It’s no exaggeration to say that Guardians of the Galaxy writer and director James Gunn set the template for all subsequent iterations of the team across media with his 2014 film. A band of damaged, vulnerable misfits come together to save the day and discover they’re not so alone after all. The presence of pop songs as an integral part of the narrative and an overall tone that blends humor with heart. Gunn’s invisible creative fingerprints were all over the 2017 video game version of the Guardians put out by now-defunct studio Telltale Games, and they’re equally present on the standalone single-player adventure just released by Square Enix and its subsidiary Eidos Montreal.
As much as it owes to Gunn and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy, though, Square Enix’s recent effort mixes in just as much material from the original Marvel comic book mythos as well – particularly the more bizarre and frankly batshit insane cosmic elements that can be found in its pages. (It can’t be coincidence that some of the writers who originated these elements in the 1970s would occasionally trip on acid.1) Guardians of the Galaxy the video game dives headfirst into the deeply strange and wonderfully psychedelic side of the Marvel cosmos, creating a sprawling and vivid intergalactic escapade that players can lose themselves in.
Indeed, it seems the writers and designers left no stone unturned when it came to deciding what aspects of Marvel’s cosmic mythos to include. We’ve seen some glimpses of this wider cosmos in the MCU in the shape of the Nova Corps in Guardians of the Galaxy or the Kree Empire in Captain Marvel, and now especially with the titular Eternals. But the Guardians of the Galaxy video game gives us the deliriously surreal Marvel cosmic mythos full blast, pulling no punches and largely refusing to hold the player’s hand. Fortunately, a familiarity with the MCU and cinematic Guardians – Peter “Star-Lord” Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot – gives players enough of a handhold to get their bearings as they move forward.
To give a sense of the weirdness at play here, one needs look no further than the game’s inclusion of Cosmo, a Soviet canine cosmonaut who somehow acquired phenomenal telepathic powers after his mission went awry and set him adrift in space. He’s had cameos in Gunn’s Guardians films, but here he’s central to the narrative as chief of security for the station Knowhere and a professional acquaintance of our version of the Guardians. Cosmo helps and directs our not-so-merry band of misfits at various points throughout the game, including allowing them use of something called the Continuum Cortex – a conduit through space and time that appears as giant, glowing blue hand and gives the team glimpses into other branches of reality.
But Guardians of the Galaxy very much remains its own beast. Despite their obvious similarities, for instance, the game’s version of the Guardians comes across as much more dyspeptic than its cinematic inspiration – at least at the game’s outset. Similarly, Quill’s backstory hews much more closely to the comics but in the process loses some of the pathos Gunn brought to the character in his films and suffers somewhat for it. Ultimately, though, the game rather effectively mixes and matches from its sources and inspirations to create its own unique take on the team.
Guardians of the Galaxy also possesses a surprisingly moving and emotional narrative, one that fleshes out its characters as it progresses and tackles weighty themes with greater coherence and intention than many other video games. Issues of death and loss are front and center for each character throughout the story, and the game’s central antagonist preys upon these universal experiences via “the Promise” – a trance-like state where an individual’s deepest losses are reversed in a personally-tailored fantasy. Quill, for instance, finds himself living with his mother and his fellow Guardians back on Earth, and forced to kill his mother in order to repudiate the fantasy and break free of the illusion. Strangely enough, perhaps the most affecting instance of the Promise the player encounters involves Cosmo, who recollects the joys of his life as a companion animal back on Earth before Quill brings him back to his senses. It’s no exaggeration to say that the need to accept the reality of death and loss – no matter how painful it may be – lies at the heart of Guardians of the Galaxy’s narrative.
Other core themes include fatherhood and responsibility as well as comradeship, and the game handles them equally well. These themes develop in ways both obvious and subtle; Rocket must overcome his fear of drowning, for instance, to help save the lives of his teammates. But the Guardians of the Galaxy is at its best when it expresses the team’s growing camaraderie through changes in dialogue over the course of the game. As the narrative progresses, Drax’s attitude toward Gamora shifts from extreme suspicion to deep trust – something Gamora herself notices and comments on when it happens.
That’s reinforced by Guardians of the Galaxy’s well-done voice acting, high-quality writing, and solid, often fun run-and-gun gameplay. The game also makes intriguing storytelling and gameplay choices at various points that are both unexpected and welcome when they reveal themselves. It forces the player to make choices without obvious cues found elsewhere in the game: during Quill’s Promise, for instance, the credits will roll if the player refuses to reject the Promise – an unexpected game over that fortunately leads back to the start of the sequence. Similarly, the player has an option to chase after Gamora during a pursuit of the big bad on Knowhere or trust her judgment. It’s a choice I didn’t even know I made until the consequences became apparent during a later confrontation with the villain. What’s more, the game knowingly and cheekily plays with a number of video game tropes right up to its final act.
All in all, Guardians of the Galaxy represents a huge step up from the Avengers game Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics released a year ago. That game focused more on its online multiplayer modes than either gameplay or its single-player story, and it showed in the final product – though it’s improved somewhat with the release downloadable content and constant tweaks over the past year. Guardians of the Galaxy’s strictly single-player narrative helps it avoid these shortcomings.
To be sure, Guardians of the Galaxy has its own share of problems. Though the game’s dialogue is superb in general – the Guardians will strike up conversations amongst themselves when the player’s idle or exploring – banter during battle becomes annoyingly repetitive. It can be hard to keep up with the barrage of cosmic strangeness hurled the player’s way, though even minimal familiarity with the cinematic Guardians or the Marvel mythos in general makes it all much more digestible. There also won’t be any downloadable content for the game, meaning there’s zero potential for another adventure with the Guardians. For my part, after the credits finally rolled I’d hoped that they’d get another assignment from Cosmo.
Still, Guardians of the Galaxy gives anyone with even a passing interest in the characters brought so vividly to life by James Gunn’s films a satisfying experience. It’s well worth playing for that reason alone, with its storytelling strengths and quirks more than making up for its shortcomings and weaknesses.
Sean Howe, Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, p. 138 and 143.