It is no secret that Crystal Dynamics' Marvel's Avengers was met with a pretty mixed reception upon release. Players were excited to see a new take on the Marvel universe from the developers behind the Tomb Raider reboot, but it was not what they had hoped for. The story had great characterizations and was filled with heart, but the gameplay was filled with live-service elements and proved be very repetitive. The title was not what Marvel fans wanted, and the game saw a huge decline in its player count after it launched. Square Enix branded it a commercial failure, and most players went elsewhere to get their superhero fix.
Marvel's Avengers was marred with its live-service elements and repetitive mission structure, but there was a good game underneath. Crystal Dynamics was able to tell a pretty good single-player superhero story following a broken team of superheroes. The core gameplay was also pretty fun in spite of the repetitiveness. The studio has continued this with a couple of post-launch expansions that have further built upon the exciting storyline and have introduced even more heroes that just feel right. It has shown that it knows what to do with the heroes, and it needs to be given another chance to deliver a good game.
Marvel's Avengers Has a Strong Core
The main story of Marvel's Avengers followed Kamala Khan and her mission to reunite the Avengers. The superhero team had been blamed for the destruction of San Francisco and the creation of the Inhumans on a day that came to be known as A-Day. In their absence, A.I.M rose in power and took control. The Avengers scattered to the wind and Captain America was perceived to be dead, but all of that changed once Kamala discovered old video footage that hinted at a much larger conspiracy.
Kamala would go on a journey to find the other Avengers and get them to team up once again to fight A.I.M. Many Marvel fans found the story very compelling and Kamala Khan served as a great choice of protagonist for a story like this. Each character felt like how they should, and they were accompanied by some pretty strong voice acting. It was a fresh take on these characters, and it was probably the highlight of the game.
Crystal Dynamics continued the story through a couple of different post-launch updates. While these extra story chapters were not as strong as the single-player campaign, they helped to show that the studio had a passion for telling Marvel stories. Players got to go on a time-traveling journey with Kate Bishop and Clint Barton, and they got to defend the country of Wakanda with T'Challa. Along with that, the game also added Spider-Man and Jane Foster's Thor in smaller story chapters.
Story is a major part of a video game, but so is the gameplay. The gameplay loop of the missions got pretty repetitive, but the core gameplay of each hero was actually pretty fun. Marvel fans got to toss Captain America's shield across the battlefield, call down lightning with Thor's hammer, and fly through the skies as Iron Man. Each hero felt like a faithful adaption of their comic book counterparts, and the combat could be pretty fun at times.
Crystal Dynamics Deserves a Second Shot
The strong gameplay and story shows that Crystal Dynamics understands how to make an Avengers game. If it was not for the live-service elements and repetitive mission structure then the game may have been received a lot better. While it is not likely to happen, the studio should be given the chance to make another Avengers game.
A second Marvel's Avengers game would need to be single-player focused with an optional co-op mode. A lot of Marvel fans did not want Marvel's Avengers to be a live-service game, and it shows. Crystal Dynamics would need to take what it did right with the title and strip out everything else. Focusing on making a single-player Marvel story filled with these iconic characters could have great results.
The future of Crystal Dynamics is unknown now that Embracer Group has acquired the studio and its IPs, but there will most likely not be a Marvel's Avengers sequel in its future. However, the studio has shown that it knows how to tell a Marvel story, and it understands the Marvel heroes. It deserves to be given the chance to do it again, without the live-service part.
Marvel’s Avengers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.