Marvel’s Avengers

After 120 hours of playtime and playing the endgame with 3 different heroes this is my review:
Realistic rating: 6.9/10 ( to be updated )
Fanboy rating: 9/10
to BUY or NOT
Buy if:
- You enjoy a good single player story
- Are a Marvel fanboy and can afford a 60€ game
- You like heroes and very good/fun combat system
- Playing together with your friends
Do not buy if:
- 60€ price is a bit too much in my opinion, this game should be 40€. So if you are tight with the money I would recommend waiting for the sale and a bit more content.
- Can't stand issues I mentioned under. Personally I encountered only a few of them, but its different for everyone.
Story: 8/10
I rarely follow the story in online games and usually just rush to the endgame but this one got me hooked up. It was really interesting and I wanted to know what comes next after every mission. It took me around 12-14 hours to beat it with breaks in between.
Heroes: 10/10
I don't remember the last time I couldn't make a choice about what class/character to play. Each hero feels unique and I think they really nailed it with this one.
You want to play glass canon ranged type? Iron Man
You want to play stealthy assassin? Black Widow
You want to play melee brawler? Thor
You want to play ranged hero but don't like Iron Man? Thor can do that as well. Every hero have multiple build options, be it melee/range/support/tank/skill spam. And every hero feels so different from each other it's crazy.
Combat: 9/10
Even though this is the biggest reason I'm playing this much I still can't give it max rating since there are some amazing games out there with better combat (like PS4 Spiderman). Still, the combat is this game is soooo fun. I think there are options for every type of play. You can juggle enemies forever or you can just use heavy ground attacks if you don't like juggling. U have light attacks as well if u want to attack fast. Then you have signature attacks, which are like special attacks ( Kamala's whirlwind spinning attack ). You can use more powerful atacks to build up stun meter faster and then you have Mastery tree. Some of the masteries completely change skills while other give various effects.
For example Ironman can choose between pulsor, beam and rocket passives, each of them improving it significantly.
Thor's Biofrost ultimate - You release a massive amount of energy which can either heal allies or burn / freeze enemies. Depending on your choices you can make a lot of different builds on the same hero.
Multiplayer: 3/10 ( to be updated )
When it works it's great, otherwise it's really really bad. Biggest problem are bugs, which developers acknowledged and are working on fixing them. Matchmaking seems to be broken, at first it didn't work at all, then it would only matchmake with 1 person instead of 3, now its somewhat better but it still needs to be improved. People can get stuck in mission loading, fall through the map leaving other players unable to progress unless they reset the checkpoint and even then it might not work. For example I played with my friend and we had to take an elevator to the next area. For some reason elevator was missing for me and all I could see was empty space. If I went inside I fell through the map and got respawned in the middle of the forest. Restarting checkpoint didn't fix it so we had to restart the whole mission.
Replayability: 6/10 ( to be updated )
This one is hard to judge as it's up to personal preference. Some people don't mind grinding same activity over and over again while others do so I'll break it down and let you decide.
There are currently 6 heroes in the game and if you want to max all of them it will take some time. If you only want one of them, it should not take more than 2-4 days depening how much u play. U reached the end game and it's time to gear up.
Shield vaults - you have to find a hidden shield vault ( which is usually in 1 of the 3 spots ) and beat 3 waves of enemies after which you get to loot the vault where you get resources and a piece of equipment ( elite version always gives legendary)
Hives - Normal hives are 5 floors and Elite hives are 6 floors. You go floor by floor, completing different objectives like kill enemies, defend allies, capture points. In the end you get a reward which is usually a legendary piece.
Elite heroic hive - is a special type of hive which is solo only activity. There are 14 floors, and it should take between 30min - 2hours depending on the difficulty. It is the only place at the moment where you can get exotic piece of gear and completing it with 100% improves the odds of getting it ( its still super hard, and heavy rng. Some people got it on their first try on easy difficulty while it took over 10+ runs for others on the hardest difficulty ).
Villain sector - there are 4 villains you can face and they give DNA keys as a reward which you use to open stronger version of boxes you find in the missions and they give more resources.
Drop zones - If you don't have much time to play, you can drop zones. They usually take only a few minutes to complete and reward you with ISO-8 artifacts, which is like trinkets in other games.
Harm virtual missions - Located on the Helicarrier, you have standard missions which give you random comic book and special ones which rotate and have different modifiers every rotation. They give specific comic books which give u small passive boosts when you complete a comic book set.
Hero specific missions - Some heroes have hero specific mission rewards, for example Thor. If you do his mission you get Thor specific legendary and I'm not 100% sure but I think it can also give unique Thor legendary ( will update ).
Faction missions - 120 hours and I have no idea what they do lol, probably reward you with faction exp after completing them.
Dailies - You get 1 villain and 8 normal missions for every faction, they are fairly easy to complete and you can do most of them just by playing the game.
Challenge card ( battle pass ) - have daily and weekly objectives. Some of them can be a bit harder but still doable. If you don't like it, you can refresh it once per day to get a new one.
As you can see there are multiple options with more stuff coming in the future ( like raids! ). Some people complain there's not much replayability, I think there's just enough to keep you going until we get more content ( unless you play 24/7 but even then you can rotate game modes so you don't get burned out )
Costumes:
There's been a lot of controversy around costumes and I'd like to make it as clear as possible. People are complaining about the costume prices and I think it's ridiculous. You DO NOT NEED TO OWN every single costume in the game. Every costume have a few color variations and there are multiple ways to obtain them:
Challenge card ( battle pass ) - If you buy the game you get a FREE battle pass for the 6 starting heroes. Every completed battle pass will give you 1300 premium currency and you only need 1000 for the upcoming ones. So if you complete them, you NEVER have to spend real money.
Marketplace - you can buy costumes with in game currency. It's grindy but real money free.
Patterns - You will find them inside the boxes that can be found while playing missions.
Overall:
So we have good story,heroes and combat. Replayability is decent. So whats so bad about this game?
There are many issues, like crashes, multiplayer can be a pain in the ass with people getting stuck before mission start or in the loading, performance issues, memory leaks, falling/getting stuck in the map, costumes disappearing, stat bug where you have almost 0 in all stats and do no damage are just some of them. The good part is developers made a reddit post where they regularly update bug status and progress.

