he is today. Looking from behind Peter’s eyes, you sit on a bed in his teenage room reading the latest music record cover from the band Star-Lord.  Once you’re up and out of bed the game changes from first to third person, exploring Peter’s room, guitars, old magazine and video game consoles. There are posters on the walls, all accurate depictions of all things ’80s and retro.  But leaving the room (very minor spoilers ahead) you realise it was but a dream and you’re staring into the eyes of fellow Guardian and all round loose unit Drax the Destroyer.

Sticking true to the Guardian’s foundation, the characters are very funny, sarcastic, argumentative and obnoxious. During one battle Star-Lord yells out to tell you there’s an enemy coming, “big guy 12 o’clock.” Drax replies dead-pan: “Current time is irrelevant.” Straying off the linear path to find resources, or explore rooms or other areas triggers character dialogue to steer you back in the right direction. While they’re not the actors or even their likeness from the MCU films, their portrayal has similarities.

Combat is chaotic, but in the best way possible.  All of the Guardians of the Galaxy fight alongside each other, and while Star-Lord is the only playable character, you can still utilise the other Guardians’ special abilities.  During combat you can select the other Guardians and direct them to attack certain enemies and use their abilities. These are all selectable by holding down LB and pressing either, A, B, X or Y. Thankfully, for the purpose of learning to play, the move set is a slow build. Later in the game, once you’ve unlocked more abilities and move sets, the buttons to select certain moves can look overwhelming — but by that point the game presumes you’ve already learned how to best control and manage a fight.

There’s moments in battle where you can tell your team to interact with objects to assist in the fight, for example you may send Drax to lift an explosive barrel to hurl at the enemy. In terms of a HUD (heads up display), there’s no permanent on screen text or icons. If you want to see where your objective is located you’ll need to put on Star-Lord’s visor. This visor also allows Star-Lord to scan the area around him and find important objects to interact with.

A photo mode can be activated at any time by pushing both the thumb sticks in at the same time. Typically with most modern photo modes, there’s camera control, filters and depth perception. Guardians comes with the addition of a multi-character pose selection to get all the guardians ready to say “cheese”.

The game’s soundtrack is a standout, with so many incredible hits from the ’80s — KISS, Iron Maiden, Rick Astley, Blondie all on show. An entire album was also written specifically for the game by the fictional metal band Star-Lord. Music plays a key role throughout the game, both on the battlefield and during exploration. This is despite music never playing a major role in the comic books. It wasn’t until director James Gunn brought the Guardians to life that music entered the picture. It was a decision that’s been welcomed by MCU, comic book and gaming fans alike.

Guardians of the Galaxy is filled with heartfelt moments, surprises, quirkiness and joy — it’s one of the best games of 2021.  It features a brilliant story set in a wondrous universe. The studio that brought it to life, Eidos-Montréal, has not just given the characters and story justice, they’ve built a world and a game that stays true to the MCU and brings the comics alive.

Guardians of the Galaxy is available now from €59.99 on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S as well as Nintendo Switch via cloud service.