Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version Review (Switch eShop)

A terrible way to play a very good game. That pretty much sums up our thoughts on this cloud version of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy on Switch. Where we previously rated cloud versions like Hitman 3 and The Forgotten City as worth your time and money, with the caveat that streaming has its inherent weaknesses, Marvel’s action-packed adventure just can’t cut the mustard.

This is a game packed with busy fight sequences, sequences that only get more intense as the story progresses, and we found that even with a flawless 5G wireless connection, or a super-fast wired one, we had ongoing issues. with input lag, stuttering, huge dips, freezes and total disconnects. When you’ve shell out downright ridiculous sixty pounds or dollars for the privilege, you often get a message saying that the servers are currently overloaded as your experience turns into a slideshow … well, it’s infuriating to say the least.

Traversing the levels here, which is mostly made up of simple platforms and negotiating some tricky obstacles, becomes a chore. Hovering over items to pick them up feels messy, firing Star Lord’s bench pistols is hit or miss, QTEs (which occur frequently) become deeply frustrating as their entries are not recorded on time and the resulting kills, which they see instant reboots in other versions of the game, they incur annoyingly long load times in this cloud version. It is absolutely the worst possible way to experience a game that deserves so much better.

It’s really a shame because played on other platforms, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is an absolute joy. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the MCU (and this writer is certainly pretty cool with that increasingly flabby cinematic universe), there are tons to enjoy here. With top-notch writing that, for our money, beats James Gunn’s theatrical exploration of these characters, constant uproarious laughter, hilarious dialogue, brilliant acting, and fabulously colorful and quirky alien planets to explore, it’s a game that takes you on a proper adventure and makes you feel like part of a really crazy bunch of misfits that you will come to worry about during their roughly twenty hour campaign. It also feels refreshingly streamlined; This is a single player experience with no unnecessary bloat, no adding multiplayer or other modes to artificially beef things up.

The combat, easily the weakest part of the game, is rudimentary and rather simplistic, but still fun that fits the characters’ badass and run-down, adaptive and survival style and gives you a chance to control each of the Guardians. in order. to take down groups of enemies. You take on the role of Peter Quill, aka Star-Lord, who can fly through the air above crowds of enemies or fire rapid-fire blaster shots that devour enemy health bars, but you can also use the other members. of the gang by holding on the ‘L’ button and sending them anywhere on the battlefield that requires your attention. Groot can unite groups of baddies, allowing you to get in and melee them without fear of retaliation, Gamora has hugely damaging ninja attacks to employ, Rocket provides explosive attack options, and Drax … well, Drax is very good at hitting. people. chop and throw large objects around.

All of these various Guardian abilities are also used in fairly simple but satisfying environmental puzzles that appear as you progress through the levels; cutting ropes with Gamora’s ninja slices, lifting obstacles with Drax, having Rocket fight his way into small spaces to activate a door, that sort of thing.

When you’re in combat, your team’s abilities work on a cooling system, and while it all adds up to nothing you haven’t experienced before in other games, the fights here get a definite boost from how silly it all is. There is no junk that is not played primarily for a laugh, and the constant witty banter between Guardians as you fight is thankfully never heard. A lot of this is also contextual, so it never feels like it just comes together, but instead complements the actions you’ve decided on while fighting and makes you feel like you’re actually part of a team that’s absolutely cheating. all the time.

There’s also the now-mandatory set of skills and perks to unlock, all of which require you to scan and research levels for collectible loot and none of this becomes a chore, it’s never too difficult to gather the little you need to have the kit. Rocket. with some new weapon skills, and the unlockable powers for each Guardian are strong and fast enough that the combat never gets too uniform before giving you something new to play with.

There’s a great art direction here too, with stunning alien sights, incredibly colorful environments, and truly warped – and often fun – enemy layouts to contend with. It really feels like you are on a seamless tour of some extremely strange parts of an extremely insane galaxy. And it’s all backed by a story that manages to generate a ton of laughs and a ton of team bonds while also getting personal, and sometimes even quite emotional, as it moves towards a suitably wacky ending.

It would also be remiss of us not to mention the incredible soundtrack. A veritable feast for your ears, it’s packed with classic rock anthems to play in your spare time in the center area of ​​the game ship, and often comes across as a perfect background noise, and perfectly timed comic relief, to some. one of the biggest in the game. boss fights.

In general, we like this game. We really like it, and if we were reviewing it on another platform it would take home a high score. However, everything we have said in praise of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy becomes completely inconsequential as, if you choose to play it through this version of the Switch cloud, a frustrating, very disappointing and unreasonably expensive experience awaits you. Yes, you may be a bit luckier than us; we can only review what we found (even though we were playing on a very solid connection), and sometimes it looks wonderful and even leaves you a bit lazy in terms of stuttering and lag, but in the end it’s such an unreliable experience that it never feels comfortable or satisfying. If you have options, we highly recommend that you choose this one on any other platform that you can; If your only option is Switch, we advise you to stay away.

conclusion

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a great game, a fun and colorful adventure filled with excellent writing, brilliant acting, and lots of crazy action and exploration to dig into. However, this cloud version of the Switch makes pretty much any praise we can lavish on it completely inconsequential, as it delivers a truly messy, slow, and unreliable experience, even when gaming over our super solid internet connection. and ultrafast. In short, it is a disastrous and ridiculously expensive way to play a game that deserves much better. Pick this up on another platform if you can and stay away from this mess.