Marvel's Avengers review
Over the past 10 years, Stan Lee's superheroes have kept millions of fans company. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and his companions have in fact appeared on the maxi-screens of every cinema on the planet with intense and spectacular adventures.
We thus learned to know and appreciate them but now the time has come to impersonate them thanks to Marvel’s Avengers, the latest video game by Crystal Dynamics.
The Redwood City (California) development studio has taken on one of the most interesting challenges of recent years: bringing Marvel superheroes to gaming platforms, freeing themselves from what they have seen in the cinema and offering fans a story that could truly satisfy them. The result isn't perfect but we really enjoyed the game experience. We explain everything to you in this review.
An exciting narrative ...
If there's one thing we've always loved about Stan Lee's characters it's their humanity. Their being invincible on the outside does not automatically make them invincible on the inside. Marvel heroes are subject to the weaknesses and emotions typical of every human being: they can be insecure, angry, heartbroken, and devastated by failure. And no, it's not always enough to dig to find the strength to get up. Sometimes you need someone to help you.
The "someone" in this case is Kamala khan, in art Miss Marvel.
Kamala is the real protagonist of the story. After the A-Day disaster, which devastated the city of San Francisco, she condemned Cap and gave birth to the Inhumans, the Avengers disappear. Accused of being real threats to public safety, the superheroes disappear from circulation and leave the field free AIM (Advanced Mechanical Ideas) by George Tarleton.
The latter seems determined to cure the inhumans, people who have come into contact with the Terrigen and have developed particular powers. The cost to pay, however, seems very high and Kamala, who became inhuman during A-Day, is not willing to give up or be captured. She decides to go on a journey to reunite the Avengers.
Start like this an adventure that will allow us to reunite the gang. Don't expect anything too complicated though. The narrative proceeds very linearly but will never be boring. On the contrary, you will find therea funny, exciting and, at times, unpredictable story.
… But not all characters have the same weight
To make the narrative sector compelling are then the protagonists of Marvel's Avengers. Crystal Dynamics tried to give these supernatural beings a soul, a personality. We thus witness their inner torments, their doubts, their fears and their insecurities. We are there when they rejoice and when they are destroyed by pain. Probably this thickness is one of the key elements of the game, aeven if it doesn't involve all the characters equally.
Thanks to the rather short duration of the campaign (about 10-12 hours) and the narrative structure, based precisely on the gradual addition of new Avengers, we find ourselves with very detailed characters and others a little more stereotyped. We remind you, however, that this is just the beginning: the developers have promised constant updates and new adventures, which could give the protagonists the opportunity to tell themselves more incisively. What is certain is that all the protagonists are able to walk on their own legs despite being so different from their cinematic counterparts. In a few minutes you will therefore forget the face of Chris Evans & Co to make room for the videogame versions of the Avengers.
Instead, the antagonists remain disappointing. Some appear for a few minutes while the story of MODOK, the super villain of this story, is told in a rather superficial way, leaving us a few questions too many. Such a pity.
Marvel's Avengers - Day-One Limited - PlayStation 4
- Play an original story about Avengers: Marvel's Avengers is an interpretation of these iconic superheroes, including ...
- Unleash your powers: Unlock fearsome abilities and new gear to create your very own version of the most ...
- Join Online: Up to four players can join online to defend the earth from ever-growing threats
Marvel's Avengers review: a little bit online, a little bit offline
Marvel's Avengers cannot be entered in just one category. There are action game elements, beat'em up mechanics, and RPG elements. All this amplified to the maximum by the possibility of control not one but six different heroes, each with different powers and abilities.
But let's take a step back.
You will spend the first few hours in the company of Kamala and with her you will learn to fight using a series of extremely basic blows. Things will then get more interesting. The game allows you to unlock a variety of skills that will make your attacks more complex, lethal and choreographic and more you can upgrade your equipment using the materials scattered around the different maps.
Marvel's Avengers in fact is based on the use of a central hub, governed by good old Jarvis, from which you can select the missions to be carried out. You will find several of them and not all of them related to the main story. Some in fact do not serve to progress in the narrative but only to unlock skills or find useful resources to enhance your characters. Yes, in the plural. As the Avengers join Kamala it will be possible to control them, access their skill tree or simply change their appearance using the numerous skin available.
You can then create and adapt your team to the style of play that sets you apart, both during the campaign and in multiplayer.
The latter is, in our opinion, the weakest element of the game. On the one hand, in factAvengers Initiative, this is the name of the online mode, it projects you into the future by making all the Avengers and a multitude of missions available to you right away, on the other hand, however, it is a bit limited. The tasks to be completed bring us back to the same maps seen in the main campaign and, after a few hours, they tend to become a little repetitive.
The only breath of enthusiasm will be brought by friends with whom you decide to share the experience. The multiplayer in fact supports a maximum of 4 players, so you can tackle the different missions in the company of a proven team or, alternatively, rely on matchmaking. There is also a third possibility: playing alone. Yes, you got it right. You don't have to share Avengers Initiative tasks - you can use 3 bots that will take care of you throughout the mission.
Through thick and thin
The glance is remarkable. Hero models and animations are surprisingly curated, the game environments are diverse and rich in detail and the cinematics are worthy of the best action movies.
However, a couple of hours of gameplay will be enough to start noticing the problems that plague Marvel's Avengers. Let's start with drop in frame rates to get to bugs and glitches that could have been avoided with a few more weeks of work. Really annoying then chamber instability, which occasionally whirls around on itself destabilizing you during the fighting.
All this is then accompanied by a really important workload for the console. Our PlayStation 4 got very loud during gaming sessions.
We also have obvious problems on the audio front. There are dialogues a little in Italian and a little in English, there are characters who speak without moving their mouths or, on the contrary, who move their mouths but without associated audio. In short, even here the work turned out to be a bit superficial but there is really nothing that cannot be solved with a little good will and a few updates.
Marvel's Avengers review: buy it or not?
Marvel's Avengers it has obvious technical problems and an online mode that is not totally convincing at the moment but can count on a compelling story, stimulating gameplay and obviously on the indomitable Avengers.
With a few updates and new content it could really turn into a success.
Marvel's Avengers
Pro 
- Original story
- Rather in-depth characters
- Fun gameplay
- Manicured models
Cons 
- A few too many technical problems
- Not very varied multiplayer mode
