Guardians of the Galaxy - Before You Buy

00:00:01.920and we're back with another episode of

00:00:03.520before you buy that show where we give

00:00:05.279you some straight up gameplay and our

00:00:06.720first impressions of the latest games hi

00:00:09.440folks my name is falcon and today we are

00:00:12.559talking about guardians of the galaxy so

00:00:15.599just get a couple things out of the way

00:00:17.600all the footage we have here was

00:00:19.039captured on an xbox series x and well

00:00:22.080this wasn't really a game we were

00:00:23.439looking forward to our expectations were

00:00:25.599kind of at an all-time low i mean you

00:00:27.920heard me in various lists declare a

00:00:30.720little bit of skepticism at the same

00:00:33.120time some potential optimism but like

00:00:36.960i've generally not been warned to this

00:00:39.120one you know cause the avengers game so

00:00:41.760i'm happy to report that it's actually

00:00:44.559pretty good it kind of seems like

00:00:46.079guardians of the galaxy uh is square

00:00:48.559enix trying to do right by the people

00:00:50.079who were like in my opinion correctly

00:00:52.480turned off by the avengers this game

00:00:55.280instead of being always online instead

00:00:57.680of being a games as a service mess like

00:01:00.879so much crap is nowadays guardians is

00:01:03.440kind of just a straightforward single

00:01:04.960player adventure without all that extra

00:01:06.640crap and the thing that we were most

00:01:08.240worried about going in was how the game

00:01:10.240played the trailers didn't really make

00:01:12.000it clear exactly how combat would work

00:01:13.920and what they did show didn't really

00:01:15.680seem super unique great or exciting but

00:01:18.880those were trailers and we've actually

00:01:20.960got our hands in the game now so we've

00:01:22.640got a much clearer picture about what it

00:01:25.280is and it's actually pretty unique at

00:01:27.680least in terms of the conda anyways the

00:01:30.159best way i can describe it is a mix of

00:01:32.240like uncharted in the final fantasy vii

00:01:34.560remake it's a linear action adventure

00:01:36.799game with everything that that entails

00:01:38.400there's a lot of platforming there's

00:01:40.240light puzzle solving there's combat

00:01:42.320there's big set piece moments where

00:01:44.159you're like running from something and

00:01:45.920all that stuff looks really familiar but

00:01:48.079then the game does and incorporates some

00:01:50.159team-based tactical elements from

00:01:52.000role-playing games along with some

00:01:54.159tell-tale adventure game like moments um

00:01:56.560and that stuff sounds like it could be a

00:01:58.560mess all mashed together but wow does it

00:02:00.640work a lot better than you would expect

00:02:02.159so

00:02:02.960let's start with the basics you play as

00:02:05.200peter quill or star-lord the leader of

00:02:07.439the guardians of the galaxy the marvel

00:02:09.119sci-fi superhero team the guardians in

00:02:11.280this game are pretty obviously based on

00:02:13.120their depictions in the 2014 film so

00:02:16.000they kind of look like off model

00:02:17.360versions of these familiar characters

00:02:19.120it's not quite as jarring as in the

00:02:21.360avengers game but it does take a little

00:02:22.879bit of time getting used to uh you and

00:02:24.640your team of space weirdos are an

00:02:26.480already established group in this story

00:02:28.480and there's a little more comic accurate

00:02:30.319history incorporated in the backstory

00:02:31.760here so even though they pretty much

00:02:33.280look the same as the movie guardians the

00:02:35.200actual details are a little different

00:02:37.440while the trailers made it look like it

00:02:38.959would be pure nonsense there are some

00:02:40.879serious story moments and emotional bits

00:02:44.080as well like more than i was expecting

00:02:46.560at the very least the story is

00:02:48.160surprisingly good especially in the

00:02:49.680later sections of the game i don't want

00:02:51.440to get too much into spoilers but things

00:02:54.400get pretty interesting at a certain

00:02:56.239point now again from the trailers my

00:02:58.080biggest concern with the story was that

00:03:00.080it was going to be annoying that it'll

00:03:01.519be trying to capture what works about

00:03:03.200the movies but not quite get it right

00:03:05.040and that's sometimes the case peter

00:03:07.200quill can definitely be a little

00:03:08.720annoying at times but otherwise it's

00:03:10.480pretty fun the other four guardians have

00:03:12.319great voice acting their constant

00:03:14.080bickering is mostly amusing instead of

00:03:16.080ear grating basically it's not like how

00:03:18.720the guardians were presented in ultimate

00:03:20.560alliance three like that was really

00:03:22.319cringy and this is sometimes a little

00:03:25.040cringy but not so much and while i think

