Practically ever since the Marvel’s Avengers beta, there have been datamines and leaks of characters that would come to the game as DLC. While this information should be taken with a grain of salt, there is an overabundance of circumstantial evidence on some of these characters that is hard to ignore. These characters, at their core, present a fundamental problem with Marvel’s Avengers.
It’s not secret that this first game in the fabled Avengers project did not land as intended, so Square Enix intends to “save” Marvel’s Avengers with DLC. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as this could truly reinvigorate the game with new villains to face, new styles of missions, and more. It wouldn’t be the first game in need of a redemption arc, but based on the aforementioned leaks, it could be that one big problem with the game is only exacerbated by DLC, not resolved.
Stripping away the issues with loot, the elements designed around it, the service elements, and more, Marvel’s Avengers is a brawler at its core. Those who are critical of its gameplay likely find issue within this design itself. That’s not to say brawler games are bad, but they are hard to get right. Regardless of who players choose, whether that’s Captain America or Iron Man, the core combat mechanics are the same. There’s light and heavy attack, as well as some core abilities, and that’s about it.
Where its key in a brawler is not necessarily avoiding the similarities in design, but making these characters (flavor and otherwise) stand apart. Iron Man reasonably should not play like Captain America, The Hulk should not reasonably play like Thor, and so on and so forth. Whether or not the game succeeds in this is entirely a subjective point, as players likely develop their favorite character not just based on a Marvel’s Avengers tier list, but on their favorite gameplay style and likely favorite Marvel character in general. That’s where the DLC characters could potentially become a problem.
Thus far, there have basically only been three confirmed DLC characters: Hawkeye (Kate Bishop), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), and the PlayStation-exclusive Spider-Man for Marvel’s Avengers. That is a whole situation in and of itself, as it feels weird to limit DLC to a specific platform when the game is in desperate needs of some revitalization, but that’s not really all. Based on some leaks, datamines, and rumors, which means any of these characters may be cut, changed, or never be included, the potential DLC line-up looks something like this:
- Ant-Man
- Black Panther
- Captain Marvel
- Doctor Strange
- Falcon
- Mar-Vell
- Mockingbird
- Quake
- Scarlet Witch
- She-Hulk*
- Spider-Woman
- Vision
- War Machine*
- Wasp
- Winter Soldier
*These Marvel’s Avengers character leaked alongside Kate Bishop.
While the jury is still out on the accuracy of these characters, even assuming only half of them are remotely true still shows a big problem. As a brawler, making repetitive gameplay feel unique has to be a key element. Otherwise, characters may not feel so different and are less fun as a result. Looking over this list with that in mind highlights a lot of problems: many of these characters are essentially clones of others. While, yes, it is interesting to see underrepresented characters like Mar-Vell, Quake, and She-Hulk get some attention, the big question becomes how will those that are clones play differently from their counterparts and is there enough of a difference.
For example, She-Hulk and Hulk are two versions of the big green thing, while War Machine has lasers, maybe more guns, but still has a powered up suit like Iron Man. Furthermore, this isn’t an issue limited to launch character vs. DLC character, but within the DLC characters themselves. Just as some may be asking how Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye will different from Clint Barton’s, the same question must be asked about Ant-Man and the Wasp (two heroes who core superpowers are using Pym Particles to shrink down), how Doctor Strange’s use of magic will differ from Scarlet Witch’s, and how Spider-Woman’s web-slinging will differ from Spider-Man’s.
That’s not to say there aren’t core differences in these characters. Of course there are; the Marvel universe makes use of these and can make interesting stories out of a variety of mediums. The question here is how can Crystal Dyanmics make these characters stand out in a particular medium: a brawler video game.
To dive deeper into this, one must ask, for example, how She-Hulk won’t just be a towering tank capable of hitting multiple enemies with her feats of strength that is just like Hulk. Ignoring even light and heavy attacks, which seems impossible to truly differentiate beyond different movements and core styles, how do their abilities like the Heroic ability differ enough to truly matter? Sure, it’s doubtful that She-Hulk will do the same clap as Hulk, but if she body slams, jumps, or anything of the like, will it be different enough to matter?
The same goes for every character mentioned above: will it be different enough to matter? Wasp can commonly fly, which is a point for her, but will it differ her from Ant-Man or make her better? Clint Barton is likely to use different attacks, different style of arrows, and maybe even include Lucky in his layout, but a Hawkeye by any other name or combat mechanic is still Hawkeye. While her physical capabilities are far different from most versions of Spider-Man, these two characters will likely go hand to hand and move around via web-slinging all the same, and as a result, a Spider-Verse character is a Spider-Verse character of any other name.
Again, in other mediums, this isn’t typically a problem. For the story telling of Marvel’s Avengers, this probably won’t be a problem, but when it comes down to innovating on core gameplay mechanics, Crystal Dynamics really has to hit that sweet spot, lest the game just continue on being more of the same.
Marvel’s Avengers is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions in the works.
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