Marvel’s Avengers is coming out next month but has ruffled the feathers of more than a few fans recently on the back of claims of PlayStation 4 owners receiving Spider-Man (and only PlayStation 4 owners will play that hero) along with exclusive first-access to emotes and skins, along with community challenges.
If it’s supposed to make people want to purchase a PlayStation (in the same manner of getting to your rear around your elbow), it wildly missed its mark; the only remaining question is how much the gameplay offers.
If it’s a stunning title that is the next-generation of action-adventure, people might be sore but they’ll still grit their teeth and play; conversely, if it’s a lackluster experience, everyone can safely skip the title without buckling under the pressure of Square Enix.
After all, as much as it is Square Enix’ right to offer exclusive access and goodies to a specific console, it’s also the right of consumers to skip the title entirely. The title is currently in a closed beta, and BikeMan on Twitch has taken the Friday evening as an opportunity to stream the gameplay that it offers.
First, it’s a beta, so we’re going to bypass the consistent framerate issues on the PlayStation 4 Pro, texture loading, bugged menus, struggles to join friends (in a multiplayer-focused beta), laughable dialogue, obscene loading times, and the myriad of subtitle bugs that users are currently experiencing.
The actual gameplay is what matters; the underlying meat and potatoes that are dressed up to contain the core gameplay loop, and it frankly is a meager offering at best.
If you’ve played action-adventure games in the past, you’ve experienced what Marvel’s Avengers contains; waves of enemies, villains with next to no motive or underlying desire aside from needing a villain, and mashing buttons until you’re allowed to run along the linear path to the next group of bad guys. In areas that are more open, it’s only punctuated by additional enemy groups and the occasional box that you can break open to get additional resources.
Add in some superhero latex, and that is the entire summary of Marvel’s Avengers. BikeMan stated that it currently ‘feels like a triple-A title that will be forgotten in a week’.
Much akin to the curse of Star Wars, the only actual merit is that you can play as your favorite superhero as you’re mashing the button infinitely until bad guys go away. There is, at 2 and a half hours in, absolutely nothing from this title aside from standard action button pressing with a modicum of QTE’s.
The younger fans will likely enjoy the ability to live their fantasies and will be able to look past the unvarnished dialogue and repetitive gameplay, but it’s unlikely that there’s enough time for Crystal Dynamics/Eidos to take the entirety of the title back to square one and figure out some form of gameplay that continues to encourage and reward beyond playing as The Incredible Hulk and needing to punch a guy six times in the face for him to finally go away. Because who thinks of a one-hit-KO when you’re playing as the Hulk?
Add onto this a bevy of microtransactions that somehow turns the title from a premier triple-A game into something that tastes more like a mobile game, and you’ve got a stew of concern going. Even if you’re a die-hard fan of the Avengers, you’ll be hard-pressed to enjoy the title as it currently stands. There could be massive shifts from now until September 4, when it officially releases, but it would need to be an unprecedented level of crunch-time development to escalate this from forgettable.