Marvel’s Avengers Beta Experience: Is it Worth the Hype?

This past weekend I took the time to play the Marvel’s Avengers beta, a game set to be released on major platforms on September 9th. Going into the beta I didn’t have very many expectations due to an average interest in super heroes (I’ve seen most of the Avenger’s movies and some clips of cartoons) and nothing really grabbing my attention in the initial trailer release back at E3 2019. In this article I plan to go into relative detail with what I experienced in this open beta and I will be putting story last so you have a chance to avoid any potential spoilers. I will also avoid mentioning any bugs, as I see this as something that can get fixed in the final product and I didn’t encounter anything that stopped me from playing the game (falling through maps, game crashing, etc.).

Visuals

From a visual standpoint, the game is a mixed bag. It has the same kind of ‘Marvel Video Game’ aesthetic that we’ve seen before in other Marvel titles, relying on dark colors and not much vibrancy outside of the first mission. The dark tones help to paint a style more synonymous to the films but it doesn’t stand out. The character models also retain these dull tones and even the purchasable costumes don’t give the player much to look at. However, while the colors are dull, the shift from bright colors to a lack thereof is fitting for the flow of the game’s story and the environments look amazing. The amount of detail put into the world around the player is solid and helps to create unique areas with plenty to look at. The photo mode that’s available works as a great opportunity to capture these environments as they honestly do look incredible.

Some of the character models look a bit off; Captain America looks oddly bulky, Thor has a rectangular build, the Hulk looks just weird, and the attacks from Kamala Khan have a grow and shrink animation I just couldn’t get used to when I played as her. When attacking, the camera would shake around for dramatic effect, but after the first few fights it became less disorienting and honestly grew on me. The camera work in this game is my favorite thing about it from a visual standpoint, including the photography mode. The character models have a rough time showing emotion outside of cutscenes, but these are all minor issues that didn’t leave a lasting effect on my overall experience and could be easily fixed upon the game’s full release. Overall the visuals of the game are acceptable, but not eye grabbing by any means.

Gameplay & Combat

After finishing my time with the beta, the game is fun for a short amount of time, but doesn’t last after the first couple hours. Each map has different environmental affects that can take place and do things like increase enemy damage or stop you from naturally regenerating health. The level design works well to teach the player how to use their hero’s powers and unique abilities. Each hero has the ability to walk, sprint, and jump, but some characters have unique traits such as flight and swinging from certain objects. Each hero is also armed with universal light attacks and chargeable heavy attacks that can stagger enemies. They also have ranged attacks that vary in utility and other unique abilities such as Captain America’s shield block and Thor’s hammer toss. In the bottom right corner of the screen are three special attacks that charge up over time. My only gripe with these abilities is the amount of time they take to charge. It would be more satisfying if inflicting damage, defeating enemies, or perhaps getting a perfect dodge contributed to the level of charge these attacks get. The bar below your health dubbed “Intrinsic Energy” is a usable buff that recharges upon dealing damage or dodging timed attacks and can be used pretty frequently. The effects of this buff are different for every hero and range from a temporary attack boost to a defense buff.

During most combat stages of the game I wasn’t able to keep mashing square like I thought I could. Using the unique abilities as a form of crowd control help to make fights a little easier and dodging enemy attacks is crucial, even on the normal difficulty. Landing hits as any of the heroes feels satisfying and the animations that go along with the attacks help to make everything feel more impactful. In the first real boss fight of the beta against Abomination, getting perfect dodges and then wailing on him with Hulk equates to a good combat flow that rewards the player for strategizing and trying to not get hit. In some of the more cinematic fights there are quick time events, which can be failed resulting in you having to start that section over. However, the sense of danger with these is lost when a handful of the other QTE’s essentially pause the game if you don’t press anything.

The beta has you go through three mandatory missions before unlocking H.A.R.M. challenges and various short missions spread across the map. The HA.R.M. missions are small waves of enemies and tutorials about how to use the other heroes you had limited access to before. The global missions are over 20 short missions where you either defend objective points, defend a large singular objective point, destroy terminals, or clear out a wave of tough enemies in a large room. For the most part, these missions are too short to garner anything from and the mission select is similar to that of Destiny 2, from the UI to the quest description layout. The best of these missions lies in the “Iconic Mission” about Dr. Banner in which you take out an A.I.M. research center. Through this we get another look into the story and establish another potential antagonist. This feels the most similar to what I hope the game’s actual multiplayer missions will look like, and I enjoyed this more than the short romps that passed by within 10 minutes. The shorter missions feel as if they were made with the purpose of grinding for gear which diminishes the appeal of these missions by a mile. There was also no way to transfer any of your data from the demo over into the main game, so there was no point in trying to grind for good loadouts and cosmetics to send over.

Story *spoilers*

Take Captain America: Civil War, but minus the part where the Avengers fight each other and focus on the government not trusting super heroes. Then add in the D.U.P. from Infamous Second Son and bam! You’ve got the plot of this game. The beginning scene shows off the events of A-Day, a tragedy in which a celebratory day for the Avengers results in an attack on San Francisco and the world blames the Avengers. After this, the Avengers decided to hang up their capes and stop being heroes meanwhile citizens have been developing random super powers as a result of an explosion during the attack. People with powers are labelled “inhumans” and taken away by A.I.M., a scientific organization run by Dr. Tarelton. Tarleton was also with Captain America on the airship where A-Day took place and then he ends up leading A.I.M. After doing a little more research I learned that Tarleton is MODOK who’s already confirmed to be the main villain of this game, so it all makes sense. I still wish that they had somehow built up more to the reveal of Tarelton being the main antagonist as someone who isn’t familiar with this content. Having it be so blatantly obvious (he is the only non-Avenger who was name dropped in the A-Day event) made any potential buildup that might happen later just not matter.

After this, the story starts with the case of two supers going on a quest to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. and get the band back together. This time it’s Dr. Banner and Kamala Khan, a girl who was present at A-Day and gained her power to stretch her legs and arms as well as grow them like rubber. Honestly, I really enjoy their interactions together. It gives off the kind of energy of an awkward father-daughter relationship, and Kamala’s constant fangirling over the Avengers to him is funny. Aside from this we don’t get much more of a glimpse into the story, but it’s a solid starting point that establishes the main conflict of the game.

Like I said before, I know very little about Marvel. So to someone who has been a fan of the comics and other various forms of media for a long time, they might love this story and know it’s potential source material front to back, maybe be excited with how they might put a twist on it this time. Personally, I just didn’t find it to be something I could get behind and hope to see how everything turns out.

Is it worth the hype?

Honestly, not really. The combat starts off feeling fresh and hopping around between different Avengers is interesting. But soon the flow of combat becomes too monotonous and the visual style being more like a movie lacks appeal to me. The way they conducted the beta and allow you to rate the missions you complete is a really cool thing that I hope more betas do in the future. However I gave most missions a 3/5 because they were good concepts but too short and didn’t bring anything new to the table. The roster of heroes you’re given is good but honestly I just wanted to play more as Captain America as I enjoyed his combat the most in the initial short sequence.

Marvel’s Avengers is a game that will probably have a ton of content for Marvel fans to enjoy. Perhaps casual fans will have fun with the combat and multiplayer. But for me, nothing from this beta has really compelled me to purchase the full game when it drops.