Historically, tie-in games have been a flaming pile of garbage, so when I saw that Guardians of the Galaxy is getting its own tie-in game around the same time the Guardians of the Galaxy 3 movie was starting production, I immediately wrote it off as yet another cash grab.
But then the strangest thing happened. I was browsing through my collection and I just found it sitting in my account. Usually I'd just go "huh, that's odd" and move on with my life, but this time around I actually decided to listen to that little gremlin rampaging inside my head and give it a try. At worst, I could just have a few laughs at its expense and that would be it.
And you know what? I did laugh, and quite often at that! But not because Guardians of the Galaxy was something to mock, but rather because it was an actually well written, creative and unique adventure that did justice to the larger-than-life characters and the bizarre world they inhabit.
Video version of this recommendation (~13 minutes)
Surprisingly genuine characters
And mind you, when I say that the Guardians of the Galaxy are a story-focused adventure, I mean that quite literally. You're going to spend a lot of time listening to the characters bicker amongst themselves, making crude jokes whenever anyone messes up, and in general just commenting on essentially everything happening around them. Even when you're just running around and exploring new areas the characters will constantly have new things to say - either to help advance the plot, guide you to the next area, crack a joke, or just to share some hints about their personal lives and relationships with the other crew members.
In a worse game this could very easily get aggravating and ruin the experience - just look at the Bubsy games - but thankfully the writing and voice acting in Guardians of the Galaxy is great across the board. The characters are silly, but they're never 'lol random' kind of silly. They squabble amongst themselves when they're relaxed, but whenever the stakes are raised and it's do-or-die they're 100% serious and focused. This might not sound like a big deal, but this little bit of realism really helps ground the characters and make them feel like actual people rather than just mobile joke dispensers.
Another thing that shocked me was the fact that the jokes aren't just low brow. It would've been easy to simply package a bunch of insults as jokes and call it a day, but thankfully Guardians of the Galaxy is above that... sort of. The characters still swear like sailors and insult each other, though primarily using made up words like 'flark' or 'scutt', but that's very rarely the punchline. The actual jokes usually come from the vastly different personalities of the main cast clashing, which feels far more natural. Less like you're watching a comedy show, and more like you're privy to in-jokes between a group of friends. Even when they're mean to each other you still feel like they care and that there is some real history behind them.
That's perhaps the best thing about the writing - even if you've never seen any of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies or read the comics, the characters and their relationships still come across as genuine. You can instantly tell that these are complex characters with feelings and emotions that go beyond the one-liners they spout. I love the fact that Rocket can go from insulting your mother in one sentence to being genuinely sad and compassionate in another. It's the kind of nuance that gives the characters real depth and makes them feel... well, real! And you know what? I love that kind of stuff!
I also love the stupid space llama. Best new character!
Main storyline
As for the actual story tying it all together, I think it's just okay. There were some great moments all throughout the campaign, and I enjoyed it enough that I finished the whole thing within a single week, but the overarching narrative was just a little bit too 'by the numbers' for my tastes. It felt like a very classic story that, while it did have plenty of twists and turns, mostly went the way I expected it to.
However, the paths it would take to get there were often completely unexpected on account of both the Guardians, and the world itself, being kind of crazy. The times where everything went 'off script' were always a favorite of mine as it would pull the focus away from the main narrative and onto the characters and their interactions, which is where Guardians of the Galaxy's writing truly shines. So while I don't mind the campaign by any stretch, I do feel like the game would've gelled better with a less grandiose, more personal story about the team coming together.
Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good stuff in the campaign as well
Combat woes
In between all of the chatter you'll also have a chance to utilize all five characters in massive battles against dozens of opponents. It sort of, vaguely - not really - works like Mass Effect. You control the main character, in this case Star-Lord, and then issue special commands to your teammates in order to utilize their unique abilities. If you don't, they'll just do their thing until you call upon them. Groot is good at crowd control and can root enemies, Gamora deals an insane amount of burst damage, Drax is good at stunning big boys and breaking their shields, while Rocket makes things go 'BOOM'.
While Star-Lord, as the main character, has a couple of extra abilities you're still only one fifth of the team. In other words, you're never going to be a one-man killing machine destroying everything in front of you like in some other adventure games. Instead, if you want to succeed you'll have to work as a team, which is where my big problem with Guardians of the Galaxy comes into play.