This game is many different things to many different people. I'm no one special but here's what I know, and that I can share with all of you.
1 - I played the Beta, it was very buggy and crashy. Now, playing the day-one-release, I experienced 2 NPC related bugs in the first minutes...and after that...not a single bug or crash for the next 10 hours.
Considering the fixes since the Beta were most likely being done in a remote "work from home" scenario for the most part, I can assume they are taking this production seriously.
2 - I've only ever seen images of Ms.Marvel with oversized hands, so I don't know much about her at all. However her powers in this game are awesome and worthy of a junior Avenger. The story also develops her into an endearing character...even though her excessive Voice Overs can become annoying, but that can be adjusted with time and player feedback.
3 - The fighting style of every character is REALLY cool and fun to play. They feel really good in your hands...except for Ironman. It could just be me, but I'm not feeling it. Which is sad for me because I love Ironman. His parry needs some tweeking. Also, he's a better fighter in the air, but his flying is rough AF. Sad.
4 - With enough engagement from the community, I would imagine that they might continue to put resources into this game's development and with time and continued work, they just might be able to deliver an extended user experience that will be fun for every gamer who lives it and grows with it. (That weak DLC for $26.99 is not a good way to start though. Price too high, DLC too empty.)
If you made it here, I thank you kindly for reading my review.
If my opinions here change over time, I will correct myself and update them.
Happy Gaming!

Get it when it goes on sale.

wait for sale

Hulk smashes bad guys and your framerate.

Pros :
1. Story is surpisingly solid, with good voice acting and everything you'd expect from a good story. However, it will start to feel rushed as you progress.
2. Combat is fun, with every character feeling unique with a diverse moveset.
3. Quite a few cosmetics, although some of them are re-colors.
4. Diverse maps, ranging from wastelands to snowy mountains.
5. Multiplayer's fun when you play challenging missions.
6. Boss fights are also fun but there aren't a lot of them.
7. Fanservice that references comics, and they are somewhat frequent.
Cons :
1. The sidequests are fun, but there aren't a lot of them.
2. Not a lot of game-breaking bugs, but there are some bugs that are annoying, for example locking some cosmetics that you've already unlocked
3. Battlepass progression takes wayyyy too long, as there are only 4 challenges that allow you to get points daily.
4. PC version seems to suffer from less crashes and freezes compared to consoles, but the optimization in the game could be done better.
5. Enemy types are really diverse, but the faction types are not. Currently, there are only two enemy factions.
6. Endgame currency takes a bit too long to get.
7. Once you unlock all skills for a character, it's just gear and cosmetics grinding.
Conclusion :
7/10. Wait for sale if you're not a Marvel fan. If you're a Marvel fan, grab the standard edition.

