Marvel’s Avengers Gameplay Revealed At Gamescom, And It Still Looks Concerning

    Square Enix has revealed our first look at the gameplay for Marvel's Avengers during Gamescom. Here's what we learned from it.

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    Marvel's Avengers gameplay
    Marvel's Avengers gameplay

    Square Enix has finally revealed gameplay for their upcoming Avengers game at Gamescom. And while fans should rejoice in the fact that we’re finally getting to see some actual gameplay, it does look a bit troublesome.

    With the game still in development, I won’t comment on the performance or the graphical assets as they’ll surely be improved as the release date nears. I do however have some issues with the actual gameplay that was revealed in the footage below.

    The gameplay that was released online is an extended section of the first trailer, fully showcasing the bridge sequence. Now, I don’t have any problems with the character designs, unlike how most of the internet feels. I think it’s great that Crystal Dynamics/Eidos Montreal is going for original looks when it comes to those. What I am concerned about is the gameplay itself.

    Remember The Incredible Hulk? Not the movie, but the game that was based on it. That’s how the gameplay here looks like, and I’m not just talking about Hulk’s section. The entire sequence reminds me of Uncharted, and not in the best ways. It’s very linear and very cinematic, of which the former doesn’t really suit a game with the word “Avengers” in its title. Recent years have shown us that superhero games can be great. Just take last year’s PS4 exclusive Spider-Man. A big open world with a vibrant color palette and awesome gameplay that compliments the character’s abilities. Or take the Arkham series for that matter.

    Captain America in Marvel's Avengers
    Captain America in Marvel’s Avengers

    The Avengers’ gameplay just feels so..stiff. It’s nice to see the developers taking a note from last year’s God of War (Thor’s combat section), but they seem to have forgotten about adding inappropriate weight to the characters. The Hulk feels too slow, Iron Man’s combat reminds us of Anthem in the worst ways, and Black Widow’s move set feels a tad bit too repetitive. As for Captain America, his gameplay gives me hope. Awesome takedowns, great shield combat, and every hit actually feels like he’s fighting tough people and not just dumb enemies with bad AI. Which is what it should be like for all the characters in the first place.

    The gameplay reveal comes after much anticipation from fans of the franchise, especially those of the MCU. After the first reveal where most people were disappointed with the characters not resembling their big-screen counterparts, the developers went back to the drawing board to refine the same. And it shows in the gameplay footage. The current character designs are, while subtle, much better looking than some which were revealed earlier. Now, if only they focused more on the gameplay…

    Marvel's Avengers | Square Enix
    Iron Man in Marvel’s Avengers | Square Enix

    Am I nitpicking here? Probably. But as a fan of these characters I want them to deserve the best gameplay assigned to them, that’s possible. Does it need to be open-world? Not necessarily. Does it need to be better than an arena-based fighting game? Yes, absolutely.

    You can check out more details regarding Marvel’s Avengers here.

    1 COMMENT

    1. It looked great. We already have too many open world games and Sony is giving us almost same third person open world games these days. I would be glad to play a a 15 hour long uncharted-isque semi linear story focused game with my favorite marvel characters.

      This demo was great , If crystal dynamics gives little RPG elements like in tomb raider for each character .This will be great .

      and for the avengers itself, they r not like spiderman , batman or green arrow who protect their home city. I will be pissed of send avengers to best the thugs on street or catch the drone like in recent spiderman games. It made sense for spidey, but a pure openworld for avengers doesn’t make sense

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