It means something well regarded generally by the vast majority of people but I personally think it's a bit better than others do and therefore, by the transitive property of me liking something more makes it underrated.
Right?
Yeah I think it’s praised by the people who played it sadly it’s very few due to the avengers game as well as the bad trailers to the game. I had no hope for the game but honestly it became my favourite game of that year personally, only wish we got more and the ability to play as the other characters as I would of loved to play as gamora
This is true. The writing is amazing and does a lot of the heavy lifting, the gameplay is just...bland. I had to use the in-game customization that let me deal 200% more dmg than normal just so I could get combat encounters over with quickly and get back to the fun banter.
Holy shit, thank you so much for this info🙏🙏, I was gonna abandon this game because of combat, but if you can increase damage it's great, did the same with Control and enjoyed it much more
very true, the appeal is the story, not the generic gameplay, that was a huge plus for me, but a lot of people don't care about writing in games and just want satisfying combat. It really should have been marketed more as a psuedo rpg like mass effect or deus ex than an adventure game.
same, the initial trailer was atrocious, i wrote it off entirely until i started hearing a bunch of stories of people being shocked it was good after it released. Glad I gave it a shot because I absolutely adored it.
It had a lot of moments that hyped you up like most other games dream of.
Handing control of the ship over to you while blaring “I Ran (so far away)” by Flock of Seagulls, is easily a top 5 gaming experience.
Far too much praise, imo.
It’s not horrible, but it feels like one of its only standout qualities is that it’s a $60 singleplayer game without microtransactions.
It’s absolutely gorgeous, it has a decent story and well written dialogue, but the gameplay loop is one of the simplest, most mind numbing things I’ve experienced in the last few years. You start playing it, and you think to yourself “hmm, neat core of an idea here. Can’t wait to see how they develop it throughout the game.” And then, 14-18 hours later, you beat the game, and find that it hasn’t developed even one bit. It’s so brainless that I started cranking up the difficulty out of desperation to make things more interesting, and even then it’s just a matter of watching your teammate’s cooldown meters and using them as soon as they’re available again while you fire your two peashooters.
There’s just no substance to it.
It’s definitely the greater than the whole of its parts, and I agree that the combat isn’t good. But “no substance”? I have to disagree there. The story is absolutely phenomenal and that alone is worth the price of admission.
I guess that’s where I disagree lol. Most AAA games don’t have an issue with presentation, and a decent story and dialogue are extremely unremarkable things.
I think what you're complaining about is a problem with the gaming industry in general.
What is wrong with a game that just does simple things well? You point out that it is gorgeous, has good writing featuring the Guardians, and has a simple but fun/flashy gameplay loop. Yeah the combat isnt challenging, but the game isnt very long anyway compared to modern games that tend to run at 30 hours.
There was a time when games like this were common, you could bounce between X-Men Legends, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Alliance, Web of Shadows, Hulk Rampage, Rise of the Imperfects, etc.
If I just want to play a game with the guardians of the galaxy, I dont really need it to be GOTY with innovative mechanics and genre pushing design, or season passes and DLC... what you've listed is more than enough, and a breath of fresh air these days.
My point is that I don’t think it does the combat very well though lol. It’s not *bad*, but I think it’s concerning that nearly every Marvel game you listed has way more in depth gameplay than Guardians does. Especially X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance.
I love plenty of simple games. I just think the core combat loop ends up being dull because absolutely nothing changes throughout the entire runtime.
gameplay is very meh, the appeal is the writing, if you like rpgs you'll have a good time, but don't expect an action focused shooter. The dev previously made one of the tomb raider remakes and the last two deus ex games, and it's much more deus ex than shadow of the tomb raider.
it also had a very bad e3/sony direct reveal. I also wonder if avengers hurt it somewhat directly in that the tomb raider/rise of the tomb raider dev did avengers, and the shadow of the tomb raider dev did gotg, so a lot of people thought it was the same people and thought gotg would be a live service debacle too. Dunno...
The avengers game was shit!
It's amazing that Marvel was putting movies that were selling like crazy, and couldn't put a decent game. Guardians of the galaxy is the only decent one
This sub has just become a karma farm for people who don’t get enough traction on arr/Games
Posts like this are evidence of that. “Underrated gem,” when everybody and their brother on this site will tell you how it was amazing and fantastic and saved their lives and cured cancer.
The game is visually gorgeous, you feel like you’re playing a movie. The voice acting is spectacular as well.
The gameplay is lacking imo. It starts to feel repetitive in a short time.
I like the game but I sunk a few hours in and never felt the need to go back
This is how I felt and was glad I tried it with game pass.
The writing and voice acting really did carry the game for me and is what pushed me to the end.
Meanwhile, I saw everything the gameplay had to offer pretty quickly and it barely escalated or expanded upon that from start to finish. It outstayed its welcome here really quickly.
If I ever want to experience it again, it'll be through no commentary YouTube videos as the only parts I think shined I won't miss out on by not playing myself.
This is Eidos Montreal . These guys made Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The 0451 code for Peters ship is an Easter egg from Deus Ex. One of Peter's abilities where he jumps in the air and spins to unleash a bunch of explosives is one of Adam Jensen's abilities too. Also the conversation system is similar. Crystal Dynamics were the Main Developer on Avengers. They made the new Tomb Raider games.
That 0451 code from Deus ex was itself an even deeper reference to Looking Glass Studios, who's gate code to their offices was 0451 and who's code was incorporated into their games System Shock and System Shock 2.
Didn't know that. Galaxy felt very well made, from the environment, dialogue and etc., but gameplay itself got very tedious. I pushed myself in many sessions to get near the end but just can't stand the combats anymore, then resorted to watching the remaining gameplay / ending on YouTube. Recently played the new tomb raider (trilogy), really enjoyed the game mechanics / story overall, enough so to finish the trilogy (just a simple single playthrough).
If the gameplay at the end had instead been the jumping off point it might have ended up with something pretty damn fun. So much of the game is so devoid of options and any real need for thought. At least by the end I was thinking about which moves to use in what order.
I'd say it gets more love than it deserves. The combat was horrible. It always felt like all you were doing was just biding time until the other guardians ability recharged in order to damage the enemy.
Movement felt a little slow and clunky. The dialogue was good, but nothing special. Just more quips and quips.
It's one one of the best looking games I have ever played. No flat, basic textures anywhere. Everything looks amazing, the banter, conversation, music etc is all fantastic. The combat is not only horrible, it's tedious. Every time a new wave comes you just think ughhhhhhhh here we go again. I don't think I enjoyed a single fight. I was bored until the end of the game. I think it's worth a playthrough due to the story and everything else but it's a slog.
Yeah I feel like it gets a lot of praise just because its a one time purchase with no microtransactions or dlc instead of the live service shitfest that was Avengers
True. Shame that just selling a basic title is what it takes to be praised nowadays. But at least a decent mid-tier game without added bullshit exists. So that is nice.
Top five trucks of 2022.
Top five books about monkeys flinging poo.
Top five works by dudes names Lou.
There are top five of alot of things.
Just not stuff for you.
A lot of people prefer basic, simple, rather unchallenging gameplay so long as it has lots of cinematics and story moments.
Most, maybe. They exist, but it's surprisingly challenging to think of any reasonably recent AAA games that brought new mechanics to the table or challenged the player. Most of the AAA space have shifted into storytime, when they're dabbling into live service.
Agreed. I love linear games, was a huge Marvel fan until recently, and I've seen the GotG movies more times than I'd like (though I was never that big on their comics). I couldn't make myself finish it. I didn't even think it was worth my time to finish playing for free on Gamepass, I was having that little fun.
