June 24, 2019 by Paul Curtin
With the final chapter in Marvel’s Avengers film franchise coming to an end this summer after making billions at the box office, Square Enix bringing the beloved superheroes back so quickly at E3 was easily one of most anticipated announcements at E3 2019.
But after the developers debuted a first look during their press conference on Tuesday night, fans were left with mixed feelings about how the iconic characters looked nothing like the movie stars who have played them for the past decade on the big screen.
While Square Enix’s Avengers might look a bit different, the devs have assembled their own A-team of voice actors that includes Nolan North from Uncharted as Tony Stark, Troy Baker from The Last of Us as Bruce Banner, Laura Bailey as Black Widow, Jeff Schine as Captain America, and Travis Willingham as Thor.
We also got a chance to watch an extended look at gameplay behind-closed-doors and can confirm most of what was shown in the first trailer was in fact gameplay. And from what we saw, fans of superhero games and The Avengers should be happy with what the team at Square is putting together.
The developers played about 20-minutes of the bridge level teased in the trailer — which could best be described as a mash-up of games such as the Batman Arkham series, Infamous, and Prototype — but unlike those games, just like in the movies, players will get to take turns playing as each member of the Avengers rather than just a single protagonist.
In the demo, the player started out as Thor who was able to throw his hammer around like Kratos in the latest God of War reboot. After Thor did his part giving the beatdown to a group of enemy guards, gameplay switched to a flying segment with Iron Man that required him to dodge oncoming missiles.
Gameplay then shifted to playing as The Incredible Hulk who was able to wall-run and throw vehicles to clear a path for the other Avengers who were trying to make their way to the villain responsible for all the destruction and chaos, Taskmaster.
Black Widow’s segment was the most cinematic featuring more Arkham-style close-quarters-combat and lines of witty dialog being exchanged between her and Taskmaster that felt just like the movies and should please fans of the series.
Captain America’s segment played similar to Thor’s but without a hammer. Cap was able to hurl his iconic shield at foes inside where it ricocheted off walls and enemies and could also be used to block oncoming attacks. With the end of gameplay we saw and the trailer both ending with the death of Captain America, it’s not clear how much time players will get to have as the leader of the Avengers.
Marvel’s Avengers is set for release on May 15, 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia.
