Marvel’s Avenger’s takes us through a whirlwind tale of a girl’s childhood dream of being part of the Avengers to a young woman’s challenge of overcoming the aggressive corporation AIM and reuniting the disbanded members of the Avengers. It’s a third-person action-adventure game with an original Marvel Avenger’s story plus other quests to take on with other players around the world via matchmaking. The game also promises to evolve over multiple years with new Heroes added to the roster and narratives to explore.

A Day to Remember

The young new hero of Marvel Avenger’s is Kamala Khan. A humble, intelligent, respectful, and determined character whose world changes all before her eyes. Kamala is full of joy when she attends A-Day, the unveiling of Avengers new headquarters. In attendance is Captain America, Iron Man. The Hulk, Black Widow and all of Kamala’s wildest dreams are coming to life. She meets the likes of Thor and Captain America, who, are impressed with Kamala’s comic writing. Everything turns upside down during the unveiling of the headquarters, as she witnesses a horrific explosion and the state of humanity changes drastically.

This first section of the game introduces you to the gameplay and enemies. You get to know the combat of the heroes as well as their style of traversal. The game is fluid and fast-paced and a mix of button smashing, scenes directed by player input and cutscenes. The cutscenes are short, so, it doesn’t slow down gameplay, and, the combat is satisfying with a mix of melee, defence, dodge and range attacks. This stage of the game was in the Beta so it may be familiar to you.

Rebuild

The game then takes a five-year leap and explains the ramifications of A-Day. It gets deeper into the changes in society and how Kamala’s life has changed, plus, the current situation of the Avengers and their place in society. Kamala sees hope that the balance of power can be rebuilt and takes the challenge head-on. The narrative branches out as you go to find the Avengers, restore their base The Chimera, locate their equipment and train to improve your combat. It’s a stage in the game which can be tiresome with a lot of hand-holding, running around, pressing the interaction button, and simple missions to create the basis of the game. However, it allows the player to explore and find items, see fascinating Avengers memorabilia, and learn more about Kamala and The Avengers.

The pace of the game picks up as you continue the main campaign story called the Reassemble operation. The missions in the game are quick to churn through with similar challenges across. Level designs are often very similar, and, most face you with crowds of enemies of varying difficulties spanned across the level. Some missions you take on with one extra hero and others you’re in a team of four. The AI of the companions are quite helpful and make the battles satisfying. The AI can revive you if you run out of health which is a neat feature and helps the flow of the game. On top of Reassemble, there are hero missions. Completing these can give you exclusive gear for heroes and time to perfect your attacks. Not all are required to complete the main story of the game.

Struggle Street

The game continues to open up as Heroes join the story. The character of each hero adds to the charm, and you’ll start to find which combat style or personality of each hero you like the most. For example, Tony Stark, or also known as Iron Man, provides plenty of humour and wit to the conversations of the game. Tony deals with the emotional challenges of seeing his technology used for the wrong reasons by AIM. Tony consoles himself as well as getting the support of his team.

Marvel’s Avengers aims to show the mental effects and post-trauma after A-Day. The heroes of the game, as well as the in-humans, are coping differently. You witness the mental struggles of Dr Banner and Kamala, which I thought was a highlight. Some in-humans are excited with their abilities while others struggle with injuries and the displacement from their homes and family. I found the cutscenes that showcased the struggles particularly interesting.

One Step at a Time

Unfortunately, this is where I thought the game got messy. There are illogical decisions with the pacing of the story, and, combat was too easy. The introduction of new heroes at level one taking on major antagonists of the game and fighting them off with ease was confusing. During missions, It displayed combat instructions when I’d been playing the game for over 10 hours. Each introduction of a new hero is tedious when it introduces you again to things like Faction Vendors. Even in this last campaign mission, It guided me with instructions that were distracting and needless. I understand the concept of adding new heroes to spice up the story, but, it doesn’t need to make you feel like you are new.

The missions in Marvel’s Avengers involve elements of puzzle-solving and traversal challenges like jumping from platform to platform. Jumping sometimes feels like a leap of faith rather than a calculated decision. I found some heroes were more polished than others. Black Widow felt more accurate and complete, while, Iron Man’s ultimate heroic ability felt clunky. There are some odd design choices like high-level enemies falling from platforms from light attacks. A more satisfying challenge would be the perfection of combat moves to defeat an enemy rather than pushing an enemy off. The game goes to a great length to add skills through skill trees and primary, speciality and mastery skills. However, the main campaign is achievable without perfecting any of them. I do encourage you to explore the skills and abilities as it is rewarding.

Silver Lining

Some periods of Marvel’s Avengers shine bright. Seeing the heroes fight together in their unique outfits on levels full of enemies is impressive. The AI of your companions is pleasing as they assist in combat fairly with you as a team. The assembly of The Avengers is priceless, and, the wit and banter in the game are enjoyable. The structure of the game, although slow to put together, gives it an exciting future. The main narrative takes around 12 hours to complete and if you want to find extras, there are many more hours to enjoy. The addition of new heroes such as Hawkeye, an evolving narrative and a strong community will hopefully see the groundwork of the game pay off. Its story is a must-see. You will need to put up with the cracks to enjoy it.

Note: The game was played on an MSI GE66 Raider.

Get Marvel’s Avengers when you purchase a qualifying MSI Laptop a 9th or 10th Gen INTEL Core i5, i7, or i9 Processor H-Series.