Summary
Somewhere along the way,Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxyunderperformed despite a huge outcry of players claiming to have adored it. Its story was bolstered by similar beats and comedy found in theMCU’s own iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy—for better or for worse—but its gameplay being a point of contention is also valid since it was largely on-rails and had repetitive combat.
Playing purely as Star-Lord was a fair choice, for instance, but reduced an ensemble into an individual and arguably lacked adequate interactivity for the other four Guardians in the meantime. Again,Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxytaking aMass Effect-liteapproach was commendable, but a spiritual successor or sequel could find far more fluidity and engagement in a full party system taking advantage of iconic turn-based RPG mechanics.
Star-Lord as a Sole Protagonist Needed to Have Engaging Gameplay
Guardians of the Galaxy May Be Inseparable from Its MCU Branding
Star-Lord may be a fine protagonist when the likes of Chris Pratt are portraying him, butMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’s iteration falls short and doesn’t quite know how to be unique enough to have him seem authentic. Overall the portrayal ofMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy’s Peter Quilland every other Guardian was fine, but they never truly get out from under the shadows of their individual MCU counterparts.
That’s a recurring issue that the game has—relying a little too much on what made the group popular in the first place, which arguably does it no favors when going in the opposite direction of each character could’ve made it stand out. Regardless, Star-Lord being the sole playable protagonist then tasks him with an unenviable role inMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Because he’s an ordinary human with dual blasters and boot jets there isn’t a whole lot players have in the way of a mechanically diverse character, and controlling the other Guardians in combat is as uninvolved and ungratifying as spamming buttons once one character’s ability is free from a cooldown window. If the other Guardians had more interactivity then it could’ve been excusable that Star-Lord was their leader and that’s whya turn-basedGuardians of the GalaxyRPGwould be a no-brainer.
A Turn-Based Guardians of the Galaxy Could Let Every Character Flourish
The beauty of a turn-based RPG is it allows for each character available in an ensemble to thrive and get all the time in the world to be independently developed.Persona 3 Reload’s phenomenal SEES ensembleis only the latest example, fleshing out a handful of companions while the protagonist avatar is a vessel for the player more or less.
Star-Lord couldn’t be back-burned entirely, but seeing a Guardians of the Galaxy story that finally doesn’t pedestal Peter over others would be spectacular. Gamora, Groot, Drax, and Rocket all deserve as much attention to detail in gameplay as they had in the story, and a turn-based RPG could give them each abilities, gear, weapons, and more that create particular play styles and affinities in combat.
Why a New Guardians of the Galaxy Game is Unlikely
Unfortunately, becauseMarvel’s Guardians of the Galaxyapparently wasn’t the hit that it needed to be and the MCU has recently disbanded its popular iteration of the squad, there is a high unlikelihood that the team will be given another opportunity in a standalone game for the foreseeable future.
Guardians may continue to appear in various quantities in other ensemble Marvel games, and hopefully they do since Groot and Rocket would makeexcellent roommates in aMarvel’s Midnight Suns 2. Still, a full-fledged turn-based RPG for the Guardians of the Galaxy alone is deserved.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
WHERE TO PLAY
Fire up a wild ride across the cosmos with a fresh take on Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. In this third-person action-adventure game, you are Star-Lord, and thanks to your bold yet questionable leadership, you have persuaded an oddball crew of unlikely heroes to join you. Some jerk (surely not you) has set off a chain of catastrophic events, and only you can hold the unpredictable Guardians together long enough to fight off total interplanetary meltdown.Use Element Blasters, tag-team beat downs, jet boot-powered dropkicks, nothing’s off-limits. If you think it’s all going to plan, you’re in for a world of surprises, with the consequences of your actions guaranteed to keep the Guardians on their toes.In this original Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy story, you’ll cross paths with powerful new beings and unique takes on iconic characters, all caught in a struggle for the galaxy’s fate. It’s time to show the universe what you’re made of. You got this. Probably.