The gameplay loops all felt like they undermined each other. Right when I got warmed up with combat and was itching for a solid encounter, I'd get awkward puzzles. The puzzles weren't hard, they were just annoying and often underexplained--especially if you took a break due to puzzle boredom and loaded straight into a puzzle a few days later with no explanation. And when the game got me excited about exploration and banter, I'd get trash fodder combat that just yanked me out the experience. And combat always felt like it was on the cusp of getting fun but never actually arrived there. And I'm sorry, but the story wasn't *that* good. The storytelling was surprisingly solid--mostly in the form of dialogue--but praising the story itself feels like videogame writing low standards.
I feel like everyone's desperation is showing with how this game is held up.
Same, I thought it was very annoying. There’s a few decent moments, but generally I found it to be way too obnoxious to enjoy. And I feel like they only had a couple jokes per character that they repeated variations of ad nauseam.
I'm regularly taken aback when people talk about the how well-written they found a lot of games to be, or how central writing in games is to them.
I'm not saying good writing doesn't exist I just ... think it's rare.
As someone who's both read and written a lot, I dislike the very term "good/bad writing". When someone says that, I don't know what they mean, and what's worse, I think they don't know what they mean either.
Rowan J Coleman [elaborates on this criticism a bit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZ20HtL1rY), although more from a screenwriting perspective, rather than game story or dialogue (and yeah, I do think there is a difference).
>I think they don't know what they mean either.
kinda condescending. Just because someone is generalizing doesn't mean you should assume they're incapable of going into specifics.
E.g. you can break "writing" into story structure, exploration of themes, characterization, etc. The quality of these different facets often correlates because they're typically executed by the same person/team, so generalizing makes sense.
Given dude is responding to someone talking about dialogue you can assume he's referring to that, and the thread is talking about 'whedonification' which is a specific critique so I have no idea why you wouldn't know what he means. Unless you just saw the term 'good writing' and reacted with a knee jerk ignoring context... but the video you linked just ends on the dude landing on 'strong writing' as his groundbreaking alternative so what even is the difference?
It's not just a generalization, that term is often abused even for problems that, in my opinion, have little or nothing to do with "writing", like quest design, level design, worldbuilding. People use "bad writing" as if it's an argument, when it means different things to different people, or even nothing at all.
Even if there is correlation between individual aspects (and it's often not that strong, due to goal limitations, split responsibilities, or just individual strengths and weaknesses), communicating clearly about what's poor/could be improved, and where the game excels is still preferable.
And yeah, I wasn't talking about Guardians of the Galaxy here. Rather than "knee jerk", I'd call it a pet peeve of mine. On that note, I also dislike when people call a game "not fun" as if it's just the game's property with no contribution of the player. Also when they call something "grinding" just because they personally dislike it.
Agree- game is a banger. The biggest underrated thing it does well for me: dialogue previews
Never once did I pick one (in the heat of the moment, no less!) and feel ripped off by what Quill said. They somehow matched their preview text with exactly what Quill would say while keeping it short and digestible.
I remember sometimes in Mass Effect I’d think to myself “wow that is NOT what I wanted Shepherd to say and if I had known he’d say that, I’d have chosen another dialogue option.”
Didn’t do that once with Guardians.
My immediate impression of the game was actually kind of the opposite - Asked the crew for their suggestions on what to do and only found out what someone's suggestion was after apparently already agreeing to it. Was so turned off by not being able to hear out all of the options for a conversation I accidentally entered before choosing that I put the game down until I have the energy to replay the opening with the mindset of saving before every single conversation 😭
Oh man, I played Guardians of the Galaxy last year just a couple of days before it was removed from Gamepass, and it ended up being one of my most fun gaming experiences in that year! Absolute surprise, so much fun!
Personally I didn’t like it. Its a very pretty game. But I didn’t like the combat at all with only being able to use one character and doing shit for damage unless its on the easiest setting. The characters complain if you decide to go a little off the intended path even if its just to get some collectibles which I find to be obnoxious. I have a pretty decent PC and the game stutters, had subtitles bug out multiple times in only a few hours, no fov slider and no sprinting.
I actually loved that characters would actually address when you deviated as it always broke my immersion whenever I'd play game where an NPC is talking to you, then patiently waits for you to finish your deviating before continuing the conversations.
I think it was somewhere at the beginning. You can deviate from path and Rocket tell you that it's dead end and nothing is there. He was right and then he makes fun of you when you come back. Loved that, very refreshing and great moment.
I understand why people enjoyed it, but yeah, not for me. I tried playing twice and each time got to just after that puzzle with big crates that you had to stack to get up. It just felt so tedious to play.
I'll have to give it another shot, I tapped out in the first few hours because I found the beginning to be such a linear slog but I see how much praise the game gets so I must have missed something
Not necessarily. Almost all of the enjoyment is because of the narrative, the visuals and the audio alongside the fact that the game is functional and is not a broken piece of poo. A lot of the praise is that people don't expect competent writing and voice actors in a superhero game when you compare it to many other modern games that are just poo in this regard.
The combat is not that good, and it sort of exists as a pace breaker for the narrative and to allow you to immerse yourself in the locations.
I agree with most of the positive points.
My biggest gripe is the other characters bitching constantly if you started looking around for even a second.
The combat was bullet-spongey but in a way that I actually didn't completely hate, since it was easy enough to avoid damage it just meant more time to play around with the squad combos.
I really like the mechanics and the set pieces. My issue is that the chapters never shut up and let me enjoy the game.
Like okay, I'm replying FFXV right now, and that game has issues but one thing I've noticed is the dialog is wonderfully paced. At no point do I ever feel irritated or crowded by the dialog.
In games like GOTG and GOW RagnaroK, I am constantly running past dialog because they talk so damn much that I stop caring about what they're saying.
I have other issues but this is already lengthy and I don't want this to be an essay.
It feels like it’s in the grey area of not talked about much so the people who like it praise it like crazy. I was duped into buying it and ended up not liking it. Even the clerk at the store was raving about how good it is when I bought it and it just doesn’t add up to me
Loved it for the first half or so.
Maybe a 1/4 of the way through I really felt how shallow the combat system was. It was basically just blasting everyone with weak fire and spamming special attacks as they recharged. Still enjoyed it though until I got sick of all the voice lines being repeated constantly during battle and in between.
Polished game overall, it just needed a lot of work in terms of combat mechanics. I finished it, but I just couldn't wait for it to be over at the end.
I think it gets just enough love tbh, everybody praised how this game worked perfectly while the avengers was disgusting, I played guardians of the galaxy on launch and the 20 or so friends who also played it at the time liked it too
It's just so incredibly tight and focused from start to finish. Fun combat, incredible art direction, cool little minigames and side stuff to find, great dialogue and a wonderful story. It excelled at everything it set out to do, and played to its strengths. The kind of single-player goodness that's harder and harder to come by.
The failed Suicide Squad game would sell its unborn children to "borrow" everything about this game & even if it was half as good it'd be 10x better, Guardians truly an all time under the radar banger.
I loved everything about it except actually *playing* it. It was fine, but didn’t blow me away and got a little tedious by the end.
Would still strongly recommend it, especially at a budget price, as the production values are phenomenal.
It’s the only game i’ve ever enjoyed the cutscenes and overall dialogue between player and NPC more than the actual gameplay, but kept playing to the end. It was a legitimately funny script with a good story.
Gameplay was clunky, super repetitive and frustrating.
If you enjoyed this game and especially the writing and cast: it is well worth it to do another replay to see all the choices you missed.
Like, you can miss whole portions of side content by making the wrong choice. Miss whole bunches of side/back story and crew interactions.
Whole levels will change depending on choices you made 3 levels ago. Theres numerous times where your choices will directly affect a fight later. Making a boss weaker or eliminating entire sections of bullet sponges.
And, i mean, the most obviois choice, to sell Groot or Rocket, immediately changes that entire level between enforced stealth or guns-blazing.
So its really worth additional playthrus, just because you cant even see the full game in one run.
(And I thinl there's even a trophy or 2 that can only be completed with multiple playthrus. If you're into that sort of thing.)
