 Playing Eidos Montreal's Guardians of the Galaxy game was pure. Riot is fun. This is the kind of title that sends me back throughout years of playing narrative-driven action adventures, makes me realise just how refined all the elements in this formula have become. From a colourful, inspired galaxy that breathes fresh life into every world visited, to a story that is so, to a gameplay loop that not only didn't outstates welcome but was a joy to engage with time after time. Gardeners of the Galaxy is a triumphant example of what action adventure can offer. It has even awakened in me the desire to read Guardians Comics again, which I didn't even feel that when I was watching James Gunn's movies. Obviously I've got thoughts, lots and lots of them. The short of it is, Eidos Montreal offered a version of the Guardians that isn't once familiar to moviegoers and Coinbook of its unities alike, while somehow being fresh all over again. What makes it special, what makes it great, is a narrative that injects so much heart into familiar origin stories, while telling new ones. Each and every one shines with a fresh coat of paint, as exuberant as any of the collectable outfits you will discover. Without further ado, let's get into the take of it. Guardians of the Galaxy is an action-adventure game, one that prioritises explosive spectacle and player-directed teamwork in combat. There is a small measure of exploration, but outside of narrative, the bulk of your time will be taken up by kicking ass and having yours kicked in countless arenas across various worlds, spaceships and yet more bizarre worlds. Here a few words on playing as Star-Lord are required. On and especially before release, both critics and the audience at large were displeased that the game titled Guardians of the Galaxy only allows you to take direct control over Star-Lord, maybe because that conversation had prepared me for it, but that didn't make an impression on me. It adds up that the point of view character here would be Peter Quill. He's the least of them in terms of firepower and super abilities, but his leadership skills, his personality, hold the team together. The gameplay accentuates that. Star-Lord uses a pair of pea-shooters as YouTube reviewers kill up ones described them, wickily cause they might be in terms of design. They don't do a whole lot of damage. The rest of the Guardians do damage independently of commands, but it's the special attacks, four by the late game for the four other Guardians each, that will take apart the veritable armies in your path. So for example, Gamora's Shadow Strike and Rocket's cluster flag bomb decimate clusters of mobs. So I prefer the Assassin's Ninja slashes before the Raccoon's explosives, personally. Gamora is the meanest damage dealer of the lot, a perfect role for the Galaxy's deadliest woman. The Assassin's capacity to doll out damage to single targets fire out ways, even my favourite Shadow Strike, and that one too has serious single target use damage. Groot, meanwhile, is masterful support, using his roots to entangle either entire groups of enemies for a short period, or a single enemy long enough for the rest of the Guardians to bleed him dry. Then there is Drugs. Drugs is a bruiser, true and true. He does a moderate amount of damage almost exclusively combined with some kind of a staggering effect. Finally, Rocket. He does a mean amount of damage to, especially with his heroic ability, which is just about the most hilarious, most rocket thing in the multiverse. He pops up this humongous weapon which immediately starts shooting up the area the main target is in. And not just with blaster fire, no no no. They're rockets too. Fitting. You as Star Lords have a couple of cool abilities yourself, which help reassure the team that you are pulling your weight. Maybe. Probably? Yeah, no. Peter's ultimate is underwhelming. It makes you invulnerable. I only ever needed to use it once or twice throughout my entire playthrough, which is as blistering a critique as any I could make. The other three abilities are much better. There's a blaster barrage, one that makes you vulnerable, but gives the elemental guns a massive boost in damage output. The elemental guns are not just called out for the cool fact rider. The four elements you unlock during key storyline moments to save the team from one deadly situation or another are more or less what you'd expect. Eyes shots freeze enemies, lightning stuns and damages and so forth. Like Quills' skills, a combination of these does a great job of changing up the old p-shooters into something deadlier. The occasional shielded enemy also invites you to break out of a tried and tested gameplay pattern and switch over the elemental weaponry. It's a nice enough addition and executed well, but by far the most important element of the gameplay is drumroll, please. Oh my god, of course, it's the jetboots. Like anyone who has played video games in the history of ever, I too like moving from place to place by pressing space and watching my avatar make heroic jumps and glide through the air. Well, let me tell you something, viewer. The greatest innovation I've ever seen. With that sweet, sweet double top of the space button, you'll be in the air for the duration of a slow-fall spell at least. Yes, that's one such joke for all my D&D friends at home. Also don't try flying with jetboots at home. They are not safe, trust me. One more thing before I move on though. In my experience gameplay reflected the narrative of the game, in particular when it came to commanding my companions. It's at first a little difficult, you don't know the system all that well, you're not half sure you know what you're doing but the thing is, neither does Peter Quill. The good news, as these 20 or so hours of gameplay ticked by commanding the other guardians will become second nature. Speaking of narrative, leadership ain't all it's made up to be. It's got its perks. You pick who gets which bedroom, you can nail out commands during battle and generally expect them to be followed and you can even encourage one guardian to throw another over a giant precipice, if you so desire. Yes, crunch out my first point. Leading the guardians is awesome. It's not like you're herding a band of wild children who each have access to sharp