ACTION-ADVENTURE - Magus is accidentally unleashed and threatens to consume the galaxy. It is up to the Guardians to save the day!

PROS:

++ The Guardians of the Galaxy. I was not really that familiar with the Guardians prior to this game. But after playing this, I fell in love with this rag-tag group of imperfect heroes. Their dynamic and interactions with each other was entertaining. And their personalities were so loveable and charming. Seriously, I love all of them and would pay to play a sequel ASAP just to play with them more! And I like that all of them had their moments in the spotlight, and that the focus wasn't placed on just one or two members.

++ Great humour. I know some may not like this game's humour, but I personally found it incredibly funny! I was laughing, smiling, and giggling, for the majority of the 18-hour campaign, which is very rare for me.

++ Impressive visuals. The game looks exceptional. Some of the planets you get to visit, and the sights you'll see, are so vibrant and jaw-dropping.

++ Narrative. The narrative allowed for some really emotional moments with the Guardians, and made me emotional too. The theme of the story is letting go of the past which I think just hit home for me, because there are things in my past that I've held on to.

++ Side characters. Warlock, Mantis, Cosmo, Nicki and her mother Kor-El, and Lady Hellbender were all entertaining side characters.

++ Mood lightener. Simply put, the game made me happy when I played it. The jokes made me laugh. The characters made me laugh. The soundtrack gave positive vibes. The combat (though basic) made me gleam with joy, especially after a good ol' team huddle. If you want to lighten your mood, play this!

CONS:

-- Basic combat. The combat was a bit too basic for my liking. Peter Quill's blasters felt lackluster (his mobility was good though) and there were no other weapons to use, besides different ammo types that are not that necessary in combat. You get control over the 4 Guardians members' powers and it's quite fun, but the enemies don't pose much of a threat so it becomes mindless after a while.

-- Enemies. Yes, there are different enemy types but none of them really require unique tactics & skill combinations to beat.

-- Trivial puzzles. The environmental puzzles were wayyyy too easy. They required no thought to solve.

-- Overly linear. This is one of those games that I think would have benefited if it was slightly more open in its level design. There are side paths to go through that reward you with outfits and resources, but I wish there were more meaningful side content.

-- Overlapping audio lines.

Guardians of the Galaxy leffat ovat mielestäni yksiä parhaita MCU-leffoja ja ehkä jopa yksiä parhaita scifi-leffoja ylipäätään. Hahmojen dynamiikka ja näyttelijävalinnat leffoissa ovat olleet todella onnistuneet, joten olisi voinut kuvitella, että pienemmällä näyttelijäbudjetilla pelissä ei voitaisi päästä samanlaiseen lopputulokseen. Mutta kuinka väärässä olinkaan. Koko viisikko Star-Lord, Rocket, Gamora, Drax ja Groot tuovat hahmot hyvin samanlaisina pelimaailmaan, mutta dynamiikka ja huumori hahmojen välillä toimii leffojakin paremmin. Erityisesti Draxin lakoniset letkautukset ovat vain puhdasta timanttia, ja Rocketin ja Star-Lordin ainainen kinailu kaikista mahdollisista asioista nostaa hymyn huulille joka kerta.

Tarina on todella hyvä ja pelin pituus juuri sopiva. Peli ei missään kohtaa tuntunut raahaavan ja sen rytmitys oli juuri täydellinen. Oli todella virkistävää, kun joku vielä nykyajan avoimen maailman hömpötyksen aikana tekee ihan rehellisen putkijuoksun, jossa ei oikeasti voi eksyä, vaikka haluaisi.

Tarinan ja hahmojen lisäksi yksi suurimmista pelin koukuista on sen mahtava soundtrack. Sitä ei vain voi olla virnistämättä, kun kunnon kasarirockki lähtee soimaan ja saa läimiä pahiksia menemään. Peliä varten on tehty myös levyllinen uutta kasarirockkia, joka sekin maistuu yllättävän hyvältä. Jos olet kasarirockin ystävä, pelkästään jo sen takia voisin suositella pelaamaan tätä peliä.