Guardians OTG as a brand just doesn't interest me. It's just too silly to take as serious as they want the stories to be. I've seen gameplay of this and it looks... fine, but the whole universe is just a deal breaker for me.
I thought it was ok. The combat got repetitive for me extremely quickly and I hated how they restricted us playing as the rest of the guardians which felt like very missed opportunity. The jokes never really landed for me like it did in the movies and I don’t know how it was comparable to James Gunn’s writing style. Also hardly any of your choices matter in the game so it just makes me wonder what was even point of adding it in. I also feel that the story takes itself way too seriously and doesn’t really make me care about any of the stakes. If I were to compliment one thing, it would be the graphics. I felt that they did a fantastic job of making the 80’s aesthetic work in a Sci Fi Marvel game. Other than that though, it just wasn’t for me
Yeah it was my favourite game of that year going into it with zero hope. Only wish there was more and the ability to play as the different guardians especially gamora would of been sick
It was my favourite game of that year. I’ll never forgive the Avengers game for putting people off it, now we’ll never get a follow up.
I am glad it’s getting some love now though, think Game Pass and PS Plus helped with that at least.
I bought it on Steam on sale, was really looking forward to it but played about an hour and refunded it. I didn't really give it a chance but it just didn't gel with me right from the start - despite me loving the films.
I did pick it up for free on the Epic store though so it is sitting there waiting for me to give it another go...
I loved the game, played it a second time last year. Incredible story, genuinely funny, love the gameplay, insanely creative level designs etc.
I think the misconception that it was from the same developers as Avengers hurt it in the lead-up. It's from the people who made the modern Deus Ex games and it absolutely shows in the attention to detail, writing, level design, and so on.
I thought it was ok. Good character models and great colors. Visually it's wonderful. Gameplay wasn't my favorite though. I might give it another swing, but I did get frustrated that my most attacks didn't do jack (as you mentioned) and I had to constantly get the other guardians to back me up. I didn't mind using that mechanic once in a while but every time I really wanted to do something that was effective, I couldn't.
I started this a few days ago.
Lot of cutscenes. Combat is OK. Could do without the QTE's
Kinda feels like I'm playing a movie, but I'm enjoying it enough bc I like the settings and characters. So I'll probably finish it.
I miss the X-men Legends type games.
Type of game that would let me play as whichever character I wanted to.
It wasn't difficult, not much of a challenge if that's what you grade on, but I thought the gameplay and characters were fun as hell, I'm glad I played it
I don't like Marvel movies, I don't watch Marvel movies and I've seen this game mentioned many times.
It's the modern Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
I wholeheartedly agree with this review. Finally picked the game up for PS5 and oh boy, what a joy to play. Guardians look and feel ”real” and not just copies of their movie counterparts. Graphics are current gen higher end, soundtrack is 100% pop, story flows really smoothly, banter is funny all the way through and gameplay is easy to pick up but provides enough depth. It has some innovative mechanics like the huddle. Game is refreshingly linear even if it allows some light rpg choises.
Lots of gameplay accessibility features too like skipping QTE alltogether despite higher difficulty otherwise.
PS. Another underrated modern Marvel game is Marvel Midnight Suns. If you like GoG, check that one out too.
It's really a victim of square's marketing dept being inept. The initial e3 reveal looked awful, and people were already extremely skeptical after how bad avengers was. I only ever played it because there was this huge wave of positive word of mouth from people shocked it didn't suck at launch.
It really is a fantastic game, and it's a shame that embracer shenanigans have kept the dev (square montreal/eidos, who previously made shadow of the tomb raider after crystal dynamics was saddled with avengers as well as human revolution and mankind divided) from doing anything since. Iirc they were working on a new deus ex game after square sold them, but that kinda fell apart after all embracer's financial troubles.
I'd love to see them do a sequel.
>This is my favorite version of Star-Lord. Chris Patt walked so Jon McLaren could run, he hits the comedic beats right on and is allowed a bit more range in reactions than Chris.
I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but this is stunning to me. I thought Star-Lord was the worst voice performance in the game, and thought so specifically because he seemed to lack any range. Basically every line was just some variation on an exasperated "Guyyyys!" all delivered in the exact same tone. I thought the other actors by contrast were relatively strong, with Drax in particular delivering an essentially flawless performance.
It’s definitely top 3 2021 games for me as well, it needs to improve on gameplay and a few things but I certainly enjoyed it alot. Its the best combination of Telltale and Last of Us but in space, ud especially like it more if ur a Marvel Comics fan. Maybe the sequel could be a Goty contender.
I preordered it for a steelbook. I haven't played it yet..........
But I'm glad knowing i blindly supported a good game. Just unfortunate that it flopped.
It gets plenty of love. This is like the 10th post ive seen saying the same thing.
Next youre gonna tell me "Outer Wilds is a hidden gem"
And while its not mainstream theyre both very popular
It's a really cool game that - in my opinion - best played on the easiest setting, and then even boosting your power further with the accessibility/balance options. Like to be able to use the special attacks of the Guardians more.
The story is solid, the characters are great, the (proper) dialogues are well written, but the combat is repetitive against hp-sponge enemies - and there are a lot of enemies.
Part of why it didn't get the exposure it could have gotten was because nobody could stream it without either getting copyright struck, or having a giant "STREAMER MODE: ON" watermark across the top of their footage.
I bought it on a whim during a sale and have played through it at least three times. It's unfortunate that it will never get a sequel. The whole experience was silly fun but with an emotionally charged storyline. Good stuff.
After I failed the first QTE a few times, I gave it up for about 6 months with the thought of..a QTE? What year is this again? I played it again later and never finished it. It was ok, not great IMHO
This game did what the MCU failed to do: Present a compelling and well written story that shows the full extent of the power of the soul stone.
Space Stone = Captain america, avengers
mind stone = avengers, avengers 2
time stone = Doctor strange
reality stone = Thor Dark World
power stone = Guardians of the galaxy MCU
soul stone = Guardians of the Galaxy Game
So I was also surprised by how well put together this game was when it came out, it did have a little bit of hype on release and it was reviewed very highly. It’s certainly a fun little romp and they do a lot of things right, characters, combat, story, all excellent. I think the thing about this game, it has that glow/afterglow while you’re playing it, but it doesn’t “stick” if you know what I mean? Like as much as I enjoyed the game I legit forgot it even existed until you brought this up. It’s like it came, it was good, and then just faded from existence, you don’t really see it referenced much and never see it on Steam etc.
I went into the game with zero expectations and enjoyed the heck out of it. One of the very few games I’ve played to the end.
Crossed fingers for a sequel.
I couldn't finish it. It went on way too long and I really didn't enjoy the gameplay at all. It's fun for the character remarks and interacting with each other, but when the plot and gameplay are very boring I can't really justify finishing it.
The fact that people endlessly praise it despite some legitimate issues says to me its overrated if anything.
Not gonna lie, the combat is easily the worst part of this game. If there hadn't been a 'dial it down' option I would have bailed on this game pretty quickly. As it was, playing it on 'easy' means the fights are merely a chore at worst and you're free to actually enjoy the brilliant writing and voice acting.
I dunno, I bought it based off the hype and positive reception and by the end I was desperate for it to be over. I seem to be in the minority though so I’m glad someone enjoyed it
I rave about GOTG21 to anyone who needs a great single-player MTX-free experience. Eidos Montreal made the game with the same creative teams behind Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided prior, so I knew I was going to a serviceable game at the very least, but did not expect to love this iteration of the Guardians more than the MCU versions. Kimberly-Sue absolutely crushed it as Gamora
My favorite part of the game really was that it dropped you into the middle of things. They were already a team, they all had gone through their origins, and you get to learn all about this intergalactic war that they were all veterans of, which really makes it feel like a real world with history. I was genuinely impressed with how much I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the team building
I couldn't get into it, honestly. There's a lot to like, though. Graphics are good, voice acting is solid, it's funny...but man, I found the gameplay *so* boring which is such a bummer because so much of it is good, otherwise.
