With Marvel’s Avengers a new superhero title hit the market, aiming to impress with action, RPG elements, and a popular license. MeinMMO author Maik Schneider has already gotten a good overview and presents the game to you in its release version.
“You can play quite a few heroes” and “it’s supposed to be a bit like Destiny” were the first concrete bits of info I got about Marvel’s Avengers. Between these pieces of information and the release on September 4 was quite some time and a troubled beta phase during which the game had to endure a fair amount of justified criticism.
It’s been out for a few days and offers a significantly better experience than the beta announced – yet it is not flawless. To give you an impression of the service title, I have played Marvel’s Avengers in the last few days for MeinMMO and want to provide you with a good insight into what the superhero title has to offer. Here’s what I’ll show you:
- An introduction to the game
- The problems of the beta
- How does it play?
- Details about the multiplayer
- Story contents
- What was good? / What was bad?
- Assessment of the microtransactions
- Who the game is interesting for
MA is a loot brawler where you play large Marvel heroes
At release, 6 heroes are available and some more have already been announced or leaked – so that’s a good start. Like Destiny, Marvel’s Avengers is also designed as a “games-as-a-service” title – so that holds true as well.
Check out the launch trailer here if you haven’t seen anything about the game yet:
Why loot brawler? The developers at “Crystal Dynamics” are walking the paths of great loot shooters with the new hero brawler.
Like in Destiny or The Division, you collect increasingly powerful gear in activities, eventually hit a level cap, and can specialize afterwards. The game offers a campaign, a multiplayer with many co-op missions, and wants to bring more and more content and improvements as a service game over the next few years.
How does it work? You fight your way from mission to mission, always on the hunt for the next powerful piece of gear, while improving your hero skills and thwarting the plans of evil super-villains. Marvel’s Avengers offers a fan-service campaign and a multiplayer mode, the “Avengers Initiative”.
At release, 6 superheroes are available, belonging to some of the most beloved and well-known Marvel heroes of all time:
- Black Widow
- Iron Man
- Hulk
- Thor
- Captain America
- Ms. Marvel
Each hero comes with unique abilities and talents. Even the movement across a large map looks different for the characters. Iron Man flies effortlessly through the air, Black Widow uses her grappling hook to pull herself up to reachable ledges, and Hulk simply jumps around. Here is an overview of all playable heroes.
The same applies to the brawling gameplay. Each release hero plays differently and also offers special specialization options. A developer explained in an interview with MeinMMO that even Hulk can be a ranged support if you use the right build.
In summary, Marvel’s Avengers is an action game that wants to score with the strong Marvel license and RPG elements.
Release smooths out many beta issues, but not all
Why do many see the beta as a failure? Marvel’s Avengers ran a beta phase over a few weekends, allowing interested players to access a stripped-down version of the game. However, the first impression of the game from many testers was devastating. Almost everything was criticized:
- Inaccurate combat system
- Insufficient graphics
- Unprecise controls
- Frustrating camera work
- Little gameplay variety
- Microtransactions
- Skill system not viable long-term
- Mission design
On top of that came the announcement of PlayStation-exclusive content, which was heavily criticized alongside the game itself. All this left a bad taste for many players and interested buyers.
Why that doesn’t matter anymore: If you’re interested in Marvel’s Avengers, don’t let the horror stories of the odd beta phase impress you. There was already a certain potential visible in the beta, and the release version is significantly better and can keep you engaged for countless hours. Some of the accusations also seemed exaggerated, while others remain an issue – like the PlayStation content.
The campaign, for example, is on a completely different level than the beta suggested. Some fans will enjoy the opportunity to guide one of their favorite heroes through an adventure and then continue to brawl for many more hours.
If you want to properly rate the game, set aside the information from the beta and take a closer look at the release content. Here is where Marvel’s Avengers really shows what it’s capable of.
Decent brawling fun for hours of effects fireworks
How does Marvel’s Avengers play? You rush through linear levels brawling with epic superheroes, getting better over time and all heroes play differently. The start, however, is sluggish.
Especially at the beginning, some of the criticisms of the beta stand out and you mindlessly brawl through the good-looking but boring levels with camera issues.
The equipment system feels out of place in the story too. While legendary gear promises great perks and bonuses, the next green piece with a higher power level quickly replaces the supposedly valuable golden chest armor.
This feels arbitrary, and after just a few missions, there’s a risk that the equipment system becomes a mere trivial matter, solely important for increasing the power level. Because it’s only when you reach the max level of 150 that the parts will benefit you for a longer period.