Taistelu vaikuttaa ensin alkuun ihan mielenkiintoiselta, mutta pitemmän päälle taistelut alkavat toistamaan itseään ja yhtään vaikeammilla vaikeusasteilla viholliset ottavat aivan liikaa iskuja vastaan. Taistelun toistavuus on oikeastaan ainoa syy, miksi en antanut tälle pelille viittä tähteä. Se ei vain ollut enää kovin hauskaa loppupuolella. Muutin lopulta pelin vaikeusasteen helpoimmalle ja sen avulla pelaaminen tuntui oikeasti supersankarimaiselta ja se mukavasti nopeutti peliä.

Kaiken kaikkiaan tämä oli loistava kokemus mahtavalla teemalla. Toivottavasti vastaavia vähän pienempiä ja tiukempia kokemuksia tulee jatkossakin markkinoille isojen avoimen maailman pelien lisäksi ja mieluusti ottaisin jatkoa myös tälle pelisarjalle.

Kiitettävä 4/5

This game is very broken. I encountered at least one bug every 30 minutes while playing, most of them minor, others not so much. The perks system uses crafting mechanics that "feeling tacked on" doesn't even begin to describe, being done with them before even halfway through the game. The combat makes a lower percentage of the game than it's usually the case with this "style", and sometimes fights can be over in seconds.

So why is this my Goty and one of my new favorites?

Plainly put, the narrative is the most fun I've had following a game's "traditional" story in years. These are my favorite versions of these characters hands down, and all of them get their time to shine and develop. There's literally uncountable dialogues and banter to have between the members, and for once I never wanted to miss it. It's so much that sometimes you have to stop walking just so you don't cut a conversation before it's over, they make it feel natural and enjoyable, whether you get a prompt to participate and a dialogue choice or not.

And the narrative, in a move that feels completely alien to AAA games, specially with Square Enix as the publisher, actually affects the gameplay. Characters being angry with you might mean having to ask favors of them a couple times, with context relevant commentary from the group for those situations, or a choice you make might mean one of the guardians leaves the group for a noticeable amount of time. Situations that lack any level of "action" are played through with you at the controller, like trying to get through to a collapse Nova Corps phone number, with your companions shouting suggestions and even trying to sneak a hand in the menu to press options themselves (if you are not fast enough to swat them away)

Small moments like this that play with your expectations of this kind of title, and more conventional combat-less narrative sections were extremely effective with me, and as someone who was getting a bit tired with "prestige games" style gameplay... it was a surprise.

All of this is not to say that the combat is bad, or that I wish there was less of it, not at all! Combat is not very balanced or challenging (in the normal difficulty setting) but what it is is FUN. Setting up the different guardian's special abilities to make victories look cool, rather than just getting through them, became something I was actually invested in. There is a mechanic called Huddle, where you call for your teammates to huddle around you and hear them tell you how they're doing. Maybe they are scared, maybe they are having a blast... Whatever the case, you get 2 options to choose from to rally them up with a speech. It works like Monkey Island insult swordfighting did, one option is the correct one, and the other is the answer to a different situation just like this one. So over time you start to pick up which options fit to which mental states of your crew (I just wish there was more variety here) and then... Licensed music comes in.

This will change person to person, but the classic rock from the real world soundtrack that star-lord carries around made every situation where they used it 10x better for me. After you perform a Huddle, he will play his music from that moment until the fight ends, so you might get back to blasting enemies, full ability cooldowns refreshed for everyone, and "We built this city" blasting on... And I loved it every time. I even loved it when the song that played was "Wake me up before you go-go" by Wham, and I genuinely laughed out loud while I wished for the fight to go long so the song could play fully.

All in all, I'm in quite a dark place at the moment in my life, and maybe on a different time I wouldn't overlook the many flaws of this game like I do now. But I think it's easy to identify how most of those flaws are a product of the awful publisher the game has in Square Enix. Crunch, tacked on crafting, not enough QA... The fact that this AAA licensed game based on a comic made famous by the Marvel movies managed to focus on what's important and deliver an interesting game with great writing and a style to call its own... It's nothing short of a miracle.

And I didn't even mention how much comic weirdness they were able to adapt in a satisfying way! I really wish it wasn't Square Enix publishing this, but I feel like I have to be grateful it doesn't have microtransactions, multiplayer, NFTs... or whatever the fuck.