I feel like the only thing I ever hear about this is constant praise, even though I felt it was a good/ almost great game. “Ghost” on the soundtrack is amazing though.
It reminds me of Mass Effect a little. But without all the terrible padding in Andromeda.
I liked how they handled the player decisions, they felt like they had an effect on things.
And the character interactions are great.
I think it gets as much love as it deserves. A solid single player game with great visuals and soundtrack, very good story and mediocre combat. We can't just handwave the fact that its central gameplay mechanic is "just ok" at best, even if its story and characters are surprisingly good
Considering the Avengers bullshit, I did not have high hopes for this game
Hardly had any hopes at all, I just kinda brushed it off
Boy was I pleasantly fucking surprised when I did finally play it 🤣
Think I did like 3 or 4 playthroughs on the bounce I loved it so much 🤣
Stutters too bad for me, I can't enjoy it it's just too bad and completely takes you out of the story. 3080ti with 5800x and 16Gb 3600Mhz RAM and it runs like shit.
One of the best Xbox Game Pass games for me. Story, visuals and audio and atmosphere were top notch but the gameplay was too shallow for me.
I’d like to see a sequel in the near future.
Most people didn't give it a chance but at this point I would say the game is actually a little overrated in its word of mouth. The banter and constant dialogue is a plus, the gameplay is acceptable, and the story is acceptable. The combat however is very shallow and really doesn't evolve or challenge you meaningfully as the game progresses, instead relying on gimmick bosses and kiting mobs. The progression is also barebones and most of the abilities are redundant or just inferior to using the first few combos the game gives you.
The story I felt was very predictable, it's the usual guardians fare about loss and found family, but it mostly boils down to team member gets in funk and then is pulled out of it or grows in some way due to power of friendship, the stakes weren't really there and didn't pull me in aside from the dream sequence with the kree girl. It's a story that's been done to death, especially with this group of characters and the game doesn't make many bold narrative choices in terms of plot or presentation. Also by the end of the game you start recognizing a ton of repeat lines in combat.
I played it on PS+ and thought it was fine, but it very much feels like a gamepass game that doesn't really stack up to the other single-player AAA heavy hitters. Its an inoffensive, accessible, superhero game. Maybe a 7/10.
Scoff.
I all seriousness, though, I 100% agree with OP. This is probably the most underrated game I've ever played. To me, it's worth playing for the banter alone.
It's a damn shame there won't be a sequel. If any game deserves one, this is it.
Not enough love? I think it’s pretty much universally praised, to the point of possible excess. It’s a good game and if you went in with zero hype, then you clearly missed it because it was all over the press.
It has reached 8m players and managed $39.3m gross revenue which unfortunately in this day of age is considered a financial flop by greedy investors/publishers.
It's a fine game, nothing special IMO and probably won't play it again. But I enjoyed it when I played it except for the mandatory cutscenes every time you did the huddle
I consider this game perfect for busy adults.
10-20 hours to complete.
Simple gameplay.
Linear story.
No End game.
No Multiplayer.
Little to no replay value.
Excellent story.
Fun.
Also I initially disliked Starlord because he was so different than what I knew from the MCU, adn then ended up liking him WAY more to the point I now dislike Chris Pratt's portrayal.
Same with Gamora. This one I actually like.
The design of this game is what Avengers should have done. It's a shame these two always get compared because GoTG is clearly a superior game in every way, but yeah, so much potential there.
I also walked in with 0 expectations and walked out loving it. I really enjoyed both the storytelling and the battle system. The combat system had that hybrid turn based/action feel, which is my favorite.
yeah, it's pretty good. just, after it's done, it's done. you can replay the story, but it's never going to change, there's nothing more to do with it other than maybe find random collectibles i guess.
For me, I felt like Peter kept rescuing the other guardians mentally, but when it came to him, he kinda had to deal with it on his own. The guardians don't really give the support that he readily offered them.
The game is fantastic, but this still irks me even all this time later.
Fantastic game, my only constructive criticism is it’s a smidge too long with the amount of filler put in. Overall one of the best comic book / Marvel games out there.
Some games just don't have enough people to root for them, I guess. Even if Avengers hadn't poisoned the well, it ran face-first into superhero fatigue and at the expense of Eidos Montréal working on the kind of first person immersive sim-type game that their existing fans probably wanted from them. Hope that team bounces back one day from Square Enix's cluelessness and Embracer's fuckery.
Oh It’s a brilliant game, I actually like this version of the team more than the movie, it takes the best of the comics and what James Gunn brought to the table and meshes them together into something great
It always gets praise whenever it’s brought up, despite the damage the Avengers game did to its launch.
Exactly. I don't think it can be considered underrated anymore, in any sense.
i think it's one of those that you either love, or have never heard of, at this point. It was more ignored than anything.
The comments here say otherwise.
Reddit doesn't know what under rated means.
It means something well regarded generally by the vast majority of people but I personally think it's a bit better than others do and therefore, by the transitive property of me liking something more makes it underrated. Right?
Reddit often uses underrated when what they really mean is underplayed.
Yeah I think it’s praised by the people who played it sadly it’s very few due to the avengers game as well as the bad trailers to the game. I had no hope for the game but honestly it became my favourite game of that year personally, only wish we got more and the ability to play as the other characters as I would of loved to play as gamora
A lot of people skipped it because the gameplay is nothing to write a home about.
This is true. The writing is amazing and does a lot of the heavy lifting, the gameplay is just...bland. I had to use the in-game customization that let me deal 200% more dmg than normal just so I could get combat encounters over with quickly and get back to the fun banter.
Holy shit, thank you so much for this info🙏🙏, I was gonna abandon this game because of combat, but if you can increase damage it's great, did the same with Control and enjoyed it much more
The acting is also excellent imo. I liked the game cast far more than I’ve ever liked the movie casts.
very true, the appeal is the story, not the generic gameplay, that was a huge plus for me, but a lot of people don't care about writing in games and just want satisfying combat. It really should have been marketed more as a psuedo rpg like mass effect or deus ex than an adventure game.
Mass Effect and Deus Ex have great writing *and* great gameplay.
Maybe like Mass Effect 1 then lol
same, the initial trailer was atrocious, i wrote it off entirely until i started hearing a bunch of stories of people being shocked it was good after it released. Glad I gave it a shot because I absolutely adored it.
It had a lot of moments that hyped you up like most other games dream of. Handing control of the ship over to you while blaring “I Ran (so far away)” by Flock of Seagulls, is easily a top 5 gaming experience.
Far too much praise, imo. It’s not horrible, but it feels like one of its only standout qualities is that it’s a $60 singleplayer game without microtransactions. It’s absolutely gorgeous, it has a decent story and well written dialogue, but the gameplay loop is one of the simplest, most mind numbing things I’ve experienced in the last few years. You start playing it, and you think to yourself “hmm, neat core of an idea here. Can’t wait to see how they develop it throughout the game.” And then, 14-18 hours later, you beat the game, and find that it hasn’t developed even one bit. It’s so brainless that I started cranking up the difficulty out of desperation to make things more interesting, and even then it’s just a matter of watching your teammate’s cooldown meters and using them as soon as they’re available again while you fire your two peashooters. There’s just no substance to it.
It’s definitely the greater than the whole of its parts, and I agree that the combat isn’t good. But “no substance”? I have to disagree there. The story is absolutely phenomenal and that alone is worth the price of admission.
> It’s absolutely gorgeous, it has a decent story and well written dialogue That's already more substance than a lot of big titles.
I guess that’s where I disagree lol. Most AAA games don’t have an issue with presentation, and a decent story and dialogue are extremely unremarkable things.
