Guardians of the Galaxy (2021) - It's really Groot!

[Boothjan]

Only about an hour into this but it's great fun. I can't remember the last time dialogue in a video game actually made me laugh, but this is consistently tremendous. 

 

And it looks outstanding too. Think I'm going to have a great time with this.

[Gabe]

I played the first mission (which did feel went on a bit) and in keeping with the general consensus, the dialogue has been decent and I've chuckled a couple of times. The gameplay though is a bit...perfunctory. I appreciate more skills will open things up a bit but I can't see it's going to ever get beyond 'ok', it all feels a bit floaty and imprecise, and any game that requires constant use of flicking between display modes (scanner on/off) instantly annoy me. Typical Squeenix though, couldn't even be bothered to change the tutorial to match what controller you use (so it has the PS prompts).

 

It does look and run really well though (I have all the RT junk on at very high) and the voice acting is far more successful than in Avengers - Rocket and Drax are reasonably close to the films but not so much that I'm fussed that they aren't - and Gamora and Peter are far away enough that I'm not mentally comparing them. I'm already a bit tired of "I am Groot" though.

[Triple A]

9 hours ago, Gabe said:

The gameplay though is a bit...perfunctory. I appreciate more skills will open things up a bit but I can't see it's going to ever get beyond 'ok', it all feels a bit floaty and imprecise

So much this.

They obviously spent a fortune trying to glamour people with flashy visuals, audio, voice and writing, but the core experience just isn’t there.  The approach taken may have been more likely to work a while ago, but just doesn’t cut it in today’s AAA world.

It’s an A to AA game dressed in overly expensive designer clobber.

[elmo]

The core experience is the story IMO.

 

combat is shit but serviceable. The story, script and voice acting is so fucking on point though that it doesn’t even matter that the fighting is a tad dull.

[Isaac]

1 hour ago, Triple A said:

So much this.

They obviously spent a fortune trying to glamour people with flashy visuals, audio, voice and writing, but the core experience just isn’t there.  The approach taken may have been more likely to work a while ago, but just doesn’t cut it in today’s AAA world.

It’s an A to AA game dressed in overly expensive designer clobber.

 

The core experience is better than Uncharted, or certainly no worse.

 

Yet the dialogue and writing are significantly better than anything the Uncharted series put out. 

 

It's a better Uncharted than Naughty Dog ever managed, in my opinion.

[Garwoofoo]

I like the fact the combat is easy and infrequent! The core of the game is in the exploration and the dialogue and I’m happy for it to remain that way. 

[deKay]

1 hour ago, Garwoofoo said:

I like the fact the combat is easy and infrequent! The core of the game is in the exploration and the dialogue and I’m happy for it to remain that way. 

There’s exploration in an entirely linear corridor game?

 

I loved the game, but there’s no exploration besides “look behind this pipe” or “look behind this rock”.

[Garwoofoo]

Well, “experiencing the environments” at least then. Exploration isn’t always about having the ability to get lost. 

[Gabe]

I'm up to chapter 4 now and yeah, the combat is rubbish and even with it stacked completely in my favour (highest damage dealt, least received, longest status effect window etc) every enemy is still massively spongey. That wouldn't be so bad if the shooting and ordering the team around was fun but it's not grabbing me, even though it's not hugely different to the Mass Effect series in that respect.

 

The constant moaning is really draining, which is a real shame because when the characters are actually having a proper conversation the script is really good and feels natural (Quill and the Nova Core lady in Chapter 2, for example). But the constant sniping, whining and background chatter is just a bit much at times.

 

It does still look good (though I was disappointed at the lack of RT on display in the rain in chapter 3), it has captured the ethos of GotG ensemble (just as I say, perhaps a bit too much) and I will definitely finish it, though that is more on the strength of everybody saying the story is really good than because it has wowed me so far (I'd say it's all a bit <shrug> to be honest). I just think this is better served by a 'play one chapter a day' approach than it taking up an entire evening's gaming.

[Isaac]

The way Drax is written in this is even funnier than in the films, and he was funny as fuck in the films.

 

I have literally laughed out loud at his quips multiple times in fights now, which is unheard of for me in a game.

[metallicfrodo]

Pretty much in agreement with recent posts. It's a very well written story and the voice acting is great, but the gameplay is very very mediocore. The combat is woeful and full of boring bullet sponge enemies, 6 chapters in I've turned it down to easy to get it out the way. Having said it's well written though I'd quite happily space Rocket, he's just such a whiney little shit. I never felt that about him in the movies, but my goodness he gets on my tits in this, almost to the point of making me just jack it in.

[Thor]

[Gabe]

On 13/03/2022 at 16:58, Isaac said:

The way Drax is written in this is even funnier than in the films, and he was funny as fuck in the films.

 

I have literally laughed out loud at his quips multiple times in fights now, which is unheard of for me in a game.

Yeah, Drax is the standout so far in the first 3 chapters - I think it's because he's closer to GotG1 Drax and not GotG2 "ALL MY LINES ARE FUNNY, LAUGH WITH ME" Drax. He's more understated, which means when he comes out with one of his comments (like the response to being toast) it carries more power and is actually funny.

 

I agree with @metallicfrodo that the rest of them are all pretty whiney though and I can't say that I actually like any of them yet. Hopefully that will change as the story progresses. In fact I'm going to go and play chapter 4 now!

[Gabe]

Right, another 2 chapters down (including another complete hard-lock of the game that I had to CRTL-ALT-DEL to kill).

 

A question for those further along than me - when should my team being getting more abilities? Everybody has 1 ability point and 675/1000 towards the next one, whilst I've already obtained Quill's two purchasable abilities? I've completed the first 5 chapters now, is that about right?

