Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy review: the best surprise of 2021

I went into WonderfulGuardians of the Galaxy expecting some laughs, but the tears surprised me. I’m an emotional guy and I’m sure of the fact that I cried during multiple Marvel video games and movies. But there is an exploration of the loss in the last outing from Eidos Montreal that really took me by surprise.

Then again: nothing about Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy It is quite what I expected.

Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy is a third person action game where you play as Peter Quill AKA Star-Lord, the 80’s obsessed captain of mercenaries turned heroes. The game takes you and your squad to a variety of planets where you will have to shoot enemies with your double pistols and order the rest of the Guardians to perform special moves in combat. The quieter moments of the game have you explore the strangest parts of the Marvel galaxy, select dialogue options and use your allies to break down walls or create bridges from branches. But, at best, the bridges and walls in Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy they are, in a sense, purely metaphorical, and their relationship with their fellow crew members is paramount.

Most of the 16 chapters show the Guardians fighting their way through a new planet, ship, or space station, shooting shit, launching into scenes, and solving environmental puzzles with Drax’s strength or Rocket’s hacking skills. As I move, I can press one of the shoulder buttons during key moments to select a dialogue option, directing conversations in one direction or another. Sometimes the game comes up with a typical “Rocket will remember this” message, and sometimes my entry just adds a little spice.

Combat occasionally interrupts exploration, and as a Star Lord, it’s my job not only to fight, but to command the rest of the team. Groot is excellent at bonding enemies to their roots, while Gamora excels at dealing heavy damage to individual enemies. Guardians nails a sense of camaraderie so strong that when a member is absent from combat, I feel the loss.

However, Eidos Montreal understands its source material and knows that storylines and internal drama are essential to the Guardians’ dynamic. About halfway through my adventure, everyone on the team felt a bit disenfranchised. Rocket and Star-Lord were in the middle of an argument. Gamora was depressed for unknown reasons. Drax had given up unusually. And Groot … it was Groot. I walked into a space station, and within minutes, we had all gone our separate ways. For the first time, I was separated from my teammates, and it is to the credit of this game that I really felt alone.

Eventually I came across Drax staring into a great cosmic void. Dialog options popped up and we started chatting. Canonically, these characters’ past is not exactly the same as that of the James Gunn Marvel movies, but there is at least one constant: Peter Quill and Drax the Destroyer have lost their families to tragedy. Like Peter, I explained the human concept of heaven to Drax, and he explained the beliefs of his own people. Drax ended the conversation by asking for some alone time, but as I walked away, he stopped me to say, “Peter Quill, I hope your mother found her way to ‘heaven’.” On its own, the line may seem trivial, but at the end of an unusually emotional conversation with an otherwise stoic brute, it was poignant.

All Guardians have strong personalities, so seeing them come together is the highlight of an already excellent game. At one point, I denied Drax when he suggested that we just throw Rocket across a chasm and then let ourselves cross, and we all took the longer path. Throughout hours of their environmental talk, I watched the couple build a friendly relationship with each other that I helped nurture. When Rocket himself finally asked Drax to kick him out for the good of the team, much like Gimli in The two Towers Drax denied the request, saying that Rocket was a valuable teammate, not a tool. We found another way around it at Drax’s urging.

I’m not sure if that moment would have happened if I hadn’t said no to Drax’s initial release, but I’m not sure I care. What matters to me is that I saw their relationship develop from animosity to trust and respect; finally, Drax saw the same potential in Rocket as I did.

One of my favorite moments in Guardians of the Galaxy It didn’t happen until I got closer to the end. After spending the entire game telling Groot to make bridges for the team, Groot walked to a hole and put up a bridge without me asking. At first I thought it was a mistake, but Peter congratulated Groot on his initiative. Similarly, Rocket began hacking electronic devices on his own account. I treated my teammates with respect from the start, and they gave it back to me in the game itself.

Guardians of the Galaxy it’s full of genuine moments like these. Guardians never stop attacking each other, it is their nature, but it is the difference between intentionally hurting the feelings of a rival child and making fun of a sibling. True to life, Guardians don’t change a penny when you say the magic words: their evolution is gradual and sometimes painful.

Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy It is about the difficulties that come with friendship and family, but also about how necessary connection is for all of us. The game shows how frustrating characters like Rocket Raccoon can be. But in his absence, I found myself exploring less and pushing the story only to find my way back to him, even if he was still mad at me, anything to not be alone anymore. It takes work to love someone, or a group of people, and it is that shared work that Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy take advantage of.

Life can be isolated, and I’ve turned to many video games to make friends and help keep in touch with real-life loved ones across the country or, for the past year, just around the corner. Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy They won’t fool you into thinking you’re having those same genuine social interactions with the people you care about. But to Eidos Montreal’s great credit, the Guardians put on a compelling performance.

I always hoped to fly around the aliens in Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy. But its new place as one of the most emotionally resonant video game stories in recent memory makes it easily the best surprise of 2021.

Marvel Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on October 26 on Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Windows PERSONAL COMPUTER, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. A “cloud version” will also arrive Nintendo switch on launch day. The game was reviewed on PlayStation 5 using a pre-launch download code provided by Eidos Montreal and Square Enix. Vox Media has affiliate associations. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.