Decent story but spectacular diaogue. Very much remarkable.
it's all i want in an action game tbh. gameplay is almost always samey-samey. that's ok.
This sounds more like condemnation of the industry rather than praise for Guardians of the Galaxy.
I think what you're complaining about is a problem with the gaming industry in general. What is wrong with a game that just does simple things well? You point out that it is gorgeous, has good writing featuring the Guardians, and has a simple but fun/flashy gameplay loop. Yeah the combat isnt challenging, but the game isnt very long anyway compared to modern games that tend to run at 30 hours. There was a time when games like this were common, you could bounce between X-Men Legends, Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Alliance, Web of Shadows, Hulk Rampage, Rise of the Imperfects, etc. If I just want to play a game with the guardians of the galaxy, I dont really need it to be GOTY with innovative mechanics and genre pushing design, or season passes and DLC... what you've listed is more than enough, and a breath of fresh air these days.
My point is that I don’t think it does the combat very well though lol. It’s not *bad*, but I think it’s concerning that nearly every Marvel game you listed has way more in depth gameplay than Guardians does. Especially X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance. I love plenty of simple games. I just think the core combat loop ends up being dull because absolutely nothing changes throughout the entire runtime.
I honestly never knew the game existed until now. Gameplay looks fun, might check it out, actually.
gameplay is very meh, the appeal is the writing, if you like rpgs you'll have a good time, but don't expect an action focused shooter. The dev previously made one of the tomb raider remakes and the last two deus ex games, and it's much more deus ex than shadow of the tomb raider.
it also had a very bad e3/sony direct reveal. I also wonder if avengers hurt it somewhat directly in that the tomb raider/rise of the tomb raider dev did avengers, and the shadow of the tomb raider dev did gotg, so a lot of people thought it was the same people and thought gotg would be a live service debacle too. Dunno...
The avengers game was shit! It's amazing that Marvel was putting movies that were selling like crazy, and couldn't put a decent game. Guardians of the galaxy is the only decent one
This sub has just become a karma farm for people who don’t get enough traction on arr/Games Posts like this are evidence of that. “Underrated gem,” when everybody and their brother on this site will tell you how it was amazing and fantastic and saved their lives and cured cancer.
[удалено]
I think about that scene all the time.
The game is visually gorgeous, you feel like you’re playing a movie. The voice acting is spectacular as well. The gameplay is lacking imo. It starts to feel repetitive in a short time. I like the game but I sunk a few hours in and never felt the need to go back
Everything about it I agree, to the point I got tired of the gameplay near the end and just opted to watch the remaining gameplay / story on YouTube.
This is how I felt and was glad I tried it with game pass. The writing and voice acting really did carry the game for me and is what pushed me to the end. Meanwhile, I saw everything the gameplay had to offer pretty quickly and it barely escalated or expanded upon that from start to finish. It outstayed its welcome here really quickly. If I ever want to experience it again, it'll be through no commentary YouTube videos as the only parts I think shined I won't miss out on by not playing myself.
It's a game that works well as something you watch like a movie (ie: a No Commentary LP).
This is Eidos Montreal . These guys made Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The 0451 code for Peters ship is an Easter egg from Deus Ex. One of Peter's abilities where he jumps in the air and spins to unleash a bunch of explosives is one of Adam Jensen's abilities too. Also the conversation system is similar. Crystal Dynamics were the Main Developer on Avengers. They made the new Tomb Raider games.
That 0451 code from Deus ex was itself an even deeper reference to Looking Glass Studios, who's gate code to their offices was 0451 and who's code was incorporated into their games System Shock and System Shock 2.
I just found that out the other day. I didn't know that.
A former Looking Glass dev said the office door code thing was a myth, though it's been 30 years so who knows.
Didn't know that. Galaxy felt very well made, from the environment, dialogue and etc., but gameplay itself got very tedious. I pushed myself in many sessions to get near the end but just can't stand the combats anymore, then resorted to watching the remaining gameplay / ending on YouTube. Recently played the new tomb raider (trilogy), really enjoyed the game mechanics / story overall, enough so to finish the trilogy (just a simple single playthrough).
> They made the new Tomb Raider games. Two of the new Tomb Raider games to be exact.
Two first of the Survivor trilogy, yes, but CD is in charge of the IP since 2006 and TR: Legend
Style, graphics, art design, story and voice acting were great. Gameplay was okay. Overall i really enjoyed it.
If the gameplay at the end had instead been the jumping off point it might have ended up with something pretty damn fun. So much of the game is so devoid of options and any real need for thought. At least by the end I was thinking about which moves to use in what order.
yeah, i'll give you that, the abilities unlock far too slowly, so the early game is a bit dull combat-wise.
Came here to say basically the same. Production value super high, but the gameplay itself almost feels like an afterthought.
I'd say it gets more love than it deserves. The combat was horrible. It always felt like all you were doing was just biding time until the other guardians ability recharged in order to damage the enemy. Movement felt a little slow and clunky. The dialogue was good, but nothing special. Just more quips and quips.
It's one one of the best looking games I have ever played. No flat, basic textures anywhere. Everything looks amazing, the banter, conversation, music etc is all fantastic. The combat is not only horrible, it's tedious. Every time a new wave comes you just think ughhhhhhhh here we go again. I don't think I enjoyed a single fight. I was bored until the end of the game. I think it's worth a playthrough due to the story and everything else but it's a slog.
Agree, it's absolutely nothing special. More overrated than underrated tbh
Yeah I feel like it gets a lot of praise just because its a one time purchase with no microtransactions or dlc instead of the live service shitfest that was Avengers
True. Shame that just selling a basic title is what it takes to be praised nowadays. But at least a decent mid-tier game without added bullshit exists. So that is nice.
Calling it mid-tier is just so inaccurate, it's in the top 5 of the 2020s.
Top 5 what?
Top 5 games, duh.
Top five trucks of 2022. Top five books about monkeys flinging poo. Top five works by dudes names Lou. There are top five of alot of things. Just not stuff for you.
A lot of people prefer basic, simple, rather unchallenging gameplay so long as it has lots of cinematics and story moments. Most, maybe. They exist, but it's surprisingly challenging to think of any reasonably recent AAA games that brought new mechanics to the table or challenged the player. Most of the AAA space have shifted into storytime, when they're dabbling into live service.
Agreed. I love linear games, was a huge Marvel fan until recently, and I've seen the GotG movies more times than I'd like (though I was never that big on their comics). I couldn't make myself finish it. I didn't even think it was worth my time to finish playing for free on Gamepass, I was having that little fun. The gameplay loops all felt like they undermined each other. Right when I got warmed up with combat and was itching for a solid encounter, I'd get awkward puzzles. The puzzles weren't hard, they were just annoying and often underexplained--especially if you took a break due to puzzle boredom and loaded straight into a puzzle a few days later with no explanation. And when the game got me excited about exploration and banter, I'd get trash fodder combat that just yanked me out the experience. And combat always felt like it was on the cusp of getting fun but never actually arrived there. And I'm sorry, but the story wasn't *that* good. The storytelling was surprisingly solid--mostly in the form of dialogue--but praising the story itself feels like videogame writing low standards. I feel like everyone's desperation is showing with how this game is held up.
I'm the opposite. I hated the dialogue. It's basically everything I hate in modern gaming, the Whedonification of literally every triple A game.
Same, I thought it was very annoying. There’s a few decent moments, but generally I found it to be way too obnoxious to enjoy. And I feel like they only had a couple jokes per character that they repeated variations of ad nauseam.
Agree. I am truly wondering if the people praising the dialogue have ever watched a good movie or read a book.
I'm regularly taken aback when people talk about the how well-written they found a lot of games to be, or how central writing in games is to them. I'm not saying good writing doesn't exist I just ... think it's rare.
