Dec 7

Dec 7 Dave McAdam Says Carry On My Wayward Guardians | Winter Spectacular 2021

I almost always struggle to pick a game of the year. I can try to be "objective" and choose the most technically impressive Game of The Year, but that feels like a disservice to the artistry of game creation. I could pick the game that held my attention the most in the year, but that feels even more fickle and, quite frankly, that would probably make Destiny my Game of The Year, every year, for the last seven years. The only way I can make a decision on this topic is to follow my heart, and my heart says no game affected me more this year... There was no greater eclipse of the heart for me than Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Guardians of the Galaxy will feel familiar to folks who know these characters solely from the films, but this story is much more in line with what you would find in the comics. It's a great introduction to that, oftentimes much weirder, side of Marvel for MCU fans, who have really only gotten a small taste of the wider, wackier, Marvel cosmos.

In this game, the Guardians stumble from one calamity to the next. What starts out as a simple but very illegal scheme to get rich leads the Guardians to inadvertently aid some whacked-out Rocketman who would threaten all life in the universe. The galaxy is holding out for a hero, provided they can stop fighting each other for five minutes.

This is one of the main reasons I adored this game, these are proper, fleshed-out characters. In Square other recent Marvel outing, The Avengers, you get the Bruce Banner and Tony Stark you know. The problem is, there is very little brought out of them, nothing seems to Kickstart their Hearts. Bruce is full of regrets, Tony is bitter and angry, Black Widow is stoic and badass because someone actually needs to get things done, and so on. These characters are true to themselves but at no point does any part of who they are come through in a way that drives the story. The Avengers as people are little more than avatars, drones that drive the plot to where it needs to be and no further. They do the job, but are hardly even present as humans.

The whole masking your emotions thing tends not to work too well around Mantis.

Compare that to the Guardians. Almost everything that happens in the game is driven by who they are. Their collective overconfidence is what brings about the main threat of the game. Their culpability may be accidental, but they still have to Fear The Reaper. Star-Lord's pain and loss coupled with his arrogance and ego are crucial to the plot and a big part of every interaction the player has through him. Gamora's abusive upbringing has her slow to trust and slower to open up about herself, something that plays a big factor in the game.

Drax is so destroyed by the loss of his wife and daughter that he nearly succumbs to Tainted Love just to be with them again, something the other Guardians have to fight hard to bring him out of. Then there's Rocket, maybe the most pitiable of the group, if he weren't the root cause of so many problems. Groot has his tragedy too, he carries incredible pain and loss but his love for his teammates outweighs that, he stands as a shining example to the others. This is a group of exceptional and damaged people, who have been wronged so severely by the worlds and the people around them. This game is just one of their many journeys as a team. This is where they grow into real heroes, but it’s A Long Way To The Top. Each of these factors plays a role not only in the story but also in gameplay.

Whoever is holding the stick, gets to talk during the family meeting. Groot You have the floor…

So much thought and a hell of a lot of good writing went into making these individuals feel like a team. The game is quite long for a relatively linear, single-player adventure, but never does it feel like they run out of dialogue or conversations (arguments) to have. Whether they're out on a mission or lounging on the Milano, the Guardians always seem to have things to talk about. They chat about places they have been and tell stories about things they have done. Each character draws from a wealth of individual experiences - they all have their history of Runnin’ With The Devil so conversations flow naturally with other Guardians chiming in with their own takes. This is all a fancy way of saying the banter is 90 here, listening to the Guardians is one of the highlights of the game. Bringing in long-time Guardians writer Dan Abnett paid dividends as he knows better than most how to bring these characters to life.

The focus on character dialogue is one of a few features that feels like a deliberate decision in service of the source material. Another is the decision to make this a single-player game, not a co-op experience like you might expect of a Guardians game. It seemed like a strange choice at first, you see a game about a superhero team and the first thing you think is co-op. However, having players control each of the characters would likely have been a detriment to the story Eidos Montreal were trying to tell. First of all, though it might be unappealing to only play as Peter Quill, his leadership of the team is a vital part of the story. He is the one member of the team consistently championing their bond. By keeping the player in his rocket boots, the other Guardians are free to be characters with their own agency in the story.

