Avengers
Well, The Avengers beta ends later today, and this was the first time that all players from all platforms had to experience it, with the PS4 beta open, and the PC and Xbox beta for pre-orderers, although the full following opens time around.
This has been a fascinating game to watch because it was kind of a rollercoaster from the beginning. The Avengers’ initial debut at E3 looked pretty rough, but then back in the past few months with a series of previews for War Preview of video clips, it looked a little better. But no? Everyone has got their hands on it, and the results seem to be very, very divided.
I originally had this with the title ‘the most divisive game’, but then I remember that The Last of Us Part 2 came out this year, and nothing will be more divisive than that (even if the haters there are a small, loud group , instead of a 50/50 split). But from the reactions I see, most Avengers people seem to love or hate it, with very little in between.
Critics were divided over the beta. Polygon and I liked it a lot. Kotaku and IGN seemed interested. And that split is pretty much a reflection of the public reaction I’ve seen. Some people, especially many in the core community who were excited for the game from the beginning, seem to really enjoy it. The game scratches all the itches they hope it would with its arcade brawler combat and its superhero moves straight out of the movies. Smashing by evil robots as heroes feels as good as people thought it would be, and this early taste has picked up a certain subset of fans for the end product.
But on the other hand, there is a deep disinterest in what has been shown. Characters feel too “weak” to be superheroes (though I caution that you really need to start with extra moves and unlock gear to change that). The environments and enemies are too same-y. The quasi-open world mission structure is too repetitive. The loot, which does not even appear on your character, seems useless and shoddy built to capitalize on recent gaming trends. And there’s a feeling that these just feel like “off-brand” Avengers, because the game went for realism about cartoony looks, and not one of them looks like their MCU actors, of course (I can argue that sure look, Nolan North’s Tony Stark compared to RDJ).
The split is even found in the visuals of the game. I would say that Avengers does not always look the best in action, thanks to constant motion blur and screen shake that muddy the action with zillions of indicators across the entire screen and pretty bad UI in general.
And yet, you look at the actual graphics of the game, frozen in time in photo mode, and it looks rather unbelievable, and like one of the most beautiful offers of superhero I’ve ever seen, this side of Spider-Man (that it also looked stellar in photo mode, but also in motion).
My general feeling is that Avengers has an up-and-coming battle ahead to win the majority of fans. I’m cautiously optimistic that this game will appeal to me at least for some measure in the long run, but I’m also one who puts in at least 100 hours in Anthem, despite all his problem. The comparison of the national anthem here is pretty constant with Avengers, but do not underestimate the appeal of Marvel heroes, because once your repulsor blew an enemy off a cliff like Iron Man or two robots crashed into each other like Hulk, your other problems with the game can be solved to a certain extent.
I’m cautiously optimistic about mine own potential enjoyment of the definitive product, but for Avengers to become a large scale, it will do more to convince people alongside hardcore looter fans like me that it has something to offer them.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube en Instagram. Picking up my sci-fi novels Herokiller en Herokiller 2, and read my first series, The Earthborn Trilogy, which is also on audiobook.