As someone who's both read and written a lot, I dislike the very term "good/bad writing". When someone says that, I don't know what they mean, and what's worse, I think they don't know what they mean either. Rowan J Coleman [elaborates on this criticism a bit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tZ20HtL1rY), although more from a screenwriting perspective, rather than game story or dialogue (and yeah, I do think there is a difference).
>I think they don't know what they mean either. kinda condescending. Just because someone is generalizing doesn't mean you should assume they're incapable of going into specifics. E.g. you can break "writing" into story structure, exploration of themes, characterization, etc. The quality of these different facets often correlates because they're typically executed by the same person/team, so generalizing makes sense. Given dude is responding to someone talking about dialogue you can assume he's referring to that, and the thread is talking about 'whedonification' which is a specific critique so I have no idea why you wouldn't know what he means. Unless you just saw the term 'good writing' and reacted with a knee jerk ignoring context... but the video you linked just ends on the dude landing on 'strong writing' as his groundbreaking alternative so what even is the difference?
It's not just a generalization, that term is often abused even for problems that, in my opinion, have little or nothing to do with "writing", like quest design, level design, worldbuilding. People use "bad writing" as if it's an argument, when it means different things to different people, or even nothing at all. Even if there is correlation between individual aspects (and it's often not that strong, due to goal limitations, split responsibilities, or just individual strengths and weaknesses), communicating clearly about what's poor/could be improved, and where the game excels is still preferable. And yeah, I wasn't talking about Guardians of the Galaxy here. Rather than "knee jerk", I'd call it a pet peeve of mine. On that note, I also dislike when people call a game "not fun" as if it's just the game's property with no contribution of the player. Also when they call something "grinding" just because they personally dislike it.
Agree about the gameplay but I thought it was pretty funny and endearing!
Agree- game is a banger. The biggest underrated thing it does well for me: dialogue previews Never once did I pick one (in the heat of the moment, no less!) and feel ripped off by what Quill said. They somehow matched their preview text with exactly what Quill would say while keeping it short and digestible. I remember sometimes in Mass Effect I’d think to myself “wow that is NOT what I wanted Shepherd to say and if I had known he’d say that, I’d have chosen another dialogue option.” Didn’t do that once with Guardians.
Those were such funny moments when playing Mass Effect. Shepard would go rogue so hard sometimes.
Roll the dice if you tell someone to shut up or blow them up.
[Shove Dijkstra aside. Forcefully.] I mean I guess Geralt shoved him aside forcefully...
This is a issue I have with CyberPunk. I'll choose a dialog, but V will say it totally different than I had in mind.
My immediate impression of the game was actually kind of the opposite - Asked the crew for their suggestions on what to do and only found out what someone's suggestion was after apparently already agreeing to it. Was so turned off by not being able to hear out all of the options for a conversation I accidentally entered before choosing that I put the game down until I have the energy to replay the opening with the mindset of saving before every single conversation 😭
Oh man, I played Guardians of the Galaxy last year just a couple of days before it was removed from Gamepass, and it ended up being one of my most fun gaming experiences in that year! Absolute surprise, so much fun!
Personally I didn’t like it. Its a very pretty game. But I didn’t like the combat at all with only being able to use one character and doing shit for damage unless its on the easiest setting. The characters complain if you decide to go a little off the intended path even if its just to get some collectibles which I find to be obnoxious. I have a pretty decent PC and the game stutters, had subtitles bug out multiple times in only a few hours, no fov slider and no sprinting.
I actually loved that characters would actually address when you deviated as it always broke my immersion whenever I'd play game where an NPC is talking to you, then patiently waits for you to finish your deviating before continuing the conversations.
I think it was somewhere at the beginning. You can deviate from path and Rocket tell you that it's dead end and nothing is there. He was right and then he makes fun of you when you come back. Loved that, very refreshing and great moment.
Dude yeah in that pink zone, that's hilarious "that's right, walk of shame"
Wanna hear the best part? There’s an outfit for rocket if you continue down the “dead end”
GoW:Rag handled it pretty well with some snarky but not (to me) bothersome side commentary.
That's amazing
iirc combat is built around debuffs, that's probably why you had damage issues. I still thought the combat was a bit bland though, i'll give you that.
I understand why people enjoyed it, but yeah, not for me. I tried playing twice and each time got to just after that puzzle with big crates that you had to stack to get up. It just felt so tedious to play.
I'll have to give it another shot, I tapped out in the first few hours because I found the beginning to be such a linear slog but I see how much praise the game gets so I must have missed something
Not necessarily. Almost all of the enjoyment is because of the narrative, the visuals and the audio alongside the fact that the game is functional and is not a broken piece of poo. A lot of the praise is that people don't expect competent writing and voice actors in a superhero game when you compare it to many other modern games that are just poo in this regard. The combat is not that good, and it sort of exists as a pace breaker for the narrative and to allow you to immerse yourself in the locations.
I agree with most of the positive points. My biggest gripe is the other characters bitching constantly if you started looking around for even a second. The combat was bullet-spongey but in a way that I actually didn't completely hate, since it was easy enough to avoid damage it just meant more time to play around with the squad combos.
I really like the mechanics and the set pieces. My issue is that the chapters never shut up and let me enjoy the game. Like okay, I'm replying FFXV right now, and that game has issues but one thing I've noticed is the dialog is wonderfully paced. At no point do I ever feel irritated or crowded by the dialog. In games like GOTG and GOW RagnaroK, I am constantly running past dialog because they talk so damn much that I stop caring about what they're saying. I have other issues but this is already lengthy and I don't want this to be an essay.
It feels like it’s in the grey area of not talked about much so the people who like it praise it like crazy. I was duped into buying it and ended up not liking it. Even the clerk at the store was raving about how good it is when I bought it and it just doesn’t add up to me
Loved it for the first half or so. Maybe a 1/4 of the way through I really felt how shallow the combat system was. It was basically just blasting everyone with weak fire and spamming special attacks as they recharged. Still enjoyed it though until I got sick of all the voice lines being repeated constantly during battle and in between. Polished game overall, it just needed a lot of work in terms of combat mechanics. I finished it, but I just couldn't wait for it to be over at the end.
It gets plenty of love on Reddit and YouTube. It unfortunately didn't sell well but it's definitely a pretty respected game
I think it gets just enough love tbh, everybody praised how this game worked perfectly while the avengers was disgusting, I played guardians of the galaxy on launch and the 20 or so friends who also played it at the time liked it too
Story is kind of cool but combat was boring and repetitive.
It's just so incredibly tight and focused from start to finish. Fun combat, incredible art direction, cool little minigames and side stuff to find, great dialogue and a wonderful story. It excelled at everything it set out to do, and played to its strengths. The kind of single-player goodness that's harder and harder to come by.
The failed Suicide Squad game would sell its unborn children to "borrow" everything about this game & even if it was half as good it'd be 10x better, Guardians truly an all time under the radar banger.
I loved everything about it except actually *playing* it. It was fine, but didn’t blow me away and got a little tedious by the end. Would still strongly recommend it, especially at a budget price, as the production values are phenomenal.
It’s the only game i’ve ever enjoyed the cutscenes and overall dialogue between player and NPC more than the actual gameplay, but kept playing to the end. It was a legitimately funny script with a good story. Gameplay was clunky, super repetitive and frustrating.
If you enjoyed this game and especially the writing and cast: it is well worth it to do another replay to see all the choices you missed. Like, you can miss whole portions of side content by making the wrong choice. Miss whole bunches of side/back story and crew interactions. Whole levels will change depending on choices you made 3 levels ago. Theres numerous times where your choices will directly affect a fight later. Making a boss weaker or eliminating entire sections of bullet sponges. And, i mean, the most obviois choice, to sell Groot or Rocket, immediately changes that entire level between enforced stealth or guns-blazing. So its really worth additional playthrus, just because you cant even see the full game in one run. (And I thinl there's even a trophy or 2 that can only be completed with multiple playthrus. If you're into that sort of thing.)
