Last year At Gamescom 2018, we were able to play Marvel’s Spider-Man, the open-world superhero game by Insomniac Games turned out to be one of the best games of the year. Jump to the Gamescom 2019: This time we were able to try Marvel’s Avengers, also an action game with superheroes. Despite the name similarity Avengers is not a successor, but a separate game from another studio. But even at Marvel’s Avengers we smell the potential for a surprise hit.

The development of Marvel’s Avengers is handled by Crystal Dynamics, the team behind Tomb Raider’s reboot. Studio boss Scott Amos told Media at a press conference that the creators were especially looking forward to telling their own story in the Marvel Universe. The origin of this story: On a holiday for the super heroes San Francisco is almost completely destroyed, which arrives at the remaining population suboptimal. The Avengers are identified as the leaders and must retire. This is not necessarily original, but it does provide a solid story base to build on.

Well-known ingredients

It serves as a preview and tutorial for the five playable heroes: Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and Black Widow. Meanwhile, the developers have also released a video in which the mission process can be seen.

All five heroes play differently, but in all forms from the Arkham games – and finally Marvel’s Spider-Man – known melee system is the basis. The player does not have to worry about aiming, but jumps elegantly between the opponents at the touch of a button. In between you have to sometimes dodge enemy attacks and bring surprised villains with a finisher around the corner.

This is not new, but it works well in Avengers, even if the blows in other games feel a bit crisp. Quicktime events are always mixed in with the fights, where prefabricated scenes take place where we only have to press a certain button in time.

New mix

The different heroes provide a surprising amount of variety within the given framework. Thor throws his hammer like a boomerang or thunders it to the ground to create shockwaves in a radius. Iron Man can stay in the air permanently, relying mainly on the laser bullets in his armor. Captain America uses his shield to counterattack opponents, and Black Widow can make himself invisible at the touch of a button. The most fun, however, Hulk has prepared us, the drowned tunnel view of the battle scene, while hurling opponents and cars uncompromising through the area.

Already in the first mission, the various heroes feel quite well worked out, but in the further course of the game they should unlock even more skills, said studio boss Amos. Each character has several special abilities in Marvel’s Avengers, which can be activated with the shoulder buttons. The skill trees even allow players to specialize in various skills; that looked pretty promising. The character fine tuning seems very strong for such an action game, as far as we can tell from some skilltree screenshots.

With numerous cosmetic items, the playable heroes can continue to style and improve as desired. The costumes should be at least partially unlocked for money, how far go the micro-transactions in Avengers, but remains open.

Alone and playable in co-op

Marvel’s Avengers has no open Game World, instead the missions are selected from a base. There are two types: The story missions drive the story forward and are tailored to a particular character. The so-called Warzone missions are like optional side quests and can be played with any Avenger. In contrast to the story sections, the Warzone levels can also be played in online co-op with a maximum of four people.

After the first trailers to Avengers the appearance of the heroes had been criticized: Iron Man, Thor and Co. are not embodied here by the actors known from the movies. Hulk is in the video game rather the depressed guy, Iron Man for it effervescent. Thor deviates the most from his film role: Instead of witty serenity, he shines in the game as bitter serious, pathetic spells slingshot.

Avengers gave us a pleasant surprise when we first played. We would have liked to keep on playing and try some of the later abilities. If the promised RPG mechanics add up to a coherent overall picture, Marvel’s Avengers could become a really entertaining action game. The release is scheduled for May 15, 2020 on PC, Xbox One, PS4 and Google Stadia.