Introduction

In a galaxy far, far away, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a single-player action-adventure game that captures the charm of the group. It focuses on a narrative packed with heartfelt banter, '80s tunes, and chaos when traveling around the galaxy.

Compared to Marvel's Avengers, this game trades live-service for a focused single-player game. Thanks to this shift, this game is actually great and deserved better, especially with sales. This post will go over reasons this game deserves recognition for being a great game.

Backstory

Back in 2021, when this game was first released, it was a massive flop. While this game sold 4 million copies, it didn’t sell enough copies to recoup its cost along with The Avengers’ loss as well. Both games together, Square ended up costing Square roughly $200 million dollars, which prompted Square to sell the studio Crystal Dynamics to Embracer.

A huge contributing factor to its poor sales is the Avengers game’s poor reception, which was released before this game. Because that game had a very poor reception, it really affected people's expectations of the Guardians of the Galaxy game.

• One key reason was that it had this live service model going on for a single-player game. There was a lot of monetization going on. With not just cosmetics, but with XP and resource boosters as well.

• There were also a bunch of bugs and technical issues with this game, requiring patches.

• There were also a lot of backlashes against other things as well, such as the gameplay being repetitive. The character designs were questionable as well.

Thanks to the issues, this ended up selling only 3,000,000 copies, which didn’t sell enough to recoup its cost of at least a $100 million budget, causing a loss of $63 million.

Since this game suffered a terrible fate, the Guardians video game ended up being overshadowed by The Avengers’ poor reception and massive criticisms. Many players avoided this game because people would assume that this is a. Game as a service game that would end up being terrible by being heavily monetized.

This is unfortunate because this game is a great game. It is a very fun game to play. It is great to play as part of the Guardians of the Galaxy group.

Chaotic, fun group

While it is not everyone's cup of tea, the Guardians of the Galaxy is a fun team to be part of while venturing out.

They do a lot of banter with each other, making jokes nonstop or roasting each other along with doing one - liners in almost every moment. Some find this irritating, but their banter and quips keep the gameplay fresh in a way.

While playing, you are constantly reminded that you are spending time with a group of chaotic individuals who react to each other, as this game is dialogue heavy. Guardians do comment and joke around in many moments, even if situations are serious.

This is actually great, because players can just have fun playing the game and not taking everything seriously. Players are encouraged to lighten up and have a good time playing the game. Many other games end up being very serious (for good reasons), which Guardians of the Galaxy stands out from this change of tone.

When it comes to the group, each person has their unique personalities such as Rocket being a sarcastic tech genius and Drax being a warrior. Their views are different on certain topics, which helps the characters stand out from each other. This also means Starlord will sometimes need to side with one individual, as they can have differing opinions.

Sometimes, Starlord must side with a person, whether the choices matter to the story. This is a great way to gain an idea of how these characters are and where their views align.

Story

Guardian's of the Galaxy's story is enjoyable because it is a fun journey to be part of. The group banters with each other while doing teamwork to defeat bosses and solve problems, even problems for the Andromeda galaxy. While the gameplay is a standard, third person shooter, its story helps make the game standout.

Guardians do bicker with each other and even forces Starlord to side with a Guardian in a heated argument. However, in the end, it makes the characters feel more alive. Players get to understand more about the Guardians and while situations gets serious, you know you are part of some kind of wacky family.

Guardians' Unique Abilities

Since their abilities are not the same, players must use them tactically when fighting enemies. Players, as Starlord, must issue commands to the AI-controlled teammates based on their situations, whether fighting enemies or traversing new areas. This switches up the gameplay from time to time, keeping the gameplay from becoming stale.

In the combat, each Guardian has their own set of unique abilities:

• Starlord wields dual blasters that has multiple elements (plasma, wind, ice, lightning). He issues commands to the team.

• Gamora – Attacks individual targets, dealing massive damage.

• Rocket, for example, focuses on tech and explosives. He can be effective by using his gravity grenade to gather all the enemies in one spot to target them easily. He can also toss grenades to deal some damage.

• Groot focuses on crowd control. He can pin a single enemy or even multiple enemies in place for the other Guardians to damage them. Groot can also launch spikes from the ground and heal downed Guardians.

• Drax – Tanky brawler that focuses on staggering enemies, especially the tough/large enemies. He can also lift heavy objects and toss them at weak walls or enemies.

This system encourages players to experiment with combos and figuring out which abilities to use in order. Players, for example, can use Groot's abilities to pin down enemies while commanding Gamora to strike at multiple enemies. Due to the synergy between the Guardians, it is very rewarding and increases the Style/Momentum meter. This meter increases the amount of XP to unlock abilities faster and have higher ratings.

Their unique abilities also makes the game much more immersive by establishing their characters very well. Drax, for example, staggers tough enemies and can carry heavy objects. This is something Gamora does not do and specializes in other areas. This makes you feel like the leader of the Guardians of the Galaxy, because you have a good grasp on the team dynamic and how to synergize them.

Exploration

Outside of battles, players will come across puzzles to solve and must figure out on how to solve the puzzles or navigate new areas. They must use their abilities to traverse new areas and solve puzzles:

• Starlord - Use visor to scan environment for interactables, use blasters for obstacles

• Gamora - Climbs craggy blue walls

• Drax - Smash weak cracked walls, moves/pushes heavy objects

• Rocket - Enters small vents/holes

• Groot - Grows vine bridges over gaps, raises platforms

This system rewards curiosity by blending all types of puzzles and circumstances. While the puzzles are simple to complete, they keep the gameplay interesting by blending platforming, scanning, and issuing commands to teammates.

Conclusion

While the game didn't meet sales expectations, it does outshine The Avengers by being a single-player game that doesn't emphasize the live service stuff. The gameplay is enjoyable, but the group and teamwork dynamic makes the game standout.