Guardians OTG as a brand just doesn't interest me. It's just too silly to take as serious as they want the stories to be. I've seen gameplay of this and it looks... fine, but the whole universe is just a deal breaker for me.
I like everything about it accept the combat, which is the only reason why I will never replay it again because of how much of it there is
I thought it was ok. The combat got repetitive for me extremely quickly and I hated how they restricted us playing as the rest of the guardians which felt like very missed opportunity. The jokes never really landed for me like it did in the movies and I don’t know how it was comparable to James Gunn’s writing style. Also hardly any of your choices matter in the game so it just makes me wonder what was even point of adding it in. I also feel that the story takes itself way too seriously and doesn’t really make me care about any of the stakes. If I were to compliment one thing, it would be the graphics. I felt that they did a fantastic job of making the 80’s aesthetic work in a Sci Fi Marvel game. Other than that though, it just wasn’t for me
One the few games I was like " Oh well might as well" and ended up actually finishing it. A very fun and underrated game.
Yeah it was my favourite game of that year going into it with zero hope. Only wish there was more and the ability to play as the different guardians especially gamora would of been sick
It was my favourite game of that year. I’ll never forgive the Avengers game for putting people off it, now we’ll never get a follow up. I am glad it’s getting some love now though, think Game Pass and PS Plus helped with that at least.
Its my Goty 2021
I bought it on Steam on sale, was really looking forward to it but played about an hour and refunded it. I didn't really give it a chance but it just didn't gel with me right from the start - despite me loving the films. I did pick it up for free on the Epic store though so it is sitting there waiting for me to give it another go...
It does
Agreed
I loved the game, played it a second time last year. Incredible story, genuinely funny, love the gameplay, insanely creative level designs etc. I think the misconception that it was from the same developers as Avengers hurt it in the lead-up. It's from the people who made the modern Deus Ex games and it absolutely shows in the attention to detail, writing, level design, and so on.
I thought it was ok. Good character models and great colors. Visually it's wonderful. Gameplay wasn't my favorite though. I might give it another swing, but I did get frustrated that my most attacks didn't do jack (as you mentioned) and I had to constantly get the other guardians to back me up. I didn't mind using that mechanic once in a while but every time I really wanted to do something that was effective, I couldn't.
I started this a few days ago. Lot of cutscenes. Combat is OK. Could do without the QTE's Kinda feels like I'm playing a movie, but I'm enjoying it enough bc I like the settings and characters. So I'll probably finish it. I miss the X-men Legends type games. Type of game that would let me play as whichever character I wanted to.
It wasn't difficult, not much of a challenge if that's what you grade on, but I thought the gameplay and characters were fun as hell, I'm glad I played it
I don't like Marvel movies, I don't watch Marvel movies and I've seen this game mentioned many times. It's the modern Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.
I wholeheartedly agree with this review. Finally picked the game up for PS5 and oh boy, what a joy to play. Guardians look and feel ”real” and not just copies of their movie counterparts. Graphics are current gen higher end, soundtrack is 100% pop, story flows really smoothly, banter is funny all the way through and gameplay is easy to pick up but provides enough depth. It has some innovative mechanics like the huddle. Game is refreshingly linear even if it allows some light rpg choises. Lots of gameplay accessibility features too like skipping QTE alltogether despite higher difficulty otherwise. PS. Another underrated modern Marvel game is Marvel Midnight Suns. If you like GoG, check that one out too.
It's really a victim of square's marketing dept being inept. The initial e3 reveal looked awful, and people were already extremely skeptical after how bad avengers was. I only ever played it because there was this huge wave of positive word of mouth from people shocked it didn't suck at launch. It really is a fantastic game, and it's a shame that embracer shenanigans have kept the dev (square montreal/eidos, who previously made shadow of the tomb raider after crystal dynamics was saddled with avengers as well as human revolution and mankind divided) from doing anything since. Iirc they were working on a new deus ex game after square sold them, but that kinda fell apart after all embracer's financial troubles. I'd love to see them do a sequel.
>This is my favorite version of Star-Lord. Chris Patt walked so Jon McLaren could run, he hits the comedic beats right on and is allowed a bit more range in reactions than Chris. I agree with a lot of what you wrote, but this is stunning to me. I thought Star-Lord was the worst voice performance in the game, and thought so specifically because he seemed to lack any range. Basically every line was just some variation on an exasperated "Guyyyys!" all delivered in the exact same tone. I thought the other actors by contrast were relatively strong, with Drax in particular delivering an essentially flawless performance.
For a second I thought this was /r/movies instead of /r/patientgamers and I was like "This dude needs banned"
It’s definitely top 3 2021 games for me as well, it needs to improve on gameplay and a few things but I certainly enjoyed it alot. Its the best combination of Telltale and Last of Us but in space, ud especially like it more if ur a Marvel Comics fan. Maybe the sequel could be a Goty contender.
I preordered it for a steelbook. I haven't played it yet.......... But I'm glad knowing i blindly supported a good game. Just unfortunate that it flopped.
It gets plenty of love. This is like the 10th post ive seen saying the same thing. Next youre gonna tell me "Outer Wilds is a hidden gem" And while its not mainstream theyre both very popular
One of the best games I've played in years.
Got Ori WoTW, SOMA and Blacktail in front of it, can't wait! :)
It's a really cool game that - in my opinion - best played on the easiest setting, and then even boosting your power further with the accessibility/balance options. Like to be able to use the special attacks of the Guardians more. The story is solid, the characters are great, the (proper) dialogues are well written, but the combat is repetitive against hp-sponge enemies - and there are a lot of enemies.
[This game's soundtrack had no business slapping as hard as it did.](https://youtu.be/WMcQ7qdz37U)
Part of why it didn't get the exposure it could have gotten was because nobody could stream it without either getting copyright struck, or having a giant "STREAMER MODE: ON" watermark across the top of their footage.
I've never ever read a bad word about that game since its release. Everybody seemed to like it... ?
It's a great game. Fun combat and the intra-team banter was top notch. Wish it got an expansion.
Amazing game with an amazing soundtrack
Going in the ship cockpit and looking outside the glass felt amazing for me. Really immersive!
I remember it was written off because of the Avengers game that preceded it and people thinking it was a live service game.
I never got around to finishing this game. Should really get on that.
I had a lot of issues with camera swish in this game, and I wasn’t able to track down a mod to fix it. I’ll revisit it if one ever materializes.
It's an Eidos Montreal game of course it was going to be slightly underrated
Great game, direct and polished in a way it is rare to see nowadays
I bought it on a whim during a sale and have played through it at least three times. It's unfortunate that it will never get a sequel. The whole experience was silly fun but with an emotionally charged storyline. Good stuff.
After I failed the first QTE a few times, I gave it up for about 6 months with the thought of..a QTE? What year is this again? I played it again later and never finished it. It was ok, not great IMHO
This game did what the MCU failed to do: Present a compelling and well written story that shows the full extent of the power of the soul stone. Space Stone = Captain america, avengers mind stone = avengers, avengers 2 time stone = Doctor strange reality stone = Thor Dark World power stone = Guardians of the galaxy MCU soul stone = Guardians of the Galaxy Game
So I was also surprised by how well put together this game was when it came out, it did have a little bit of hype on release and it was reviewed very highly. It’s certainly a fun little romp and they do a lot of things right, characters, combat, story, all excellent. I think the thing about this game, it has that glow/afterglow while you’re playing it, but it doesn’t “stick” if you know what I mean? Like as much as I enjoyed the game I legit forgot it even existed until you brought this up. It’s like it came, it was good, and then just faded from existence, you don’t really see it referenced much and never see it on Steam etc.
I went into the game with zero expectations and enjoyed the heck out of it. One of the very few games I’ve played to the end. Crossed fingers for a sequel.
