GameCentral plays the first level of Square Enixs Marvel epic and talks to its creators about skill trees, loot boxes, and cosmetic extras.
By all rights an interactive version of Avengers should be the biggest video game ever, given the ongoing popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Things dont usually work out quite that way when trying to convert the popularity of movies to games (or vice versa) but Square Enixs new tie-in certainly isnt doing things by halves. That may seem a surprising thing to say after the slightly underwhelming debut at E3, but after having played the game ourselves were feeling increasingly excited about the final product.
The problem with the E3 reveal was simply that Square Enix held too much back. What little gameplay footage they showed was all taken from the tutorial level, which is much more linear and constrained than the rest of the game – at least according to what developer Crystal Dynamics has said so far. But the behind closed doors footage was more convincing, since it showed the combat system in more detail, and thats what we got to play at Gamescom and what you can see in the video below.
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Playing the game was pretty much exactly what youd expect from watching the video, especially once you know that the lead combat designer also worked on the reboot of Gears Of War. Thats especially obvious when you play as Thor but all the characters have similar controls even though their moves are completely different (including the fact that some can fly and others cannot).
The plot of the game revolves around the Avengers unveiling a new headquarters in San Francisco, when the Golden Gate Bridge is attacked by Taskmaster and a band of mercenaries, which turns out to be a distraction enabling the bad guys to blow up an experimental new helicarrier – in the process killing Captain America and wiping out much of the city. Cap obviously comes back somehow, because hes listed as one of the five playable characters along with Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, and Black Widow, buts thats the set-up for the story.
A stinger at the end of the demo shows that after the events of the tutorial the Avengers break up and evil corporation A.I.M. takes over their role with a legion of robot peacekeepers, which seems to be mirroring elements of Avengers: Age Of Ultrons plot. As far as we understand, Ultron traditionally has nothing to do with A.I.M., although that may be changed for game. Or maybe its a red herring. Either way hopefully that means MODOK will be making an appearance at some point.
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Wherever the plot is headed Marvels Avengers is primarily a story-based game. Despite all the comparisons to Destiny before its reveal the Gamescom presentation deemphasised the co-op (apparently that will be revealed properly later) and explained that the game structure is split between single-player only hero missions, which force you to play as a particular character, and War Zone missions which can be played in four-player co-op and allow you to play as anyone.
The Hero missions are the primary way to advance the main plot, although in a short Q&A afterwards developer Crystal Dynamics refused to comment on if any of the missions other than the tutorial have you switching between different heroes. Thats how things worked with what we played though, with Thor the first to arrive on the bridge, where he makes short work of the mercenaries with moves that are very reminiscent of God Of War.
Thors hammer, Mjölnir, can be thrown and retrieved in almost identical fashion to Kratos axe, including using it to hit different bad guys when calling it back. Every character also has a variety of special abilities and super moves, with Thor being able to call down lighting and perform a powerful area of attack move. But, like all the characters, he can also perform extensive combos, aerial attacks, and even juggle enemies by repeatedly hitting them when in the air.
Its not the same level of complexity as Bayonetta but once more moves are unlocked it may not be far off, as the developer described how you can switch between different styles of moves, just like Devil May Cry, by pressing the D-pad – implying a combat system of surprising complexity for a mainstream game. The fact that Thor can also hover when fighting only makes it more interesting, even if the mercenaries in the tutorials never offered any real challenge.
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Each enemy has a number by their health bar, indicating their level and confirming the game as an action role-player. Attacking anyone sees a familiar explosion of numbers, illustrating the amount of damage youre doing, which is not something we expected from the game. According to the devs some enemies will be all but unbeatable if youre not at a certain level yourself, with the implication being that youll have to either level up or play in co-op with others that are more powerful.
There was none of that in the demo though and instead Thor quickly switched to Iron Man, who worked in a very similar manner except with repulsor blasts and a unibeam super move. He also had a short on-the-rails flying section, which we hope means that hell be able to fly around freely in the proper missions, which Crystal Dynamics has avoided describing as open world but have implied offer a significant amount of freedom of movement.
Although the controls for each of the characters works in essentially the same way all of their moves are completely different, with Hulk having his familiar sonic boom-inducing clap and a move that rips up the ground in front of him. He can also pick up smaller enemies and either hit others with them or juts throw them as projectiles. Hulks section of the tutorial also showcases some simple platforming, as he sticks to walls indicated by scratch makes and can jump between similarly besmirched surfaces.
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Captain Americas section felt like more of a straight brawler but of course hes also got his physics-defying shield as well. Each character also has unique finishing moves to use against mostly defeated enemies and Caps all seem to be based around wrestling moves – and looked suitably painful as a result.
Black Widow has similar athletic abilities to the Hulk and is also the one to takedown down Taskmaster, jumping onto him as he flies off with his jetpack and taking part in some simple QTE sequences. She gets a proper boss battle with him as well though, which the tutorial uses to illustrate the dodge move and her ability to turn briefly invisible.
It is, of course, madness to try and critique an entire game from just its tutorial but we can say that the fundamentals do seem very solid. There are hints of real depth to the combat system and even without taking the co-op options into consideration there seems to be a substantial amount of game on offer.
The only real complaint we have at this stage is the slightly underwhelming visuals, which are perfectly fine from a technicRead More – Source
