Arrived on the market with the irrepressible power of the Marvel universe and its well-known heroes, Square-Enix’s Avengers has undermined the certainties of many players. Although the development team was clear from the start on the nature of the project, there are still many users who do not know how to frame the Crystal Dynamics production well; maybe because they have never heard of “Game as a Service“or, to use a more didactic name, of”Continuous Development Games“. Although among our readers there is no shortage of those who have frequented the servers of Destiny and The Division for some time, it is worth explaining briefly what the characteristics of this category of products are, so as to give some more references to those who have approached Avengers attracted by the appeal of the brand rather than by a precise knowledge of its ambitions.
What are GaaS
Game as Service can be considered a modern derivation of MMOs, which has lost its massive dimension but not the ambition to digitize a constantly evolving world, capable of growing and developing over the years. The “Continuous Development” referred to is precisely this: a constant addition of content that they can carry on the stories of the virtual universe to which the developers have devoted themselves body and soul.
The other feature of these productions is the focus on online multiplayer, with priority on the cooperative dimension (but without disdaining, in many cases, a good PvP). The ability to create a community by encouraging and enhancing online interactions is fundamental for such projects, also because in the dead moments between one update and another (which can last several months), one of the main reasons to return to play is precisely that of spending some time with friends, repeating the most demanding activities and challenges every week: those that represent the so-called “endgame”.
And here it is, the other term so important to understand the effectiveness of a Game as a Service, its value. A Continuous Development Game is all the more successful the more dense, rich and stimulating its endgame is: if there are well-diversified challenges, a fair number of bosses with complex mechanics, to assimilate and internalize, and well-characterized assignments return to the servers of game will be a pleasure even after months of product launch.
Unfortunately, we are saddened to admit that Marvel’s Avengers endgame at the moment it seems too thin and poor in content to be truly functional to its purpose. Once the main campaign is finished (which, we repeat, is incisive and well done, as underlined in the Marvel’s Avengers single player review), the incentives to return as Cap, Iron-Man, Miss Marvel and company are likely to run out more quickly than expected.
How does the endgame work?
The clash with MODOK and with the huge Sentinel that the Villain takes possession of represents a spectacular and powerful ending to the Marvel’s Avengers story arc. From that moment on, the doors of the so-called “Avengers Initiative” open, in fact a series of secondary missions to follow in order to have some extra rewards and some clues on what could be the trend of the story in the coming months (or years) .
The Iconic Missions also have the same function, but are explicitly dedicated to the six heroes that we can play in the game.
In practice, these are very short optional questlines, which tell us about the adventures of our darlings. Although these are very regular assignments, set in the Warzones and AIM labs that we have explored dozens of times, in short, the Iconic Missions have a narrative background that makes them more rewarding, and makes us understand how the development of production will be set up. While Cap has to contend with new Adaptoids created by the Modok factories, for example, Thor will have to unmask an imposter who we will discover to be his treacherous brother, but neither will find a satisfactory conclusion to their research. The same goes for the other heroes, who are likely to receive new assignments in the future to advance their own personal stories. In short, Avengers will be a story “a puntate“, although we don’t know how often the development team will be able to add new episodes.
Consider that also the arrival of Hawkeye will be marked by the same logic: we will first play a series of introductory missions in the role of Kate Bishop, then unlock Clint a few weeks later, and with him carry out another mission (probably in an attempt to undermine the ruthless Monica Rappaccini).
As interesting as this approach may be, comparable to the methods of publishing a comic series, it must be said that the Iconic Missions can be finished in a few hours: at that point the only activity that remains is to develop your characters, in a long journey towards the two level caps.
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To reach level 50 and power 150 there will be a lot of work, accepting many assignments to accumulate experience and increasingly valuable equipment. The problem consists in the fact that the variety of these assignments is substantially non-existent, and already about ten hours after the credits one begins to feel a sense of overwhelming repetitiveness.
There are basically two types of missions: the first begin in the so-called Warzones, freely explorable areas that leave the player the opportunity to carry out optional tasks. Unfortunately, there are only three War Zones, and their size pales when compared to the planets of Destiny or the neighborhoods of The Division 2. Even the side quests are all attributable to a handful of types.
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The forays into the Warzones always and in any case culminate in the AIM laboratories (or at most in the Shield deposits), where we are asked to destroy turbines and generators, defend control points or get rid of all enemies. Far too little to be a challenging long-distance exercise. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the so-called “landing zones” are nothing more than the exact same assignments within the laboratories, without any noteworthy variation. Even more serious is perhaps the fact that in the current state of affairs Avengers offers only two Boss Fights, alternate versions of those already addressed in the campaign, with Abomination and Taskmaster. The dynamics of these clashes, among other things, are not very interesting: everything boils down to indiscriminate button mashing, against opponents who “absorb” exorbitant amounts of damage.
There are no events or interactions with the environment that really stimulate cooperation between players. We hope that things can improve at the higher difficulty levels, where it should be necessary to exploit the super abilities of the four heroes involved in synergy.
More space for the countryside
Strange as it may seem, given the ambitions of the production, Square-Enix’s production strategy seems to have been oriented entirely towards the campaign, absorbing resources and creativity to one of the central elements of a Game as a Service, that is the endgame. This is a paradoxical approach above all because developing your hero is fairly stimulating, especially as regards the skills to be unlocked.
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If to work on the equipment you will need to wait until you have reached the maximum Power, expanding the moveset and improving the effectiveness of the special moves of each hero is an interesting operation. With Iron-Man, for example, you can work hard on boosting the Overload or choose whether to use Lasers or Rockets, while Cap is able to adapt his strategy to become a fighter or a “tank” capable of absorbing any attack. The variety of skills is paired with that of the combat system, so that the specter of boredom is at times removed, for example when we try new combinations of skills or take back control of a character that we have been using for a while.
Among the demerit notes attributable to Marvel’s Avengers there is also that of having focused on two distinct social spaces, each of which allows you to collect the tasks of one of the two factions available today (the Shield and the Inhuman Alliance). Seeing that in the Anthill and in the Helicarrier you also move quite slowly, and that it makes no sense to have to move from one side to the other just to accept new daily bounties, the team should have thought about streamlining these operations. The same goes for the equipment storage: the Destiny lesson does not seem to have been served, and for the moment Avengers does not stand out for a good “quality of life“.
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