The Marvel’s Avengers game never did justice to how great the original film of 2012 was.

Perhaps my most anticipated game of 2020 was Marvel’s Avengers. I enjoy the majority of the films, and I still collect the comics that I read as a child. My all-time favorite superhero game is probably Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 on PS5, and Ultimate Alliance 3 was a blast.

Marvel’s Avengers was released in 2020. | Credit: Crystal Dynamics.

It should come as no surprise that I was thrilled about Crystal Dynamics’ multiplayer action game in which I could play as Ms. Marvel and Thor at launch, with two more Hawkeye and Spider-Man available as free DLC later. I was eager to see what this fresh take on the Marvel Universe would offer—perhaps an Ultron tale? Or the Kree, given the involvement of the Inhumans? It turned out to be a pretty bad game when it finally came out.

What Went Wrong with Marvel’s Avengers?

There are a few things for which I think the game was never able to touch the legacy of the original movie. This game has a lot of bugs. I’ve experienced crashes and blackouts that seem to happen at random, fallen through levels, and been unable to communicate with others or complete mission objectives.

However, the most annoying bug I’ve encountered has made the camera go completely crazy, resembling a strobe light between two angles, and I’m unable to move or take any action until it stops working, which could take anywhere from one to ten seconds. It is by far the most annoying bug I have seen here, but it does not render the game unplayable.

Each mission is identical. You’ve already completed the only missions that are worth playing once you obtain the war table. Every mission will proceed as follows from this point on Locate a spot on the map, wait for JARVIS to do something, and then repeatedly engage in combat with the same few enemies.

The Hulk appears to require the same amount of work as Black Widow or Ms. Marvel, and if you’re lucky, you might have to destroy some servers or something. The Hulk should be able to take down a server with fewer than fifteen punches, in my opinion. This strange balance of power makes all heroes feel pretty much the same.

Even the Heros in the Game Almost Felt the Same

We forgot that every hero in Marvel’s Avengers had different abilities. | Credit: Crystal Dynamics.

Except for their traversal abilities (Black Widow has a grapple gun, Iron Man and Thor can fly, and Captain America can wall-run and double-jump for some reason), none of them really have any special gameplay features. Though there are no missions where one traversal skill is more helpful than another, I think the idea is a really cool one. In any mission, any hero can go anywhere, so traversals are a waste of time.

I was unable to locate a single location on a map that one hero could access while another could not. Although it’s not that significant, it reminds me of the quote from The Incredibles that goes, “If everyone is super, then nobody is.” There isn’t much of an incentive to play as one character over another if all of them are aggressively competent at everything, as they are in Marvel’s Avengers.

Even the heroes’ ultimate powers are not impervious to this. The Heroic Ultimate ability of “become big, hit people in large, sweeping swings” is identical for both Iron Man and Ms. Marvel, of all people. However, Iron Man’s armor is the Hulkbuster, while Ms. Marvel’s is expanded to that size. Additionally, the iconic Hulkbuster armor is primarily from the films.

Since the Hulk in this game isn’t nearly as destructive as the one in the comics or the movies, there isn’t much evidence that the game’s universe would require a Hulkbuster. The Hulkbuster, in my opinion, is only present because it was in the films and isn’t supported by the narrative in the same way that, say, Thor’s Bifrost ability is.

What’s your opinion on Marvel’s Avengers? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.