Next-Gen Update Doesn’t Avenge Poor Launch for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes

By the time that Marvel’s Avengers was released in August of 2020, it never stood a chance. After several delays, a global pandemic, and a less than impressive first showing, it launched with quite the thud and it’s only gotten worse since.

Although Marvel’s Avengers was awarded “Worst Game of 2020” by some, I found myself enjoying it more than most. Pointlessly beating up bad guys and gathering loot was a lot more fun than I was expecting, but that was mainly due to the fact that each member of the Avengers played so differently. But it’s the game’s story that I found myself enamored with the most. There was a stark difference (pun!) between the look and feel of this game compared to what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in the Marvel movies, and that was something that really worked for me. Ms. Marvel’s quest to reunite Earth’s Mightiest Heroes wasn’t the most original narrative but I felt that the execution was done wonderfully.

In the end, I recommended Marvel’s Avengers and said that if the game’s post-launch support was as solid as the base game, Avengers might just be the hit that Square Enix and Marvel were hoping for.

Well, that didn’t happen.

In the months that followed, Marvel Avengers received minor updates that added little to nothing to the overall experience. People like me that appreciated that launch game became annoyed by the “more of the same” approach and moved on to something else. Now, with a next-gen version of Marvel’s Avengers here for the Xbox Series S|X and Playstation 5 and its most ambitious post-launch content yet, does Marvel’s Avengers finally become the game that I was hoping that it would be? Sadly, no.

The power of the next-gen consoles improves those brutal load times, but that’s the biggest difference that you will see if you were to upgrade. (Speaking of that, this game has one of the most ass-backward ways of carrying over your progress. If you’re intending to upgrade to the PS5 version, be sure that you still have your PS4 copy on hand.) Other than that, the game looks great—but it is also one of the best-looking PS4 and Xbox One games of that last generation. It looks mostly the same on next-gen, but that’s still very good.

The biggest issue with Marvel’s Avengers is that, even if you go and add new characters and environments, with the gameplay and mission structure being the exact same for everything, playing it becomes a chore, and the excitement of those new characters and abilities wear off quickly. I’m also a bit confused on why Square Enix and Eidos Montreal chose the characters for these DLC’s that they did. While the main campaign lets you play as Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Iron Man, Hulk, and Ms. Marvel, adding Kate Bishop to that lineup isn’t as appealing. Black Panther and (supposedly) Spider-Man are coming soon, but it’s a little too late for that. If I’m moving on, I know that most everyone else either is or already has.

The real shitty thing about this is that the game’s developer, Eidos Montreal, is going to be the scapegoat for this game bombing. It’s one of my favorite developers. Their work on Deus Ex: Human Revolution is still so good that I find myself jumping into it at least once a year.

This is a game that tried to do too much. The games-as-a-service fad was probably white-hot when they started development on this, but the market was drained by the time it finally released. That E3 preview that had everyone complaining about the character designs and gameplay was one of the final nails in the coffin.

Overall, the bells and whistles from the next-gen version don’t make this game any less of a bummer.