Because of how team-focused the combat is, your individual contribution doesn't feel all that impactful. Even on normal difficulty your guns do an abysmal amount of damage and you'll have to drill even the most basic of enemies for like 10 seconds in order to bring them down. Needlessly bullet spongy enemies is what soured me on Borderlands 2's endgame many moons ago, so to see it as an intended mechanic in Guardians of the Galaxy really didn't sit well with me.
Now mind you, when you're shooting out special abilities left and right the combat feels great. The enemies explode, freeze, get thrown into pits or just ragdoll all over the place once Drax gets a hand on them. But when those abilities go on cooldown and I'm forced to spend a dozen seconds just running around shooting sparklers at enemies that couldn't care less, I always find myself thinking about how much more fun it would be if the fight was just over and I was back to watching the characters interact.
The combat is like 80% there. Shame they didn't spruce it up further.
Exploring strange new worlds
Thankfully the combat encounters are not that frequent, and outside of special setpieces they're generally separated by just enough exploration and chatter that I never felt actually bored. Still, the combat is sadly the weakest aspect of the game, and not something I would recommend grabbing Guardians of the Galaxy for.
What works a lot better is the exploration. Much like combat, each of your characters has unique strengths you can leverage in order to solve a variety of puzzles and look for secrets. It's never anything too complex, even later in the game, since it's always obvious what each character is supposed to be doing at any given time. But even so, I found it all to be a nice distraction - just something to keep my mind occupied while I soak in the atmosphere and listen to the bickering.
The levels are similarly quite simple. They might look massive on occasion, but in reality they're just linear paths with a couple of branches here and there to give the more adventurous players a few extra treats. These usually come in the form of upgrade materials which are used for things so generic I'm not even going to talk about them, extra costumes inspired by the movies and comics which are always a fun thing to unlock, as well as random items that you can then discuss back at your ship.
For me that last part is the real prize as every single one of these items results in a lengthy heart-to-heart with one of your crew members. These conversations are generally more emotional than they are funny as they delve into everyone's backstory and the things that keep them going despite seeing endless horrors on a daily basis. These conversations have been a highlight of each chapter for me and something I was always looking forward to, so if you do end up grabbing Guardians of the Galaxy definitely spend a few extra minutes scouring each area. It's well worth it!
You can find some weird stuff out there!
Visuals and atmosphere
You'll probably want to do that anyway just to enjoy the scenery because Guardians of the Galaxy is a beautiful game, and I'm not just talking about the graphical fidelity. It's more so the design of the levels and enemies that has captured my imagination. Instead of going for generic space fantasy, Guardians of the Galaxy fully embraces the alien and the bizarre. It's because of this that a planet full of jelly monsters doesn't feel like a joke, even though it kind of is, but rather an interesting place with its own unique flora and fauna.
My personal favorite place was Knowhere - a mining colony/black market nestled within the severed head of a god. It's an incredibly skeezy place full of scammers and thugs, yet with so much personality that I spent a fair bit of time just wandering around. After all, someone spent a lot of time adding little details and character interactions all over the place, so it only felt appropriate to take a breather and let it all soak in.
Another big part of the game, and sadly one I can't really showcase on YouTube, is the music. Much like the movies, the Guardians of the Galaxy game borrows a lot of 80's classics to help build the atmosphere and add a bit of pizzazz to the combat sequences. Even the original music is good, but what's really cool about it is that they actually went and recorded an entire album as the fictional Star-Lord band - the same one that inspired Peter's name. It's a level of dedication and love for the game that I simply never expected to see from a tie in. Also, the album is a banger, so if you're into classic metal definitely give it a listen!
The jellies are both a joke and a serious creature, and I kinda like that!
Closing thoughts
Much like its titular track, Zero to Hero, the Guardians of the Galaxy game has risen from the depths of indifference to completely winning me over. Sure, the combat can be a bit tiresome, but it's well worth punching through that to experience some of the most entertaining character interactions I've seen outside of full-blown RPGs.
So if you're in the mood for a story-focused adventure that will take you all across the universe, I'd heartily recommend you give Guardians of the Galaxy a try. I had a blast with it, and I have a feeling you might too.
Oh, and since this is a fairly old game by this point, it frequently drops to around 10 bucks on sales. So unless you have 'bathe in a pool of it like Scrooge' amounts of money, it would be a good idea to catch it during one of these. Enjoy!