00:03:27.920it's mostly good there is a lot of

00:03:30.400dialogue in the game like i said there's

00:03:32.640definitely a bit of a telltale dna woven

00:03:35.280into this thing there's big sections of

00:03:37.040the game where you're mostly just

00:03:38.560talking and that's about it it

00:03:40.000definitely gives the game a more

00:03:41.120movie-like feeling but it can go a

00:03:42.640little bit long between major combat

00:03:44.959sections and that feels a little weird

00:03:46.959the opening is probably the worst

00:03:49.120regarding this though it takes a long

00:03:51.280time before you actually get into the

00:03:52.640meat of the combat like you're not

00:03:54.319getting into long consistent fights

00:03:55.920until around chapter four which is about

00:03:57.840three hours into the game so it's a game

00:04:00.159with a slow start but it gets more

00:04:02.319interesting as it goes along so keep

00:04:04.799that in mind uh when i first started

00:04:06.799playing the game is a little shocked by

00:04:08.640how weak star-lord's guns feel and his

00:04:11.760movement abilities are kind of limited

00:04:13.599uh it didn't feel great but after

00:04:15.200playing for a while i started to

00:04:16.400understand what they were going for

00:04:18.160starlord's supposed to feel kind of weak

00:04:19.919because he is what makes this game

00:04:21.919different from other third-person action

00:04:23.840games is you play the role of team

00:04:25.360leader strategically ordering the

00:04:27.120different guardians to use their unique

00:04:28.800attacks and take out enemies and they're

00:04:30.720kind of incentivizing you to understand

00:04:33.040that by making star-lord not the most

00:04:35.440powerful thing ever all four of the main

00:04:38.240guys have kind of a general role in the

00:04:40.000team groot can root enemies to the

00:04:42.080ground rocket is good at splash damage

00:04:44.240drax does heavy stagger damage leaves

00:04:46.720enemies vulnerable and gamora is good at

00:04:49.040doing heavy damage to single targets

00:04:51.040every character starts off with just one

00:04:52.880ability but eventually have a full team

00:04:55.040of everybody having like four each

00:04:57.280including yourself so by the end you

00:04:58.960have 20 different possible moves to

00:05:00.560combine and maximize the amount of

00:05:02.240damage you inflict so while at first

00:05:03.759you're just kind of kicking around

00:05:04.720little balls that require very little

00:05:06.720strategy later in the game you'll be

00:05:08.080facing off against a bunch of armor guys

00:05:10.080snipers healers and all sorts of

00:05:12.400monsters that require special strategies

00:05:14.560to take down and it all goes down in

00:05:16.720real time which is sometimes a little

00:05:18.720overwhelming because you have to think

00:05:20.080about a lot but at the end of the day

00:05:21.520it's not super complex and just spamming

00:05:24.080certain attacks will get you through

00:05:25.440normal difficulty just fine the way

00:05:27.520combat plays out does do a great job at

00:05:30.000making you feel like the leader of a

00:05:31.440team and that's great because the

00:05:33.199teamwork aspect is basically part of

00:05:35.199everything you do in the game you're

00:05:37.120constantly mediating arguments between

00:05:39.120team members you're making decisions

00:05:40.880that sometimes affect how certain

00:05:42.720missions play out the changes aren't

00:05:44.560always huge but they do feel meaningful

00:05:46.960in the moment so that's i mean a big

00:05:48.720plus in terms of what they're going for

00:05:50.960it's mostly a success between combat

00:05:53.360encounters you're generally funneled

00:05:55.280through levels in kind of a linear way

00:05:57.199sometimes you can explore little nooks

00:05:59.120and crannies for scrap or to craft

00:06:01.440upgrades to unlock a new costume or

00:06:03.199whatever but in general it's pretty

00:06:04.720straightforward puzzles are solved by

00:06:06.479either shooting things or ordering your

00:06:08.000team to do things in a certain order to

00:06:09.600achieve the goal sometimes it will end

00:06:12.080up feeling really satisfying even if

00:06:14.479it's all fairly easy uh honestly it's

00:06:17.120just nice to have somebody else move the

00:06:19.440big object instead of pushing it

00:06:21.120yourself that's kind of fun and it

00:06:23.440emphasizes your role as team later it's

00:06:26.080having a team that makes this game stand

00:06:28.240out and the best parts of the game are

00:06:30.000the sections where it really feels like

00:06:31.680you're combining all your team's

00:06:32.960abilities to destroy enemies uh when the

00:06:35.280game just lets you go nuts and fight

00:06:37.199tons of enemies in large areas that is

00:06:39.280when it's at its absolute best because

00:06:41.360you actually have to think about what