[deKay]

9 hours ago, Gabe said:

Right, another 2 chapters down (including another complete hard-lock of the game that I had to CRTL-ALT-DEL to kill).

 

A question for those further along than me - when should my team being getting more abilities? Everybody has 1 ability point and 675/1000 towards the next one, whilst I've already obtained Quill's two purchasable abilities? I've completed the first 5 chapters now, is that about right?

 

Pretty sure I had some abilities before then. You don't get some until right near the end of the game though.

[Garwoofoo]

I realised what's bugging me slightly about this game.

 

It is its own version of Guardians of the Galaxy, separate to the movies, right? Its take on each of the characters is different. Quill's back-story isn't the same as the movies (similar, but also not). Familiar characters are introduced in different ways. The team makes reference to past events that contradict some of the events of the MCU. That's absolutely fine, I completely get that. I don't know how close all this is to the comic book version of the team but as a different take on something quite familiar I'm fine with what they've done.

 

But - they are also desperate to emulate the movies in every possible way they can. The way it looks. The music. The way the characters speak. The colour pallette. Even the way the titles appear on the screen.

 

So you end up with this kind of weird halfway house mishmash where you've got something that looks exactly like something you know, but it isn't. I wish they'd committed one way or the other. Do your own version of GotG, fine, but at least put your own visual flair on it too. While it's all very good, it's also Cosplay Guardians.

[Thor]

3 hours ago, Garwoofoo said:

But - they are also desperate to emulate the movies in every possible way they can. The way it looks. The music. The way the characters speak. The colour pallette. Even the way the titles appear on the screen.

Hmmm, I take issue with this. The music in the game is all '80s hits; in the movies they're '70s (even '60s?) hits. The colour pallete and titles are accurate for the comics, and it's something the movies got right, would you want the game to be grimdark with a different font just for the sake of being different to the movies? Also, while Rocket & Groot are almost exactly the same as their movie versions (which are again comic accurate), I'd argue there's enough difference between the two versions of Drax and Gamora to be interesting, while Quill in the game is completely different to the movie Quill.

[Garwoofoo]

OK, fair enough, I might have misjudged that then. I've got no experience of the comics.

[deKay]

They’re also different to the cartoon, although Drax is pretty similar.

[metallicfrodo]

Finished this today. Would have made a wonderful Marvel Series, wrapping mediocre gameplay elements around it detracted from it.

 

As was suggested, fortunately the endless whining from certain characters does pretty abruptly stop at a certain point and it is much better for it.

[hereticboy]

Had a mess with this yesterday and did the first chapter, and I'm pretty into it.

 

How easy is it to go back through chapters in this to comb through areas and make sure I've picked up costumes and that? Will I need to start an NG+ at the end or is there some chapter select kind of deal? Same with all the dialogue options - I'll be keen to see how things change about but not necessarily if I have to play the whole thing through again. 

[deKay]

11 hours ago, hereticboy said:

Had a mess with this yesterday and did the first chapter, and I'm pretty into it.

 

How easy is it to go back through chapters in this to comb through areas and make sure I've picked up costumes and that? Will I need to start an NG+ at the end or is there some chapter select kind of deal? Same with all the dialogue options - I'll be keen to see how things change about but not necessarily if I have to play the whole thing through again. 

 

Have I got bad news for you.

[BigShimmeryWall]

Bad news that it has a chapter select and you can go back and find costumes and they'll be available in your current save?

[deKay]

7 hours ago, BigShimmeryWall said:

Bad news that it has a chapter select and you can go back and find costumes and they'll be available in your current save?

That you can’t explore what the alternative conversation options do without replaying most of the game again.

[hereticboy]

That's what I'd call very mixed news.

 

Thanks!

[Skull Commander]

After playing the first three missions I've decided to abandon this. I can see the appeal for others, but all I'm getting is a repetitive linear walking simulator with gameplay that would embarrass a mid tier PS2 title. Can't be done with the constant gibbering of the other characters either. Nice to be able to try it on gamepass though. 

[Thor]

1 hour ago, Skull Commander said:

After playing the first three missions I've decided to abandon this. I can see the appeal for others, but all I'm getting is a repetitive linear walking simulator with gameplay that would embrace a mid tier PS2 title. Can't be done with the constant gibbering of the other characters either. Nice to be able to try it on gamepass though. 

Yeah, if you're the kind of player who skips dialogue/cut scenes and just wants to get to gameplay then this as absolutely not the game for you.

[JPL]

5 hours ago, Thor said:

Yeah, if you're the kind of player who skips dialogue/cut scenes and just wants to get to gameplay then this as absolutely not the game for you.

Oh thanks, you’ve saved me a download.

[Lorfarius]

I've been enjoying this and just made it up to chapter 9, usually I would have bought a game like this but GamePass really is a gift from the gaming gods. Hard to believe its free! I don't mind the combat and have been having loads of fun sliding around on my knees to perform all sorts of neat tricks as you get in close and dirty. My biggest problem with the combat is just how easy it is to select photo mode. Sometimes when I'm mashing away and click two buttons together because I'm reaching for something else it freezes the whole game then makes you have to press back then cancel. So damn annoying and it kept happening repeatedly.

 

Really breaks the flow of combat when I'm trying to jump straight in and act like a loon. Same for that damn visor, even with the upgrade it does little but disable any ability to shoot back so pretty useless. Having it mapped to a stick press is ludicrous as the number of times I'm jumping around with the stick and clicking it by accident to perform moves just stops me in my tracks.

[deKay]

…there’s a photo mode?