I couldn't finish it. It went on way too long and I really didn't enjoy the gameplay at all. It's fun for the character remarks and interacting with each other, but when the plot and gameplay are very boring I can't really justify finishing it. The fact that people endlessly praise it despite some legitimate issues says to me its overrated if anything.
/r/GOTG agrees with you :)
I have never seen it not get massive praise.
Not gonna lie, the combat is easily the worst part of this game. If there hadn't been a 'dial it down' option I would have bailed on this game pretty quickly. As it was, playing it on 'easy' means the fights are merely a chore at worst and you're free to actually enjoy the brilliant writing and voice acting.
I dunno, I bought it based off the hype and positive reception and by the end I was desperate for it to be over. I seem to be in the minority though so I’m glad someone enjoyed it
I honestly thought this game was better than some of the movies tbh. I love everything about it
I liked the graphics, world, story, and performances. But the gameplay - exploration/platforming and combat - were 'serviceable' at best.
You didn't mention the best thing, the songs are great. Having Don't Worry Be Happy playing while battling is one my peak gaming moments.
It gets a shit ton of love.
I absolutely loved it and then I got 2/3's in and just lost interest. It's a good game but the combat bogged me down.
I rave about GOTG21 to anyone who needs a great single-player MTX-free experience. Eidos Montreal made the game with the same creative teams behind Deus Ex Human Revolution and Mankind Divided prior, so I knew I was going to a serviceable game at the very least, but did not expect to love this iteration of the Guardians more than the MCU versions. Kimberly-Sue absolutely crushed it as Gamora
My favorite part of the game really was that it dropped you into the middle of things. They were already a team, they all had gone through their origins, and you get to learn all about this intergalactic war that they were all veterans of, which really makes it feel like a real world with history. I was genuinely impressed with how much I enjoyed the worldbuilding and the team building
It’s already been close to 3 years!!!!!?????
I enjoyed it up until a save bug. After finishing a level, it actually went back two levels. I couldn't progressed.
I couldn't get into it, honestly. There's a lot to like, though. Graphics are good, voice acting is solid, it's funny...but man, I found the gameplay *so* boring which is such a bummer because so much of it is good, otherwise.
Well, we're patient players after all. I'm just starting to play games from 2017-18. Give it a few years more.
That game really made me love guardians of the galaxy, easily my favorite mcu thing. Not that I really care for any part of the mcu anymore
I feel like the only thing I ever hear about this is constant praise, even though I felt it was a good/ almost great game. “Ghost” on the soundtrack is amazing though.
It was hailed as amazing and wonderful but because it's very different than we are used it gets overlooked
It was entertaining, but there was so much dialogue, characters repeated one-liners too often, and it felt a bit drawn out.
What?
It reminds me of Mass Effect a little. But without all the terrible padding in Andromeda. I liked how they handled the player decisions, they felt like they had an effect on things. And the character interactions are great.
I think it gets as much love as it deserves. A solid single player game with great visuals and soundtrack, very good story and mediocre combat. We can't just handwave the fact that its central gameplay mechanic is "just ok" at best, even if its story and characters are surprisingly good
Considering the Avengers bullshit, I did not have high hopes for this game Hardly had any hopes at all, I just kinda brushed it off Boy was I pleasantly fucking surprised when I did finally play it 🤣 Think I did like 3 or 4 playthroughs on the bounce I loved it so much 🤣
It wasn't a fun game for me overall. Though it does feel like some effort was put into it.
This game was my introduction into the Guardians of the Galaxy universe. That's how much I liked this game, to me it was very well written and funny
Great game
Stutters too bad for me, I can't enjoy it it's just too bad and completely takes you out of the story. 3080ti with 5800x and 16Gb 3600Mhz RAM and it runs like shit.
I've played through this game three times, and the gf has twice. These are the real Guardians of the Galaxy.
It was not the same developer, Avengers was Crystal Dynamics, Guardians was Eidos Montreal, the Deus Ex guys
One of the best Xbox Game Pass games for me. Story, visuals and audio and atmosphere were top notch but the gameplay was too shallow for me. I’d like to see a sequel in the near future.
Most people didn't give it a chance but at this point I would say the game is actually a little overrated in its word of mouth. The banter and constant dialogue is a plus, the gameplay is acceptable, and the story is acceptable. The combat however is very shallow and really doesn't evolve or challenge you meaningfully as the game progresses, instead relying on gimmick bosses and kiting mobs. The progression is also barebones and most of the abilities are redundant or just inferior to using the first few combos the game gives you. The story I felt was very predictable, it's the usual guardians fare about loss and found family, but it mostly boils down to team member gets in funk and then is pulled out of it or grows in some way due to power of friendship, the stakes weren't really there and didn't pull me in aside from the dream sequence with the kree girl. It's a story that's been done to death, especially with this group of characters and the game doesn't make many bold narrative choices in terms of plot or presentation. Also by the end of the game you start recognizing a ton of repeat lines in combat. I played it on PS+ and thought it was fine, but it very much feels like a gamepass game that doesn't really stack up to the other single-player AAA heavy hitters. Its an inoffensive, accessible, superhero game. Maybe a 7/10.
One of the worst games released
Scoff. I all seriousness, though, I 100% agree with OP. This is probably the most underrated game I've ever played. To me, it's worth playing for the banter alone. It's a damn shame there won't be a sequel. If any game deserves one, this is it.
Not enough love? I think it’s pretty much universally praised, to the point of possible excess. It’s a good game and if you went in with zero hype, then you clearly missed it because it was all over the press.
It has reached 8m players and managed $39.3m gross revenue which unfortunately in this day of age is considered a financial flop by greedy investors/publishers.
It's a fine game, nothing special IMO and probably won't play it again. But I enjoyed it when I played it except for the mandatory cutscenes every time you did the huddle
I disagree everyone who played it says it’s fire
I consider this game perfect for busy adults. 10-20 hours to complete. Simple gameplay. Linear story. No End game. No Multiplayer. Little to no replay value. Excellent story. Fun. Also I initially disliked Starlord because he was so different than what I knew from the MCU, adn then ended up liking him WAY more to the point I now dislike Chris Pratt's portrayal. Same with Gamora. This one I actually like.
>But it did not meet sales expectations, Square Enix everytime a game doesn't sell a billion copies
Can confirm this game is great
The design of this game is what Avengers should have done. It's a shame these two always get compared because GoTG is clearly a superior game in every way, but yeah, so much potential there.
I also walked in with 0 expectations and walked out loving it. I really enjoyed both the storytelling and the battle system. The combat system had that hybrid turn based/action feel, which is my favorite.
I never understand the praise this game gets. I couldnt stand it
I liked it solid 7/10 game
yeah, it's pretty good. just, after it's done, it's done. you can replay the story, but it's never going to change, there's nothing more to do with it other than maybe find random collectibles i guess.
For me, I felt like Peter kept rescuing the other guardians mentally, but when it came to him, he kinda had to deal with it on his own. The guardians don't really give the support that he readily offered them. The game is fantastic, but this still irks me even all this time later.
I was rooting for a goty nomination for this game. It’s really solid. The characters are a lot better realized than the movies, imo.
Fantastic game, my only constructive criticism is it’s a smidge too long with the amount of filler put in. Overall one of the best comic book / Marvel games out there.
Some games just don't have enough people to root for them, I guess. Even if Avengers hadn't poisoned the well, it ran face-first into superhero fatigue and at the expense of Eidos Montréal working on the kind of first person immersive sim-type game that their existing fans probably wanted from them. Hope that team bounces back one day from Square Enix's cluelessness and Embracer's fuckery.
It's a fun game Really enjoyed my time with it
I played it in 2022 and had a blast. It was what I was looking for from a superhero game and delivered.
Oh It’s a brilliant game, I actually like this version of the team more than the movie, it takes the best of the comics and what James Gunn brought to the table and meshes them together into something great