Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is better than a lot of people were expecting. The reason why the hype level was timid after E3 2021 is because the reaction to Marvel’s Avengers, also published by Square Enix, was mixed. How could a Marvel game based on the Guardians of the Galaxy come out of nowhere and be good amidst tons of other AAA games getting canceled?
That might have been the thought process but low and behold the reviews are in and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is doing well. The launch has been somewhat successful but the game also has plenty of bugs from bad lip-sync to audio cutting out in general to the UI getting stuck. The game may have benefitted by getting delayed by a month at most. It’s too late now as the game is already here but it’s never too late to patch things in after the fact.
6 Fix The Manual Saves
There are only three save slots in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. For a big action RPG like this, that doesn’t seem like enough. To the game’s credit, there are easy ways to go through the story again via chapter select. It’s not the same as being able to directly jump into exactly where players feel like which is the power of saves normally. There is another issue with manual saves in that what is recorded may throw players off.
Many games that allow players to save anywhere will record them on that exact spot. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy does not. It saves upgrades made and items found but it can take players back a few minutes in the story. This imprecision can lead to frustration. It would be great to see the slot menu expanded and to also make sure manual saves are more exact.
5 Add An Audio Backlog
One of the best features of Guardians of the Galaxy is the dialogue. The team will constantly chatter during gameplay which makes the story feel more dynamic. It’s always funny to hear Rocket or anyone else criticize Peter/the player for going off the beaten path and picking up scrap. There is a downside, though, in that dialogue will constantly overlap because there is so much there without enough spacing.
It would be great if the developers could add a way to replay dialogue in an Extras gallery of some sort. That way players wouldn’t miss anything. It would also be nice if there was a way to see a timeline of decisions made so that players on a second run-through could select the opposite choice to what they had originally picked. Games have added in features like this before where choices matter such as Detroit: Become Human so it’s not unheard of.
4 Adjust The Targeting System
The targeting system in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy leaves something to be desired. Players can fire wildly at enemies and Peter will sort of auto-lock onto enemies. This method is decent, but again imprecise. Players can also manually lock onto enemies but which enemy is chosen can feel random at times.
Both methods feel loose. In a game where the only playable character is a ranged fighter, it is important to have a good targeting system. It would also be nice to be able to go into a first-person mode for even more precise aiming. This camera angle is used in some cutscenes so it wouldn't be totally out of left field.
3 Add A Map
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a more linear game than what some fans may expect. Those hoping for a big sprawling RPG like Mass Effect might be disappointed. On the plus side, the campaign levels are well thought out. There just aren’t many opportunities for side activities. Extra quests instead are more like opportunities in levels for players to take side paths in order to find scrap to buy perks.
There are also costumes to find for the team. The downside to this is that there is no map. There isn’t a big one in the menu and there isn’t a mini-map in the HUD. This can make navigating down these side paths a little tricker than they need to be. Peter’s visor does help a little bit it would still be nice to see a map added into Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
2 Reconfigure Button Prompts
For PS5/4 users, the main interact button is Triangle on the controller. The Cross button is used for jumping so while Triangle may feel out of place, at least it won’t lead to players jumping when they don’t want to. However, there is a problem with these prompts. The window of opportunity is not as precise as it could be.
This could be from a bug or it could be something internal. Either way, players might have to do a weird dance with Peter in order to get him to be able to interact with an object. It is far from the worst thing about Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. All it can lead to is a little awkward gameplay but it would still be appreciated if the prompts could somehow be fixed. Even talking to characters like Gamora can be problematic.
1 Add More Playable Characters
The biggest issue with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is that Peter is the only playable character. That’s not terrible for combat because he does get an impressive array of powers as the story progresses such as a freeze ray. Being able to issue orders to the other members of the team also expands the mechanics from Rocket’s bombs to Groot’s vines.
However, it would be nice if the other Guardians of the Galaxy could be played as well. Another Square Enix game, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, allowed for players to change characters at any time. It worked well for that game so why not add it into Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy? Patching in this option now will assuredly take some time. This is more like a wish than anything else. If this cannot be done for this first game then hopefully the developers will keep this idea in mind for the inevitable sequel.
Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was released on October 26, 2021 and is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.