Board 8 > I went to see a gameplay demo of the Square Enix Avengers game

(+) Yeah! (+)

Didn't get to play it myself since it was still in alpha, but I saw a 20~-minute live (purportedly) demonstration.

Getting the negative opinions out of the way first; it didn't really look like anything special overall. It reminded me off those generic superhero movie tie-in action games. The heroes go from area to area in a linear fashion beating up waves of badguys, and with the exception of some quick time events, there didn't seem to be much else to it. I felt like it could get monotonous very quickly. Since I didn't play it, I couldn't say for sure how much it might actually be fun to play, but it was disappointing to see only minor variations in how each hero played. Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor looked like they had very similar "punch punch punch" combo moves, with only their special moves being notably different. Hulk and Black Widow didn't really break the mold either, although Hulk's more violent, "girthy" gameplay and BW's use of guns helped them stand out more. Then, of course, the other problem is how the heroes are presented. While there's nothing wrong with their appearance and the voice acting by itself, because the game otherwise looks so similar to the MCU movies, the dissonance between the movie voices and appearance compared to the game's is just very distracting.

On the plus side, even in alpha the game looked great. It was definitely going for a modern action video game style, like Uncharted, where it tries to make the gameplay look like scenes from a blockbuster movie. There were some genuinely exciting setpieces in it, one where Iron Man flies through a collapsing exploding bridge with missiles being fired around him, Hulk bashing his way through the bridge, knocking trucks and tanks out of the way, and a sequence where Black Widow flies around while grappling and fighting Taskmaster with the other heroes fighting around her. The boss battle against Taskmaster looked kind of fun too, with him using a variety of different moves and traps that needed to be worked around. The most interesting thing about the gameplay (albeit not saying much) is the use of subtle visual circles to denote when enemies are attacking or the area of effect their attacks will have, which could be neat way making the fighting exciting but fair if done right.

The presenters mentioned there would much more to the game than just the story mode, saying there would be online play and the ability to recruit and play as more heroes. So it's possible the more generic gameplay could just be a way of allowing for a large variety of characters. Overall, in my opinion, while the game looks impressive, I'm more cautiously optimistic about how it will turn out. I worry it could just be a forgettable action game like so many other superhero games, but if handled right it could end up being a very fun way to indulge in superhero fantasies and play like an interactive Avengers movie.
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