When Marvel's Avengers was announced, fans were excited to see a Marvel game from Square Enix, the publisher behind some of the most iconic RPGs ever made, and Crystal Dynamics, the studio responsible for much of the Tomb Raider series. The promise of a live-service action game with RPG elements, cooperative multiplayer mode, and new characters added for free was intriguing. While early trailers and character designs gave some fans pause, many saw enormous potential in a project that looked to be a video game version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Unfortunately, Marvel's Avengers launched with several problems. The game was rife with bugs, especially in its online multiplayer, and there was little variation in the levels and enemy types. While the gameplay and story were largely lauded, the repetitive nature of its combat and the uninteresting loot grind turned away many critics and fans. To its credit, Crystal Dynamics put in a lot of work to smooth out the experience and add new levels, characters, story missions, and raids. However, the game was never really able to come back from its messy launch, and character releases were too few and far between to keep the game afloat. The developers recently announced support for Marvel's Avengers will shut down this year, with no more content releasing after a final patch on March 31. While predictable, this still comes as a disappointment considering how much potential the game had.
Marvel's Avengers Almost Felt Like a Playable Comic Event
Although Marvel's Avengers' live-service model was criticized, its story, characters, and gameplay had a lot to offer. The game's execution was poor, and it wasn't backed by solid post-launch content. However, the idea of a continuously unfolding story set in the Marvel universe is exciting. Not only would it serve as a way to constantly add in new characters, maps, enemies, and missions, but it would also make the game feel closer to the comic book stories that inspired the game.
There are countless comic book storylines that unfold over multiple issues from different series, and fans return each week to see what happens next. Marvel's Avengers' format could have replicated this seamlessly. New updates and expansions that add to the story could create a superhero universe within a video game. There are plenty of great video games based on comics, but these have felt like self-contained stories that take place in a larger universe. With Marvel's Avengers, fans could have actually been immersed in that universe's story unfolding.
Marvel's Avengers Made Its Heroes Feel Personal to the Player
One of the best things about Marvel's Avengers was its gameplay. It certainly had some technical issues and was limited by repetitive levels and environments, but overall, the characters felt great to control. Each of the heroes the game launched with felt distinct, and most DLC characters added something entirely unique. On top of that, players had a lot of customization options to make the heroes fit their gameplay style.
Had it continued, Marvel's Avengers could have made players feel like they were actually part of Earth's Mightiest Heroes and contributing to the ongoing story. Plus, the new heroes would make players feel like their team was expanding, allowing them to mix and match characters to create a crossover team that few superhero games have been able to replicate. Marvel's Avengers could have let players create their own version of the Avengers and play through a massive story that felt like it was ripped straight from the pages of classic Marvel books.
With all that in mind, it's unfortunate that Marvel's Avengers was never able to see its idea through to completion. Its storyline is doomed to go unfinished, and the improvements made in the two-and-a-half years since launch will cease. Though the news isn't surprising -- after all, and game wildly underperformed, leading to Crystal Dynamics being sold to Embracer Group, and players noticed that later heroes were pretty similar to existing ones. Still, while the game fell short, it still entertained a good number of players and, at least for a time, had the potential to be the greatest superhero game ever made.