In Marvel’s Avengers, you can soon let your fists fly with the world’s most famous superhero team. MeinMMO author Philipp Hansen has already played the beta and reports on what the game offers and why it has some serious action.
With Marvel’s Avengers, Disney and Square Enix aim to bring the blockbuster that has dominated cinema halls for the last decade to your home gaming screens. However, the title will not be a linear single-player adventure, but a true multiplayer co-op game.
Marvel’s Avengers is already being compared to MMO heavyweights like Destiny. While cooperative fighting and looting are clearly the focus, solo players will also be fully catered to and not at a disadvantage.
I had the opportunity to get a first impression of Marvel’s Avengers for MeinMMO and was allowed to play the beta in advance. I spent about 3 hours playing on the PS4.
When you can get your hands on the beta yourself and what you need to consider is summarized here for you:
What’s Inside the Beta of Marvel’s Avengers
So cinematic is the start: The beta begins with the well-known A-Day from trailers and events. During this celebration in honor of the Avengers, everything goes wrong and forms the basis of the story.
San Francisco is attacked by terrorists, and we alternately play the well-known big screen and comic characters. It quickly becomes apparent that the heroes all have different gameplay:
- Iron Man can fly and uses his heavily armed suit for ranged attacks
- The Hulk throws boulders, jumps over chasms, and pushes off walls parkour-style
- Black Widow relies on a grappling hook and pistols
- Captain America can throw and bounce his shield while executing acrobatic feats
- Thor and especially his hammer Mjölnir unleash a storm upon enemies
- The Nordic god of thunder has already won my heart, as after throwing his hammer you can call the weapon back at the push of a button – the return flight is accompanied by a “clang” sound and will never get boring for me
This first mission basically serves to familiarize you briefly with the heroes and introduces mechanics like dodging in a boss fight. This feels very smooth and is accompanied by a mini-slow-motion effect – also something that will never get old for me.
Ultimately, the operation goes off the rails. The Avengers must take responsibility for the destruction of San Francisco and are publicly banned. Five years later, the actual game begins.
Ms. Marvel Steals the Show in the Beta
Continuing with this heroine: The first mission is still heavily scripted, allowing the heroes to move only on very narrow paths, but Marvel’s Avengers quickly opens up. You will experience the next steps of the adventure in the stretchy skin of Ms. Marvel.
Here, we do not take on the better-known cinematic version (Marvel Cinematic Universe), but Kamala Khan, a stretchy person. At first, I had to yawn when confronted with her elastic abilities, but the enormous distance of her attacks and especially her character are just fun:
- The quirky teenager is a huge Avengers fan herself and was endowed with superpowers due to the fiasco of the first mission.
- Through her fangirl eyes, players who are not familiar with the material are super introduced into the Marvel cosmos. For example, she inspects well-known relics from the films with believable interest and engages known characters in funny dialogues.
- I could hardly believe that Ms. Marvel would bring me so much joy. Her cinematic version, here as Captain Marvel, is among my least favorite Marvel heroes. That is also because Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) has a stony face and comes off as completely unapproachable.
If you searched an old lab complex together with the Hulk and let loose in a training room, Avengers gives you the choice. You then have access to the War Table – here you select missions and immerse yourself in the MMO world.
From now on, you can in the beta:
- Advance the story (The beta offers a total of 4 so-called hero missions)
- Take on 3 challenges in the HARM Room – behind this is the virtual training room where you practice combos and mechanics against waves of simulated enemies
- 4 War Zones – You will be dropped into an area with your team or AI support and can really unleash chaos – These multiplayer missions in the beta take you into a city, laboratories, a snow area, and a forest
- 5 Drop Zones – Similar to War Zones, but you must complete a specific objective (for example, take out a powerful enemy)
You can tackle these tasks with Iron Man, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Ms. Marvel. In the final game, Captain America and Thor will also be available. More heroes are also expected to expand the roster after launch:
Gameplay in the MMO World
This is how a mission plays out: You choose your hero at the War Table, check if you are equipped with a cool emblem or a stylish skin to show off, and start the adventure with friends. During my beta outing, there was still no automatic player search, but gaming via invitation already worked.
Upon arriving in the relatively open world, the Jarvis known from the films guides you. The friendly AI draws your attention to secrets and can show you the way to the next objective if needed.
Scattered or hidden everywhere, you’ll find chests containing loot or resources for upgrades. In missions, you will find optional paths and entire legions of enemies. You can move on foot or, depending on your hero, swing over platforms and rooftops – Ms. Marvel uses her stretchy arm like Spider-Man uses his webs.
Time and again, you will collectively encounter mini-bosses and have to conquer certain areas and protect them from enemy takeovers. Alternatively, you can open hidden caches, usually via simple switch puzzles. If you fall, your teammates can revive you.
When bosses or mini-bosses stand in your way, Marvel’s Avengers showcases its strengths.
The Combat System Packs a Punch
This is why the battles are so much fun: In combat, you rely heavily on melee attacks. And they feel really powerful. The hit feedback and the solid sound design are truly impressive.
In battle, you can then dodge enemies with rolls – similar to the “Batman Arkham” games. You can also counter enemy attacks and go for a devastating counterattack if you parry in time.
Only some ranged attacks feel a bit clunky and are currently still unwieldy. When Hulk throws a boulder, it takes a moment and the aiming doesn’t go smoothly for me.
The Hero Abilities Rock: For me, the biggest highlight are the abilities of the different heroes.
- The Hulk uses his smash or slaps his hands together with such force that the shockwave knocks everything around.
- Iron Man uses his repulsors for ranged attacks and can, when it gets tough, fire a devastating laser from his arc reactor.
Each hero has access to 3 such special abilities in combat. Especially when multiple players unleash their abilities at the same time, it results in a real fireworks display of effects. It’s a shame that the abilities charge quite slowly; hopefully this will be adjusted before the final version.
This is complemented by the fact that each hero has an individual focus bar available. This fills up through attacks and allows the Hulk to heal and take more damage. Ms. Marvel briefly gets larger and deals heavier blows.
What About Skills and Loot?
This is how you learn new skills: Through experience points, you level up skill trees and build your individual killing machine. You can choose, for example, whether you can break through enemy blocks better, deal more damage, or learn a new combo attack.
You will also urgently need the improved abilities. Some enemies could really pressure me in the beta and could only be defeated with certain combos.
This is what we know about loot: What motivates an MMO player the most? Exactly, loot! You can find it everywhere in the missions, and it affects your attributes. This includes skill cooldown rates as well as your resistances.
The equipment comes with the typical color scheme (for example, white for “normal” or green for “rare”) and has better values at higher levels.
Your equipment level also determines how difficult missions are. At the start of a mission, a level is displayed, so you can see how hard or easy the task will be for you. Additionally, there are modifiers that you can also prepare for with your equipment – In the snow level, for example, ice abilities are warned of, which will slow you down if you do not have elemental resistances.
I’m really looking forward to seeing more of Marvel’s Avengers because I want to finally start with my favorite hero Thor and see what kind of effect fireworks the hammer-swinger can unleash on my enemies.
Which hero are you most excited about and which comic villain have you always wanted to challenge to a dance?
What does the endgame in Marvel’s Avengers look like? We asked the developers.
