Square Enix's Hawkeye being added post-launch) as they struggle against the forces of AIM in the aftermath of a disastrous Avengers-related failure which comes to be known as A-Day.
In practice, this means players will be fighting lots and lots of robots. The tutorial mission and subsequent stages are somewhat linear in nature, acting more as a theme park ride through flashy action scenes than an actual interactive experience, but once Marvel's Avengers opens up properly and players are allowed to access multiple locations and multiplayer missions from the Avengers' War Table, the full scope of the game finally becomes clear.
Marvel's Avengers is clearly planning on being a constantly evolving, ever-changing service, and everything from its level design to its gear menus seems specifically created for that purpose. The game practically smothers players with different potential customization options, many of which are unavailable early on, and the constant discovery of in-mission loot like crafting materials with varying degrees of rarity is proof that the developers at Crystal Dynamics are, at some point, expecting players to do a lot of grinding in Marvel's Avengers.
Missions in Marvel's Avengers are selected from the War Table, which then takes players to a lobby where they can link up and play with up to three of their friends (or three strangers) provided no one wants to be the same superhero. Marvel's Avengers can also be played solo, in which case the remaining slots will be randomly filled by AI companions, but the nature of some of Marvel's Avengers tasks quickly proves that having teammates who can think, reason, and coordinate attacks will always be better than playing alongside a computer. Every hero has a light attack (which will be mashed often) and a heavy attack, as well as their own signature special moves and abilities.
Marvel's Avengers isn't a terribly difficult game, but it can be frustrating, especially when the AI companions aren't pulling their weight in battle. The robotic enemies players spend most of their time fighting are nearly entirely devoid of characterization, and even though the developers have done a great job at making multiple different types of enemies which must be attacked in different ways, by choosing to bombard players with them over and over again in waves the end result sees Marvel's Avengers feeling incredibly repetitive far sooner than it should. It's worth noting that this is only a beta release, and there will likely be more enemy variety in the final version of the game, but for now it's hard to differentiate one massive enemy encounter from the next.
Much like an online shooter or battle royale game, Destiny 2, but the experience is greatly enhanced by the different ways each of the Avengers move and fight. Building momentum through repetitive jumps as The Hulk feels and controls very different to gliding through the air as Iron Man, and Marvel fans should rest assured that each character featured is a fantastic representation of their favorite heroes even if their faces don't look like what they do in the movies.
Given the segmented, modular nature of these missions, it's easy to see how Crystal Dynamics will make Spider-Man a PlayStation exclusive character without sacrificing the game's story. Story missions are marked on the Avengers' War Table with an A logo, but the game also offers plenty of non-story missions involving one of the tasks mentioned above. The entire game seems designed specifically for this purpose, allowing the developers to not only re-use enemies over and over again but locations, tasks, and mission structures as well.
The actual moment-to-moment gameplay of Marvel's Avengers can be quite enjoyable, and the fluid way characters like Kamala Kahn and Iron Man control make it clear that any one of these characters could an entire game on their own, especially if it was given a structure and story similar to something found in Marvel's Spider-Man on the PS4 or the Batman Arkham games. The few boss fights available in the playable build of Marvel's Avengers were where the game really shined, punctuated by a entertaining encounter between The Hulk and Abomination that ends in a very satisfying manner. Unfortunately, the repetitive and homogeneous nature of the rest of the experience becomes evident rather early, and its hard to see anyone who isn't already a super-fan of these characters enjoying playing Marvel's Avengers for years to come, which is clearly what the developers are intending.
Marvel's Avengers is scheduled to launch on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on September 4th, and it will also be offering a beta test to players starting this month. PlayStation 4 owners who have already preordered Marvel's Avengers will have access to this beta on August 7th, and on August 14th the beta will be available to everyone on PS4 whether they preordered the game or not. For Xbox One and PC players who preordered, their access to the beta also starts on the 14th, and then all Xbox and PC s can try Marvel's Avengers' beta for free starting August 21st.
