Guardians of the Galaxy embraces its comic book roots and I love that

When I first saw a trailer for the Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy video game came out, a seismometer wouldn’t have been able to detect my interest. I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t blip for me. It just didn’t seem like something I’d be interested in.

But therein lies the tricky nature of the Guardians of the Galaxy, one of Marvel’s biggest gambles. Not just with the game but in general. Pulpy space stuff doesn’t sell as well as super hero stuff. It rarely has. So it’s a gamble if Marvel wants to keep making issues, it was a huge gamble to work them into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and this video game was, also, a massive gamble. Especially when you take into account just how awful Marvel’s Avengers ended up performing.

And to add a gamble within a gamble, Marvel went all in on a version of the Guardians of the Galaxy that’s heavily based around the comics. Drax is known as the guy who killed Thanos, Mantis doesn’t roll with the Guardians but knows them, and they often work with the bestest boy in the galaxy, Cosmo. Unfortunately it is the lineup from the movies as opposed to some of the better line ups. Personally, for my money, Kitty Pryde as Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Gamora, The Thing and Flash Thompson’s Venom was the best lineup ever penned.

But man, as someone who loves the comics, I love this game despite the main cast being more tailored for MCU fans over the comics. The characters you encounter are still very heavily based on the comics and had even me trying to remember where I heard of some of these names before. Lady Hellbender, Angela, Chris Powell, Calvin Zabo, names a lot of people super familiar with Marvel are probably running through Wikipedia right now. They’re all in here. The game throws you into the most obscure parts of the Marvel Universe and doesn’t stop to catch you up and I love it. Sudden digs made about the Shi’ar or the Brood, hearing a conversation about the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence. This game goes out of its way to be weird and uncomfortable and completely alien. Don’t be surprised if you a situation gets resolved in very unlikely ways.

They also nail the human aspect of this game really well. Star-lord is remarkably obnoxious but you kinda get why. Just don’t blame his mom because this game’s portrayal of Meredith Quill is by and far the best portrayal of the character in any medium. And this is also the first time I felt emotionally attached to the character who normally merely gets fridged to give Star-lord motivation. I mean, she still does, but that doesn’t change the fact that in the meantime, she’s the coolest mom.

Now, potentially, this could leave MCU fans who aren’t familiar with the books reeling but the game does this really good job of turning Star-Lord into both a character who works as our guide to this universe who’s comfortable with all the weirdness and as the odd-man-out who needs things explained to him that people can latch to.

While so many Marvel games lately are either redoing origin stories and making characters more grounded, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy gives you powerful characters and a deep universe right out the gate and I love it. Discovering new worlds and being in awe of the locals and its people felt like everything I never got from Mass Effect — especially as the worlds are unique and not just jungles with a different pallet. The bosses play like something out of Ratchet and Clank. The enemy battles feel like the love child of Hades and Bayonetta with you dashing everywhere but also dodging to slow down time.

The world gives me a ton of fun and I really don’t think it could have happened with an MCU rehash. What do you think though? If you were hoping for a more MCU take what would you have wanted? Tell us below.