Again, this ties back to how these characters inform the plot. Rocket gets pissed off after arguing with Quill, so he takes Groot and they leave for a while. This is Rocket to a T, he’s Born To Be Wild, something not really feasible if he was player-controlled. Drax succumbs to mind control for a period of time, Comfortably Numb in a dream where his wife and child are returned to him. Getting him back to himself is a significant chunk of the game, convincing him that his family are just Dust In The Wind is one of the most emotional moments of the game. Some of the most personally pivotal moments in Gamora's story come when she breaks off from the team. Regressing into the person she used to be, she believes she is bad company and distances herself from the others. This is a team on the rocks, and the story of how they come together is a beautiful one. This story would only be hampered by forcing the game to fit a co-op design. Not to mention almost all the dialogue and story would be lost if I was in a voice chat with some mates while playing.

Eidos Montreal clearly didn't just retrofit their game to fit a story provided to them, though. It never feels contrived, they did a stellar job of (White) Wedding the gameplay to the themes of the game. The combat of Guardians is quite different from anything I have played before, the closest comparison I could make would be the Final Fantasy VII Remake. The key difference being that you cannot hot-swap between characters; even in combat you only control Star-Lord directly. The Guardians are largely autonomous, they will Go Your Own Way for the most part. However, each Guardian has special attacks that you choose when and where they use. They all run on cooldowns so you can't just spam the same attacks over and over, but you wouldn't want to because different attacks serve different purposes.

I love Rocket’s little raccoon-chin-ponytail so much.

Each special attack falls under one or more categories of “direct damage”, “stun damage”, “single target”, or “area of effect”. Direct damage takes away health, while stun attacks increase the enemy's stun gauge. Single target attacks will be much more effective but area of effect will spread that over several enemies. It's pretty simple stuff that becomes second nature; before too long you will see a large group of enemies and instinctively call on Groot for some crowd control, Rocket to throw some bombs, or Gamora to slice them all up. Do enough stun damage to max an enemy's metre and they will be dazed and take more damage. Pile enough Guardians onto a single target and Rock ‘til You Drop. These simple features make the combat of GotG really engaging.

ALL RIGHT GANG, LET’S SPLIT UP AND LOOK FOR CLUES!

The high point of combat is the huddle. When you max out the metre for it you can activate this power-up state. First, you need to inspire the team. The huddle brings everyone together to regroup, and the Guardians will tell you how they're feeling. If the fight is going well, they're pumped up and excited. If health is low and enemies are many, the Guardians might be stressing out and need to Relax. Either way, they pour their hearts out and it is your job to focus them. Listen to what they say and respond accordingly to Hit Them With Your Best Shot. Everyone does more damage, cooldowns are reduced and the game blasts one of the many licenced tunes from the amazing soundtrack. This shot of adrenaline is an amazing feature that ramps up the combat and plays perfectly into the theme of the team coming together.

Over the course of the game, the Guardians go on a journey of bonding so impactful I couldn't help but bond with them. They decide They’re Not Gonna Take It anymore and Build This Team (On Rock and Roll). They ride the Highway to Hell and tell the galaxy that so long as you Take on Me, we are Never Gonna Give You Up.

“I got family” - Groot Diesel, Guardians of The Furious

I think the core reason why this game resonated so much with me is because that central theme of friendship and teamwork, as corny as it sounds, is pretty beautiful. Superheroes can represent a lot of things for a lot of people, but one thing we don't see as much of is a team that represents the important bonds we share as friends. The Avengers are the A-Team, The Fantastic Four are a family, the X-Men are bonded by discrimination in an allegory for real-world societal issues.

The Guardians are a group of misfits with all sorts of backgrounds. Their only common link is they all have trauma and pain in their lives that they have to deal with. There's no familial bond, no common struggle, just a group of people who could all use some friends. It's a very relatable situation, and I think this game does a much better job of expressing that than any of the films.