00:06:42.560you're doing in these sections at least

00:06:44.800to some extent and probably my only

00:06:46.720complaint about those is that they're

00:06:48.000relatively few and far between it's a

00:06:50.000similar complaint that i had with iaidos

00:06:51.840montreal's previous game shadow of the

00:06:54.000tomb raider actually there's just not

00:06:55.840enough combat it's not that bad but it

00:06:58.240sometimes feels like you go a long time

00:07:01.120without fighting anything and then maybe

00:07:02.880there's a few long combat sections all

00:07:04.560grouped together and then you're back to

00:07:06.240some short combat sections again the

00:07:08.319pacing feels

00:07:09.919a little off you always seem to stop

00:07:11.680just when it feels like you're getting

00:07:13.039into the flow of things and that's odd

00:07:15.199but it doesn't kill the game or anything

00:07:17.199there's a lot to like about the

00:07:18.800non-fighting parts of the game too like

00:07:21.039for one it's amazing looking like pretty

00:07:23.520much every place you go has some amazing

00:07:25.759vista or interesting visuals the

00:07:27.840designers clearly had some fun digging

00:07:30.479into the weirder corners of the marvel

00:07:33.039universe to create some of the stuff in

00:07:35.199here the entire presentation obviously

00:07:37.360owes a lot to james gunn's movie but

00:07:39.039some of the most interesting stuff is

00:07:40.720totally unique to the game and i gotta

00:07:42.720mention it has probably the best model

00:07:44.479dog ever in a video game so far so that

00:07:47.599deserves some serious kudos like the

00:07:49.759level of detail in some of these

00:07:51.360environments is staggering in general

00:07:54.160it's just an all-around really good

00:07:55.759looking game we did experience a few

00:07:58.479visual hiccups and some weird little

00:08:00.240bugs here and there like weapons would

00:08:02.080appear in characters hands when they're

00:08:03.520not supposed to and we i mean did

00:08:06.479experience some really bad fps drops in

00:08:09.120certain sections but not so much that it

00:08:12.000really matters it's just happened a few

00:08:14.879times and for the most part it was also

00:08:17.360bug free in terms of our experience with

00:08:19.360this game and we really have to mention

00:08:21.919the music this is the guardians of the

00:08:23.759galaxy game so you gotta expect some

00:08:25.840needle drops and there is a really

00:08:28.000extensive soundtrack here with the

00:08:29.919expected top 40 80s hits and a

00:08:32.560surprisingly good score the licensed

00:08:34.880music choices aren't as inspired as the

00:08:36.880songs selected for the movies like it's

00:08:38.640all stuff you've heard in games before

00:08:40.240but there's a pretty solid selection of

00:08:41.919songs here probably the best way to sum

00:08:43.760this up is our expectations were

00:08:45.920absolutely rock bottom but this game

00:08:48.880managed to surprise us if you're a

00:08:50.880marvel fan or someone who loves linear

00:08:53.519cinematic action games it's basically a

00:08:55.920no-brainer recommendation regardless of

00:08:58.880if you're one or the other it's a great

00:09:00.800marvel game it is a great linear

00:09:03.040cinematic action game is it perfect

00:09:05.360actually not and it takes a while to

00:09:07.440really get going but once you've got

00:09:09.600access to all the guardians and the game

00:09:11.440lets you cut loose it is an extremely

00:09:13.920large amount of fun with some really

00:09:16.240really inspired sections that are

00:09:18.480sometimes broken up by some areas that

00:09:21.760feel a little ordinary between fights

00:09:24.480and some of the humor can be a little

00:09:26.800annoying but i think for the amount of

00:09:28.560times i've mentioned it within the scope

00:09:30.880of this before you buy i've over

00:09:32.880represented it like for the most part

00:09:34.959everything just works how it's supposed

00:09:36.959to which is great the characters are

00:09:38.560endearing story's a little strange

00:09:40.640intentionally and good and it's got some

00:09:42.959pretty wild and surprisingly dark twists

00:09:45.600the combat system feels totally unique

00:09:47.760especially for a a action game like this

00:09:50.320one like overall i can't help but say i

00:09:53.440recommend this game it is it's a unique

00:09:55.760experience it brings a lot to the table

00:09:58.240and i think you'll enjoy it but that's

00:09:59.680what we have to say about it your

00:10:01.440opinions relevant here as well so leave

00:10:03.440us a comment let us know what you think

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00:10:16.640thank you very much for watching this

00:10:17.839video i'm falcon you can follow me on

00:10:19.600twitter at falcon hero we'll see you

00:10:21.040next time right here on game ranks