What are the good sides? Avengers really kicks off when the first boss fight comes. Here, you also have to brawl quite a bit, but without dodging, you’ll quickly find yourself on the ground. Game mechanics are therefore quite relevant.
After that, the difficulty level noticeably increases and demands more targeted approaches from you. This is where the combat system becomes really exciting and interesting. For the first time, you seriously consider how you want to develop your hero and choose new skills from the skill tree.
But fighting and playing itself is really fun. Even after several hours with Black Widow in multiplayer, there are still unknown attack combos, and when studying the skill tree, you quickly forget that you’re not the only one in the party. Here, Marvel’s Avengers plays its cards right, as a co-op game, it does a good job and brings a lot of action and hours of effect fireworks in the fights.
Multiplayer gives you plenty to do, but little variety
Most interesting for MMO players is of course the multiplayer mode, which takes place right after the events of the campaign. Here you can play co-op missions with your friends or, via matchmaking, also with strangers. Solo also works because you are always out and about in groups of four and any missing player is replaced by an NPC.
Marvel’s Avengers also borrows from loot shooters here. There are daily quests, factions that you can level up for better rewards, and mission series that continue the story. Everything revolves around improving your guardian, uh, hero.
What can the multiplayer do? The story of the “Avengers Initiative” lets you continue the fight against A.I.M., your villainous counterparts.
You have boss fights available and with increasing level and progress, more mission types will be added. Here’s an overview:
- Drop Zones – Small, quick missions with one objective
- War Zones – Somewhat larger missions, with multiple objectives
- Threat Sectors – Even larger missions than the War Zones
- Villain Sectors – Similar to War Zones with a boss fight at the end
- Stock Missions – Combat over 5 floors, with increasing difficulty each time
- Iconic Missions – Tasks that specifically suit a hero
- Bunker Missions – You search for a S.H.I.E.L.D. bunker for the multiplayer story
- Grouping Missions – Special tasks for the factions
- H.A.R.M. Missions – Tasks in the training room of the Helicarrier
- Secret Labs – Endgame challenge for 4 players
This allows you to unlock around 40 missions. However, many of these missions take place in the same locations, and the variation in missions is minimal.
Mission locations look strikingly similar. For example, if you have completed the two villain sectors with Abomination and Taskmaster in the “Pacific Northwest” area, it’s almost the same mission. Only the random side events and the boss fight at the end differ. Variation usually comes only from mission modifiers that increase projectile damage, cause certain enemy types to appear more/less frequently or change other minor aspects.
The story is currently the highlight of Marvel’s Avengers
Next up is the story of the campaign. If you don’t want to be spoiled, keep the box closed:
What is the campaign about?
In the story, you initially play Kamala Khan, a young Avengers fan girl who participates in a fan-fiction competition in San Francisco. Right from the start, Avengers is filled with fan service – as she starts at a celebration in honor of the Avengers. Bruce Banner wants to present a new reactor with scientist George Tarleton that could potentially provide endless clean energy.
The presentation is supposed to be postponed due to issues, but the villains have other plans. San Francisco is attacked, and in the tutorial, you prevent the complete destruction of the city. However, this was only a distraction to start the experimental reactor, which then causes devastation and deaths in the city. Additionally, the reactor’s radiation creates “Inhumans”. Regular humans suddenly develop superhero abilities, and some exploit their new powers without hesitation.
After a major uproar and 5 years later, the Avengers have disappeared from public view. In their place came the company “A.I.M.”, led by George Tarleton, who hunts everything super-hero-like and uses the Inhumans for his experiments.
We then play an adult Kamala Khan, who became a “polymorph” (stretchable body) due to the accident, who searches dubious websites for clues about the Avengers. Thanks to the ego of Tony Stark, she finds something, is quickly hunted by A.I.M., and begins her mission – to reunite the Avengers.
On this basis, the 6 heroes gradually come together and take on the task of stopping A.I.M. and restoring the Avengers’ reputation. In doing so, you switch regularly and play a different Avenger now and then – until the big, overwhelming finale.
What can the campaign do? Currently, this is definitely the highlight of the service title. The story is well-crafted, offers a lot of action, and presents a true Marvel story around the Avengers.
The creators play a lot with action scenes that shake up the regular perspective and distract from the constant, pure brawling. The characters tell a lot, there are a ton of comics to collect – that even give you gameplay advantages – and the story behind the campaign mostly makes sense. It all culminates in an amazing final boss fight.
Here’s a thumbs up. You can complete the campaign in 5 – 15 hours, depending on how much you engage in exploration and extra brawls in the missions. If you always go directly to the goal, you could finish in a long evening. If you occasionally take a few “question marks” or hidden bunkers in the mission areas, you will be a bit longer occupied.
