In early September, the publishing house Square enix provided the press with a short demo of the game Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy… The event was also attended by the editorial staff GameMAG.ru.
Recently for Eidos montreal an extremely controversial reputation was established. Which created Deus Ex: Human Revolution studio demoted to apprentice Crystal dynamics…
Guardians of the Galaxy is no exception. Obviously, it was based on the developments for Marvel’s Avengers, however, the studio is doing its best to distance itself from the big brother, focusing on the role-playing component and tactical gameplay.
In the Guardians of the Galaxy demo (Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, Rocket, Drax, Gamora and Groot) arrive at the base “Corps Nova ” (intergalactic police in the comic book universe Marvel). However, the station greets the mercenaries with silence. A little later it turns out that the organization was put out of action by a cult, with which the five heroes will have to fight.
Each mission starts on a spaceship “Milano“, which is the headquarters of the Guardians. It is allowed to wander through it in search of numerous Easter eggs, chat with heart-to-heart partners, and also prepare equipment for battle.
Dialogues are an important part of Guardians of the Galaxy, but they are implemented in three different ways, which can be confusing at times. In standard dialogs, there are up to four answer options that are attached to one of the gamepad buttons. Characters also communicate with each other on missions, and then the choice of lines is done by bumpers.
There is also a third dialogue option – Peter Quill’s ult, which can be activated in battle. It looks like a team building session: the Guardians gather in a bunch and share their impressions. After determining the mood of the squad, Star-Lord must choose one of two motivational speeches, which will be played up with a musical composition that sounds in the midst of the battle.
If the words are chosen correctly, all Guardians will receive a bonus to damage. And if Qwill was wrong, then only him will be strengthened. The problem is that replicas are also selected differently here (by deflecting the stick and pressing the confirmation button). Because of this, you can make a mistake with the option, losing the bonus.
As you progress through the story, the Guardians will argue constantly. And the development of certain events depends on the player. In the demo, the following moment was presented: Qwill can interfere with the radio communications of enemies, alarming them, or remain silent, using the element of surprise.
Leveling Guardians of the Galaxy is presented in a simplified form. By participating in battles, Qwill gains experience. Each character has its own skill tree, so you have to think about whether to strengthen your partner or Star-Lord.
Various resources and workbenches are also scattered across the levels. With their help, you need to buy perks that give permanent bonuses. In addition, you can find caches with costumes that change the appearance of the heroes.
The main trump card of the Guardians of the Galaxy was to be battles. In theory, everything sounded extremely interesting: the AI-controlled partners fight on their own, and Peter Quill gives them commands, flying around the arena and firing blasters at enemies with elemental damage. However, a whole series of developers’ miscalculations led to the fact that any fight turns into uncontrollable chaos.
On the battlefield, the player has two wheels of skills. The first is the active skills of partners that need to be combined with each other. Let’s say Groot takes root, immobilizing a group of enemies, after which Rocket throws a grenade at them.
The arenas are also scattered with objects that Guardians can interact with. So, Drax knows how to throw barrels of fuel at enemies, and Gamora can bring down a load hanging on a crane on enemies.
Star-Lord also has his own skill wheel. He can fly for a short time on rocket boots, unleash a barrage of shots, strike an area, and so on. In addition, as you progress through the player gets the opportunity to change the elemental damage of blasters (fire, ice, and so on).
Many interesting ideas are offset by the mediocre design of the arenas. Firstly, they are very small, so it is extremely difficult to stay out of the reach of enemies. Secondly, Eidos Montreal loves to arrange brawls in tight corridors, because of which local mechanics simply break down. In one place, after activating the rocket boots, Quill was generally stuck, unable to fly through the doorway.
In addition, enemies constantly throw small paralyzing mines that not only hurt Star-Lord, but can also stun teammates. Projectiles can be neutralized, only aimed shooting was not implemented in Guardians of the Galaxy, and blasters have a strong spread.
Fixing the sight on the target does not work well, so you have to run up close, along the way getting punches from opponents. Yes, Quill is able to kick the offender in the teeth with his fist, but this is an extreme option, because the character is rather flimsy.
With the controls on the gamepad, the developers also screwed up. Quill’s skill wheel opens by pressing the left stick. If the character moves, it will close, and if you stand still, they will quickly be beaten to death. In addition, after each use of the skill, Star-Lord gets a global cooldown.
As a result, a situation arises when the player will ignore Quill’s abilities, using all the skills of his teammates on cooldown. There are also problems here, because fat enemies are actively sent to the main heroes, who are protected by impenetrable shields. They need to be removed using the abilities of Groot and Rocket, while the skills of Star-Lord and Gamora do not damage them.
This is combined with the love of developers to place enemies on inaccessible platforms, where Qwill cannot fly. And almost any fight turns into a heap, where it is impossible to control anything. The editorial board of GameMAG.ru restarted the very first battle five times. Judging by the streams of colleagues, the problems arose not only with us.
Obviously, the arenas needed to be made more ambitious, and not cram a crowd of enemies and five heroes into narrow spaces. In addition, it is not clear at all why rocket boots became a separate skill of Quill, since this negatively affects the character’s maneuverability.
It is extremely difficult to draw a full conclusion on the half-hour demo version of Guardians of the Galaxy. The game has potential, but the controversial decisions of the developers may well harm it. But let’s hope for the best.
