Square Enix’s Guardians of the Galaxy came as a surprise when it was revealed during the company’s E3 showcase. Unlike Square Enix’s Avengers title, Guardians of the Galaxy is a single-player experience, so there’s no microtransactions, loot boxes, or any of that multiplayer silliness. This PC game delivers exciting combat mechanics and heartfelt character moments. If our hands-on time with a preview build is any indication, Guardians of the Galaxy will be a rockin’ good time when it hits PC and consoles on October 26, 2021.
Personalities and Puzzles
Our demo took place roughly four hours into the game, and provided an overview of the gameplay, combat mechanics, and story. Peter Quill and the rest of the Guardians got themselves into trouble during the introductory hours, and must pay off a fine to the Nova Corps. Onboard the starship Milano, you’ll get the chance to converse with your crew. Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, and Groot hang out either in their personal quarters or in different parts of the ship. Through these interactions, you’ll learn more about the team. The Guardians of the Galaxy films are as much about characterization as they’re about space battles. As a result, it’s great that the game gives you moments where you can chop it up with the crew.
Upon landing at The Rock, the Nova Corps station, it’s clear that something is amiss. The station is as dead as a cemetery, with no one in sight. Peter and the crew go to the reception area to find answers, but none of the kiosks or doors work due to a lack of power. Restoring power to this area requires completing a mini-game where you connect different power conduits to open different doors. Using his visor’s built-in sensors, Peter can easily see the conduits underneath the floor and walls. It’s a simple, satisfying puzzle to complete.
This segment highlights the game’s cooperative elements. For example, Peter must shoot the cover off a vent so Rocket can crawl through and reach a distant control panel. You issue commands or engage in conversations with the Guardians by bringing up a small selection wheel. Each character has something unique to say depending on your current location, so it’s best to frequently chat with them via this selection wheel. The interactions prove helpful when you’re unsure where to go or need assistance in solving a puzzle. If that fails, Peter’s visor places a waypoint to your objective.
Galaxy Fight
Eventually, you run into hostile Nova Corps that are caught in a trace and ready to fight. The combat sequences are fast, frantic, and ever-evolving. As Peter Quill, you take down foes with a combination of melee and weapon attacks. Your handguns are especially useful, as they fire elemental shots. Freezing foes with ice blasts and shattering them to pieces with a spin kick is immensely satisfying. Issuing commands to the team makes them unleash their special abilities (which have a cooldown period). Smart use of the team’s skills can make short work of the toughest enemy mobs.
Each Guardian has a different specialty that, when combined with other specialty moves, creates devastating attacks. For example, Groot can immobilize a foe so that Gamora can deliver a brutal finishing blow. Drax can stagger multiple enemies that Rocket can destroy with his area-of-effect attacks. While that’s happening, Peter exploits enemy weaknesses with his elemental ordinance. You’ll unlock deadlier attacks later in the game, giving you numerous ways to murder baddies.
As the team continues battling their way across the station to reach the Milano, they come upon different infected Nova Corps variants. Big brutes have high defense, move fast, and unleash destructive energy attacks; grenadiers chuck explosives at you from afar. You’ll need to think and move fast to deal with these variants, as well as the grunts accompanying them.
Hope isn’t lost when the tide of battle shifts against you. As you fight, a “huddle gauge” fills. When it’s maxed out, you can gather the team around you. You can either cheer them up when things are going bad or calm them down when they’re too overconfident. You’ll know their mental state by what they say. Successfully cheering or calming the Guardians grants a team-wide attack boost. Unsuccessful attempts only result in Peter gaining the attack bonus. Huddling also revives downed squad members. It’s a handy mechanic to use when things go sideways.
You’ll find crafting benches within levels and on the Milano. If you have the requisite items (found scattered across the environments), Rocket builds equipment, including gear that quickly regenerates shields and reduces weapon cooldowns. Crafting isn’t a mandatory gameplay element, so you’re free to go through the entire game without doing it. That said, the small bonuses gained from crafting prove useful, so it’s wise to at least pick up whatever crafting items you find along your path.
Magical Sound Shower
Music plays a large role in pulling you into Guardians of the Galaxy’s world. You’ll hear blaring heavy metal and hard rock tunes, but other musical themes serve to create a sense of wonder and mystery. The demo’s music has an ominous quality that builds as you delve deeper into the Nova Corps station, reaching a roaring crescendo when you face the infected Nova Corps officers.
In addition, there are many tracks from an in-game band called “Star-Lord” (the inspiration for Peter Quill’s codename). What’s fun about this fake band is that its lead singer is Eidos-Montreal Senior Audio Director Steve Szczepkowski (who is a huge heavy metal fan). Songs like “No Guts, No Glory” and “Ghost” sound like tracks from Dokken or Ratt. There’s plenty of licensed music, too. Flying across the galaxy while blasting Iron Maiden’s “Where Eagles Dare” gets the blood pumping.
After making their way past waves of crazed Nova Corps officers, the Guardians arrive at the station’s docking bay to board the Milano. Peter must destroy four docking clamps holding the ship in place, while also fending off enemy waves. It’s a thrilling moment. The demo ends with the Guardians jumping aboard the Milano and going somewhere less hostile. This sets the stage for the larger threat you’ll contend with for the rest of the adventure.
We don’t have any major complaints about the demo; the combat, puzzles, and character interactions are highly entertaining. That said, we can’t overlook some of the questionable character designs. Groot, Rocket Racoon, and Drax the Destroyer look fine, but Peter and Gamora don’t resemble their MCU or comic book counterparts. In fact, Peter Quill looks like a random Twitch streamer. This was also a complaint that many people had with Square Enix’s Avengers game, too. The Guardians’ costumes look spectacular, and make the characters instantly identifiable. It just would’ve been nice if faces looked as good.
Are You Ready to Rock the Galaxy?
Guardians of the Galaxy’s PC requirements have not been revealed at the time of this writing. This is conjecture on our part, but considering that this game is coming to Nintendo Switch (as a streaming cloud game) and last-gen consoles, it shouldn’t command high-end specs.
If our one-hour demo is anything to go by, Guardians of the Galaxy is poised to be the kind of action-adventure game people expected from Avengers. The characters are cool, the combat is engaging, and the space setting urges you to explore every corner. With an October 26, 2021 release date, it won’t be long until we know if Guardians of the Galaxy delivers the goods.
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