Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Xbox One / Series X|S)

The basic premise of this game is that the team of characters must find the Eternity Forge, an artefact of great power. The antagonist is Kree Hala the Accuser, who wants it herself. The player plays primarily as Star-Lord, but will occasionally play as the others in the many flashbacks that flesh out the team dynamic and provides characters’ backstories. The humour that made the movies so popular is here too, and carries across well.

Just as in the movie and the comics, music is important. All the backing tracks to the game are all belters from the 70s and 80s. This is a major connection between Peter (Star-Lord and his past, his childhood and the now mostly defunct Earth. On occasion, you get to choose the background track to inspire the team to a greater effort against the villains.

The five episodes that comprise the game (see more about this below) play out with plenty of cliff-hanger ups and downs, with a story arc to follow and important player choices to be made. Players can make good choices or bad one, depending on your preferences, and these actions will have sometimes unexpected future consequences.

The characters on the Milano are all likeable and distinctive: there is Star-Lord, who is cocky, brash, optimistic; Gamora, a world weary cynical warrior; Drax who typifies ‘all brawn and no brain’; Rocket is a sardonic modified raccoon with a dark backstory and Groot is a humanoid tree.

Nebula and Mantis are not Guardians, per se, but they show up along the way too to help out and hinder as the story demands.

The Nitty Gritty

The game is strongly team based, with all the characters needed for true success in any scenario. Your AI-controlled fellow Guardians are more than up to the task and ‘remember’ your previous choices and instructions extrapolating them forward, so it really feels as though they are working with you, rather than waiting to be told what to do.

Along with this, the characters still have their own unique personalities – for example, Drax takes on too many enemies at once, while Gamora is more cautious. Star-Lord loves to shoot, and this can be teamed with jumping, dodging, trying out new moves that you’ve just unlocked, and executing melee strikes. It is up to you to set the team members tasks that they will cope with well.

The enemies’ health bars can be seen at all times, letting you know if you need all your strength, or just one or two more shots to finish them off which can be useful when you are unsure of whether to press on or fall back to recuperate and regroup.

Fill your XP bar to unlock unique abilities. You can inspire your team to success by choosing the right inspirational speech or background track. This does more than just make them feel good, it actually gives them boosts and abilities they wouldn’t otherwise have. You can also do things like letting Drax throw Rocket over a ravine to make a bridge quickly – but Rocket might not be so willing to help next time!

Five Episodes to Play Through

There are five ‘episodes’ in the game’s story arc, each developing the story along and all are song titles, for those who recognise their late 70s/ early 80s music.

Tangled Up in Blue

Under Pressure

More Than a Feeling

Who Needs You

Don’t Stop Believing