What bothered me a bit were the sometimes poor audio mixing of the German voice acting. Tony Stark shouts his plan at you with full enthusiasm while the slightly depressed Bruce Banner whispers his opinion. Unfortunately, this took away some of the superhero coolness from certain scenes.
A few images and impressions of the story are provided by the story trailer:
The brawling rocks, but I miss the perspective of the future
What did you enjoy the most? The brawling and building the hero are the highlights for me. While I am not yet at the max level 150, I am already at power level 100 with Black Widow, where there is a kind of soft cap, and you have to play missions that are above your own level to proceed.
The hours of smack down work and wear off only slowly. Moreover, the heroes are so different from each other that playing the game with a new character still feels fresh and different. Marvel’s Avengers does this really well, and I am really looking forward to building my builds.
What was bad? As great as the variety is on the heroes’ side, it’s much smaller on the villains’ side. While there are almost 50 enemy types and many have their own tricks, seeing the same mission areas and completing objectives can become tiring. Here, I would have wished for a bit more variety.
Additionally, there were quite a few graphic glitches and performance issues on the PlayStation 4. Captain America makes strange faces with a skin, Ms. Marvel bugs with her arm in a previous mission phase and drags a long pixel sausage behind her, and NPC Thor looks anything but divine while flying. On the PlayStation 4, there are minor stutters when there’s a lot happening on the screen, and I even had a game crash during a big explosion. Otherwise, it runs stably.
Additionally, there were major connection issues in the co-op mode if one of the players hasn’t started the multiplayer “Avengers Initiative” yet. You can actually start co-op missions from the campaign or join multiplayer missions. If you want to save your nerves, you should avoid doing that.
I am particularly bothered by the currently uncertain outlook. A leak already spoke of a raid in Wakanda, but it is still unclear how Marvel’s Avengers will shine with replayability besides new heroes and gear. Here you will find a few things you should know before buying.
Strengths and weaknesses at release
Microtransactions are expensive – but you can unlock a lot
What about microtransactions? Like in many “games-as-a-service” titles, Marvel’s Avengers also offers a real money currency. For €4.99 you get 500 credits that you can spend on cosmetics. The most expensive items currently are legendary skins costing 1,400 credits. The developers have also announced that every new hero will come with a “challenge card”. A kind of battle pass, which is supposed to cost 1,000 credits.
The price for the cool extra skins is steep, but you also earn many skins by just playing. Even wild skins, like the Hulk in a black suit, can be unlocked without further investment. Additionally, the challenge cards of the 6 release heroes are free and provide a total of 1,300 credits per card. However, you need to play for quite a while to unlock them; they don’t just unlock instantly.
Overall, Marvel’s Avengers gives a fair impression. The things on the marketplace are rather expensive, but there are enough cosmetics and credits that you can earn without extra cash.
Who is Marvel’s Avengers interesting for?
First and foremost, definitely for Marvel fans. The game offers a lot of fan service, and especially if you enjoyed the Avengers combinations from the Marvel cinematic films, you will get the full dose of hero power here. Although the title does not play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), it is more oriented toward the well-known characters from film & television than based on a new development from a comic template. As in the cinema, the characters perform well in the game, and fans get what they are looking for.
Secondly, it appeals to players who enjoy brawling gameplay and can deal with the “games-as-a-service” concept. If you like the visuals of the game and are willing to engage with the idea that the title aims to evolve over the next few years, you won’t go wrong here. The loot brawler shows potential, though so far it’s only apparent in the heroes and equipment.
What you get at release and how things are supposed to evolve in the near future can be seen in the English “War Table” video on YouTube. The War Table is a regular stream where the developers keep players updated.
Marvel’s Avengers appeals to me – but I still don’t know what it wants to tell me…
I had a lot of fun with the brawl festival in the last few days, and the announcement that the title wants to bring new things over the years feels very positive to me. There are quite a few service games that have evolved into top games with user feedback and constant updates.
But the other side of the coin makes me worry. OK, a raid is coming, more missions, more heroes. But Marvel’s Avengers currently does not feel like a game that wants to offer its players much new, but rather more of the same.
Even now, you can easily sink 100 hours into it, because especially with friends, leveling up your heroes is fun and can keep you occupied for weeks – but for that, the gameplay would need to resonate with you strongly.
Now the developers are obliged to convey their vision for Marvel’s Avengers to us and to show what they want to do with the game. Until then, I remain skeptical and enjoy the brawl adventure as long as it still brings me joy.
Maik Schneider
Freelance author at MeinMMO