Marvel's Avengers
Positive
Good Story Campaign
Satisfying Combat
Very different playstyles
Good visuals
Top-notch Superhero fantasy
Avengers!
Negative
Big fights can turn extremely chaotic
Repetitive Level Design and Missions
Grindy Gameplay Loop (Although not as hard as other alike games)
Microtransactions (Cosmetic Only)
Denuvo
Review
Marvel's Avengers is a third-person Action game with RPG elements. Players start playing as Kamala Khan, a young fan of Earth's Mightiest Heroes who'll try to reassemble the Avengers, split up and criminalized after the catastrophic events of A-Day. Surprisingly enough for a ‘GaaS’, the story has a pretty decent length and good writing, and it’ll be expanded for free as new content arrives.
Players are able to play with all the Avengers as soon as they unlock them in the Story Campaign. Every character has its own unique playstyle which differs them from the rest. For example, Black Widow acts as the typical Rogue from any RPG, applying statuses and dispatching single enemies very quickly, while The Hulk is a tanky giant with a Taunt ability and massive AOE capabilities.
The combat is pretty straightforward and easy to learn, but it hides a lot of depth and mastery potential, with three pages full of skills to unlock. Some skills have to be chosen over others, potentially changing the playstyle of the character. The game also allows the player to create combos that can be extended for long and complex sequences for devastating results.
As with many games of the genre nowadays, the game features a dodge/parry mechanic resembling Batman: Arkham and Dark Souls, which is fundamental to learn quickly in order to survive the battles. As a bonus, every character features three unique abilities: A Support ability to weaken enemies and help allies, an Assault ability to deal massive damage, and an Ultimate ability which deals even more massive damage… or even summon the Hulkbuster armor.
As with the RPG elements, the game features a gearing system similar to Destiny. Enemies and missions will drop/reward different pieces of gear with random stats and quality that'll boost the character's power. Players will also be able to find resources while destroying enemies or exploring, which can be used to boost actual equipment or buy new one from NPC vendors.
Visuals are extremely good and the game features a photo-mode to catch our favourite Heroes in amazing screenshots. Animations are top-notch and compliment the combat beautifully. Combos look very flashy.
On the other hand, optimization seems to be a problem for some players, and FPS can drop exponentially in some scenarios, but it's stable overall.
Regarding Missions, Marvel's Avengers is a lobby-type game. Once a mission is selected and a fireteam assembled, players will load and jump into the missions. There are different types of missions and most of them allow the player and it's teammates (AI or other players) to explore decently big open areas with secondary and hidden objectives. Sadly, these maps will get repetitive very quickly.
As a multiplayer-focused game, it features endgame content in the form of Mega-Hives, which could be defined as Nightfall Strikes from Destiny or Mythic+ dungeons from World of Warcraft, and Villain Sectors in which fireteams will fight a Supervillain Boss. New endgame mission types called "Operations'' will be added post-launch and will feature the typical raid from any MMO, which will require high player cooperation and gear. There’ll be special missions only available through weekends and in-game Events.
There’s also daily missions which reward various resources and reputation with the two main factions of the game. With enough reputation level players will unlock more items to be bought from the vendors. These daily missions aren’t a hassle to complete at all like other similar games, so players can (and should) accept them all in bulk and they’ll be completed automatically as players play other missions.
The game will launch with 80~ different Warzones (term used for Missions) with four levels of difficulty, so there’s plenty of missions to complete. Sadly, as well as Level Design, they get repetitive very soon.
As of today, there’s no information about the game getting some sort of PvP, so only Coop multiplayer for the time being.
In the Customization aspect, players are presented to a plethora of skins, emotes, takedown animations and nameplates from the official Comics to customize their Heroes. A lot of them can be acquired with Units (Free Currency, gained by playing the game) in NPC vendors, and others can only be obtained in the Marketplace with Credits (Premium Currency, available to buy with real money) and via character Challenge Cards, which acts as Battle-Passes for every Hero. Thankfully, players get all the Challenge Cards for the base game Heroes at no additional cost.
Surprisingly, these Challenge Cards do not have an expiration date. Once acquired, they can be completed whenever the player wants, so no FOMO or pressure is involved with these.
The Marketplace is the place where players can buy Cosmetics for Credits. Honestly, some of them are a bit overpriced, ranging from 2$ for a nameplate to an outrageous 14$ for some skins. These prices would be acceptable for a F2P game, but as a 60$ game, I can’t complain enough.
There’s a selection of cosmetics rotating every hour in the Marketplace and NPC Vendors, with three featured cosmetics rotating every week. Some skins will also be available only during certain events, so here’s where the FOMO could come in.
As for the future, Crystal Dynamics promises regular new free content featuring new Heroes, Supervillains, Locations and Cosmetics. Aside from Challenge Cards for the new Heroes and cosmetics in general, everything will be completely free.
Personal Opinion
Marvel's Avengers is not going to be a game for everyone. It's a 'GaaS' like Destiny, a loot grinder with a repetitive gameplay loop, and not everyone enjoys that kind of gameplay. If you’re only looking forward to the Story Campaign, then you should wait for a sale.
For those who do enjoy it, they'll find a great fun game despite its flaws, which I hope to be addressed soon or in the future. The combat never gets old and it's very satisfying, and with the FOMO tuned to the bare minimum, it's a game that doesn't force you to play every day or feels like a second job. The game nails the fantasy of playing as the Avengers, and every Hero is a different experience from another one, so learning to play every character will take some time and training.
If anyone feels undecided because of the 'Game as a Service' and monetization, you shouldn't be afraid of it. Everything available for purchase with real money is cosmetic, and there’s plenty to buy with ingame money. Challenge Cards award a lot of amazing cosmetics and they're all given for free for the six base game characters.
Additionally, Challenge Cards award 1.300 Credits when completed (7.800 Credits in total between all Challenge Cards), with 1.000 being the standard price for Challenge Cards, so you can get the new ones for the new characters for free, as well as a few premium goodies you decide to buy.