objects and slash or explosives. A lone tree, you're single, eight. It's not like you're making new enemies by the rotation or seeing the whole Milky Way turn progressively crazier due to some weirdness you might or might not be ultimately at blame for, right? Wait, you are? At least you have fun while doing all that. Silver linings and all. The narrative did something I was particularly impressed with in that it seamlessly got me to identify with Peter Quill as a character. I never thought it would happen and yet, identification with fictional characters can work in many different ways. Here and to me it was an alignment in mine and Star Lord's reactions to the other guardians and especially Rocket. The relationship between Peter and Rocket is not an even line, while the highs are real high, the lows. My, can the lows get ugly? That the narrative staff managed to create a story compelling enough that I could map mine and Peter Quill's emotional responses this perfectly. That speaks to a job well done. It's a very personal point and player experience with this will vary widely and has varied widely already, but I give props to Eidos Montreal for credit where it's due in my book. And what are the antagonists? Guardians cleverly offers a passing glance at one of the game's villains without making too big a deal of him. Certainly attention early on is given to who else but Lady Hellbender. Lady Hellbender, whose reputation is a thing of beauty, especially if you take Drax's word for it. But Domi Mami Hellbender definitely isn't the worst bad guy out there, just you wait. I can't believe I just used the words Domi Mami. I have so many degrees. Anyway, on to spoilers. Skip to the timestamp in the video below. Let's talk about Nikki and the red herring that is our assumption about her and Star Lord's relationship. You as the player are let in on Quill's history with Coral before you've ever met Nikki. The player is invited to make the assumption that Coral's kid is Peter's own before Peter himself has even taught that far ahead. You're made to feel almost smug. Oh, Star Lord, how slow you are as you watch the Domi horror on Peter's face as he works out what you've already worked out. Basically half a minute into meeting Nikki Gold for the first time. It makes so much sense. It's just like Quill to end up with a kid he doesn't even realize exists until she's pubescent. It's easy to get even more invested in her. By no means a difficult task in the first place, as Nikki was, at least in my view, beyond likable. That Nikki is actually a war orphan adopted by Coral after the galactic war against Thanos and his Chittori. What a great plot twist that is. I'm usually good at picking up on twists before they're delivered, but this one caught me unawares. And the best part is, if it's so much better, Guardians has always been about found family, about a bunch of individuals who have no home, no one in the galaxy left. So they make a home together. When Peter finds out the truth, he chooses to save Nikki just the same to give her a place in his made family. That's why he's the leader of the Guardians character-wise. More importantly, it ties together the main conflict of the game to the individual conflicts of each Guardian and in such a thematically powerful way. On one side of this narrative is the loss and trauma suffered by each character. On the other is acceptance, first of that loss, then of the self, and finally of the family made along the way. It's a powerful, cohesive narrative that packs an emotional charge I did not expect to encounter. Not since control has an environment struck me with such unbridled creativity, whereas control turned Bruce Lee's architecture eerie and Kenny and Volta in typical SCP foundation and Twin Peaks fashion, I just have a blank canvas in the face of Marvel's cosmic galaxy. With it, the studio has created visually distinct worlds, even as the level design is more or less uniform across the board. You can always tell when you are exploring and when you are entering a battle arena. Exploration is not difficult at all, so sometimes you might miss out on something because you've gone the way of the main quest. The game has the tendency to lock you out of exploration zones after you've taken 10 steps past them. I found that, frankly, beyond annoying, and missed out on several skins because of it. The voice acting captures so perfectly the essence of each Guardian, of their allies and antagonists. They sound not just similar to the Guardians on the silver screen, more importantly, each Guardian sounds exactly the way they do in my head when I pick Guardians of the Galaxy comic book. The voice actors have truly made each character their own. The music is alright, one of those OSTs that fit the game and world, but don't leave too much of an impression. They do their job. The coral tracks capture the cultish nature of the universal Church of Truth perfectly, and a few tracks like Maggot's Dream manage to stand your neck hairs on end. A lot of these I'll use in my home D&D games and with the greatest pleasure. What's far, far cooler is that the senior audio director at Eidos Montreal, Steve Szczepkowski, wrote a whole bloody 80's style rock album, the debut album of the diagetic Star-Lord band, from which our brave protagonist, Star-Lord Monika, he'd eventually make his own. Steve not only wrote the lyrics and came up with a lot of the melodies, he's also the lead vocalist of this bad boy. The music, chock full of epic guitar riffs, Steve worked on with Johann Baudrill. For more on their collaboration, you can look at one of the links in the description down below. It wouldn't be a Guardians game without so many licensed songs. The choice here is impeccable, and so many are perfectly tailored to tense moments, funny ones and anything in between. There was a play after a huddle at the height of battle. Perfect, but not YouTube friendly at all. This Guardians of the Galaxy video game was a delightful run across Marvel's cosmic nonsense. If you haven't gotten to play it just yet, where all means, give it a try. I don't doubt you will love this experience. And if you enjoyed watching this video, review it. By all means, please like it, share it with your friends and don't forget to subscribe. I'll see you next time. Bye!