{"id":50563,"date":"2020-08-11T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T15:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=50563"},"modified":"2020-08-11T13:58:21","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T17:58:21","slug":"marvels-avengers-ew-no-thanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shamusyoung.com\/twentysidedtale\/?p=50563","title":{"rendered":"Marvel’s Avengers: Ew, No Thanks"},"content":{"rendered":"

I complained about this game<\/a> when it was first showcased at E3 last year. At the time I didn’t like it because it looked like a lazy copy of the cinematic Avengers with all of the charisma and wit drained out of it<\/a>. The action looked stilted and scripted. It had a bad case of too many quicktime events, not enough player expression.<\/p>\n

But hey, this was just a first impression, right? This is an E3 showcase, so of course they’re going to lean into the more cinematic sections of the game. Star Wars\u2122 Jedi: Fallen Order\u2122 EA\u2122<\/i> looked pretty uninspired at E3, and that game turned out great<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But then as the previews began I saw that my initial concerns were just small potatoes compared to the real problems:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sony is proud of making Spider-Man a platform exclusive<\/a>, even though doing so is a straight-up dick move. Hey, if the graphics and multiplayer are better on PlayStation because you built the best platform, then those benefits are a natural and emergent reward of your hard work and investment. Good for you. But if your platform is “best” because you used money \/ licensing shenanigans to deny content to the rival platforms then you’re not making your platform better, you’re making the other platforms worse. I’m not going to celebrate or reward this sort of product sabotage.<\/li>\n
  2. The game is built around a gross liiiive service<\/strong> If you follow Jim Sterling, then you know what voice to use here.<\/span> model where you can buy various skins to bling out your Avengers. Check out Alanah Pearce’s preview video<\/a> and\u00a0all the sales pitch splash screens that she has to push through when she launches the game.<\/li>\n
  3. The focus is on “cinematic” gameplay in a supposedly multiplayer experience seems deeply misguided. It’s like the worst of both worlds.<\/li>\n
  4. The character designs look just enough like the MCU versions to be a distraction and a disappointment. They didn’t want to pay to use the likenesses of the MCU actors. Fair enough, that would be expensive. But then they also didn’t want to put in the work to make their own versions of these characters.<\/li>\n
  5. You can get branded outfits as promotional tie-in, allowing you to turn these supposed superheroes into unironic pitchmen for real-world corporations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I Don’t Play Games That Are More Cynical Than I Am.<\/h3>\n