4/5 ★ – GermanStrands's review of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.

After a lot of people didn't like the Marvel's Avengers game, especially with the multiplayer content, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy abandoned multiplayer completely and focused on a pure single-player story-driven gaming experience. I've already played the game twice and received the Platinum Trophy. And yes, it's a big surprise and definitely one game of the year. Even I didn't think so, but let yourself be surprised - it's worth it. Why the game is worth it and why it shares many similarities with Naughty Dog games? Let's find out! Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is a third-person action-adventure game in which you take on the role of Star-Lord. Star-Lord is the only playable character but you use your team members for puzzles and fights by pressing a button (commands). A lot of people, like me, have wondered if controlling just one character is the right decision. I have to say - yes, it's great. The focus and the bond between character and player is just right. Story & Characters: The game has a pretty decent story, which lets you travel to different planets. There are also typical villains, a higher power and plot twists. I liked the story , even if it is basically nothing special. It never gets boring and it can also get quite emotional. But what is much better done and a real highlight in the game - the characters. Oh my god THE CHARACTERS. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy simply has the best, most believable characters this year and beyond. What is offered here in terms of love, motivation, emotion and, above all, depth, is really great cinema. If we're talking about cinema, let's compare it to movies. I saw the movies in the cinema and I really liked them. Especially the characters. But this game made me love the characters even more and even surpasses the movies. I've heard from a lot of people that the game is more based on the comics. Cant judge, as I haven't read the comics but one thing is for sure - fans will love this game. What makes the characters extremely believable are the facial animations and the voice acting. In this area, the game comes close to Naughty Dog games for me. It was not uncommon for me to sit in front of my television with my mouth open. Lip synchronization, the eyes and the general facial expressions is a complete package. I played the game in both English and German and I have to say it's just great. Naughty Dog Game In Space?: Quite often I thought that this game could represent a Naughty Dog game ​​in some areas. The way in which characters communicate with each other, tease each other and react to situations is really well done. If you go the wrong way, a character will comment on that and pull you up. If you are using the wrong skill there is always a specific saying to go with it. There are also typical scenes in which everything collapses and you have to run away. Clearly an inspiration from Uncharted or Crash Bandicoot (you also run into the camera). Another important aspect is that the game takes its time and that is a good thing. The game is quieter in certain moments. Sometimes there is just talk, you listen to different dialogues and give different answers. Your ship often serves as a hub area. There is a workbench to upgrade some stuff. Here you can have conversations with characters and find one or the other Easter Egg. Imagine a Mass Effect, but significantly reduced. Loud and funny: Sure, if you don't like the humor in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, you obviously won't like a big aspect in the game. It's very direct and, above all, "loud". There are only a few moments when the characters don't talk. For many, this could be a point of criticism. Since there is a lot of talk in the fights, it can happen that you hear a line of dialogue twice. There is a lot of shouting and insulting. This didn't bother me too much, but you just have to like it. Fantastic Worldbuilding: Oh my God. The world building and art design in this game is just amazing. This is what alien planets should look like. Bright colors, out of this world, crazy and simply fascinating. Each new planet is impressive and unique in its own way. I don't want to spoil the worlds for you, so I won't go into the details here, but believe me, such planets setting a new standard for games in space. Even Returnal doesn't come close to the variety here. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is one of those games that I want to buy the artbook immediately. Just that good. Variety is very important: In addition to the enormously varied planets that you will travel to, the tasks also very varied. Sometimes you explore, sometimes you solve puzzles or fly through space in your spaceship and fight enemy ships. Clearly a reference to Star Fox. Even the famous Barrel-Roll (Do a Barrel-Roll) made it into the game. Except towards the end, I found the combat passages a bit too long. It's also nice that the game is divided into chapters. This means that people with little time can finish various chapters and continue playing at a later point. As already mentioned, you play Star-Lord and can select various requests for team members via a ring menu. At first I thought that the combat system was not for me, but as the game progresses the system opens up and brings out great facets. The combat system reminded me of a mix of Devil May Cry and Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The combat feels massive and everything is executed right after you press a button. This creates a nice flow and cool combination options. I played through the game on the normal difficulty level and it felt right to me. By winning fights, you receive experience points and resources, which you can invest in really manageable skill trees and skill bonuses as usual. A negative factor for me was that I had already acquired all of my skills well before the end of the game and no longer received any experience points. One or the other additional ability would not have hurt. I have to say that I liked the variety of enemies, especially the designs are great. Of course there are the typical ones who simply get a new coat of paint, but there are also really big and well-staged boss fights, which are definitely among the highlights in the game. Every Guardian has a certain ability that he knows to use outside of combat at given locations. This is how you create bridges, open doors or destroy walls. You shouldn't expect something special here. The puzzles, however, loosen up the game experience nicely and are fun. Visuals: I've played the game on a PlayStation 5 and a 4K OLED TV and the game just looks amazing. The characters and worlds in particular are bursting with details and really come to life on an OLED TV with the bright colors and real black levels. In the menu you can switch between graphics and performance mode. The graphics mode runs in 3840x2160p and 30FPS while the performance mode targets 1920x1080p and 60FPS, but also takes a significant loss in shadow and effect quality. Personally, I often play the games at 60 frames per second. I just love it when everything is nice and fluid in fights. But I have to admit that I consciously chose the graphics mode this time. I just saw the difference in the graphics area too clearly, so I didn't want to play without the great visuals. But everyone has to know this for themselves, tastes are different. Of course, having the opportunity to choose is great. Soundtrack: Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy has a really great soundtrack. In addition to licensed Nostalgic 1980s hits, the orchestral music is also great and can be very epic. You can already hear "well-known songs" in the start menu. Pure nostlagic. Hey, you can fight nasty enemies with the sound of "Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley" - is there something better? PS5 Features: Due to the usual fast SSD, the loading times are again virtually non-existent, which is of great benefit to the flow of the game. The haptic feedback is nice, so that you can feel the reloading with your weapon. Not a flagship title in this area, but nicely implemented. I just love the DualSense controller. Replay Value: As I mentioned earlier, I finished the game twice and also got the Platinum Trophy. In my second run I noticed that your decisions can really change the course of the game massively. You can miss entire areas, mini-games and good dialogues. A big plus for the replayability. The game world invites you to explore. In addition to text recordings, you will also find different outfits for your guardians. The outfits are all well designed and are also used in the many cut scenes. A real joy for fans that will make your "collector's heart" beat faster. The Platinum Trophy is relatively easy to achieve in terms of difficulty and time required. You will receive a lot of trophies in your first playthrough. I highly recommend to go for all trophies. I experienced few bugs over my playing time of about 30 hours. Once I couldn't beat an enemy and once the game crashed. Small clipping errors here and there but on the whole the gaming experience was very good in this area. Very polished game. Verdict: You can tell that there is a lot of love and just soul in this game. I'm sure that many did not expect such a surprise hit, but Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the best games of the year. I need more, please! 9/10