I’m in no way saying here the game is trash, I’ve had my issues with the game and written on many occasions about what’s wrong with the game, even at the same time raving about what’s good.
Since the game released back in August 2020, I’ve had a love-hate relationship with it. There were days I’d log in and have so much fun, then others where I realized the cracks began to show.
I want to do something different here. I know everybody has different tastes when it comes to games, and perhaps what I write you’ll disagree but that’s okay. I just want to throw my opinion out there at what I believe could have made the game close to perfect.
1. Better play testing before launch
One of the things that really hurt the game was the number of bugs in the game. Of course gradually over time these have become less annoying, and don’t happen as frequently but unfortunately, there are still some bugs that were in day one that are still there now.
I believe if Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics hired more or maybe even better game testers, the game would have released in a much better state. This is something that really did hurt the reputation of the game, even at the public beta stage.
2. More things to do
This is a difficult one to just put there because it’s clear the developers did a lot to try and keep the end game content fresh, but in doing so, I’m afraid it didn’t work. The end game content was stale and repetitive, but when you’re over 50 hours in, it’s expected. Also, you’re the Avengers – I completely understand it’s a difficult one to throw in.
However, the campaign showed that it’s not just about fighting. The arcade scenes at the beginning show that the game can be different, and have a different taste. Also, the end battle with MODOK shows they could do more with the online aspects in order to keep the fanbase locked in.
There was a point where my daily routine would be to fight the same 2 villains, then do a vault mission for really poor rewards (onto that in a minute). So, giving the players more things to do would likely become repetitive eventually because of the type of game it is, but it wouldn’t have been AS repetitive as it is now.
Even adding mini elements or mini-games into it could have worked a treat. Like, this isn’t one that many remember but in Assassin’s Creed Revelations they had this little tower defense game which was actually incredibly fun to play. It’s just taking a popular idea and implementing it, imagine a tower defense variant added to the game?! I think I’m probably alone on that one.
3. A rework on rewards
I’m trying hard not to blast the game, but this is one of my biggest annoyances with the game. The rewards are simply put…trash. They lock the decent stuff behind DNA chests but give you very limited opportunities to gain those keys. Also, the rewards for completing an Elite Vault mission are seriously underwhelming.
Personally, I would be throwing random things in those chests at the end, or even just random chests throughout exploration. Skins are in the game at a cost, even at a VERY low percentage – giving players the chance to just bang out an amazing skin without paying. It adds incentive, I’d also say the rewards should be increased drastically considering those missions can sometimes take in excess of an hour to do.
4. More varied skins
I do have to give them props, they’re releasing some amazing skins as of late, even recently adding the Endgame Iron Man suit. However, there’s still a lot of painted copy and pastes across all of the playable heroes they get tedious. Especially when that specific skin is horrible, but there are 6 of the same version, just different colors.
As I say, this isn’t something that bothers me as much now because of the incredible skins they’re putting out – but this should have been a day one thing – not 9 months later.
5. Varied mechanics
Perhaps one of the major complaints of the game is the combat. I do agree that it often gets stale quite quickly, it’s just button mashing and it takes away a lot of the realistic aspects. Understandably, it is a looter-shooter-type game, but leveling up is almost useless. I remember on many occasions where I’d have a 150 Iron Man, fighting a level 23 robot and being whooped.
Takedowns are fun, but it’s quite sad a lot of them are hidden behind paywalls, etc when there’s already so much locked behind there. There should be around 8 or 9 different ones for each hero in order to spice it up a bit. The double takedowns are cool, but even those – despite using two completely different heroes are still largely the same.
The boss fights are the same with the exception of the massive walking robots. Taskmaster is a prime example of just how boring it can be, just button mashing until you get an ultimate or assault ability to do a bit more damage. I finish a fight and at the end of it, I just want to come off.
I haven’t played the game in a minute, but I will likely return once the Black Panther DLC comes out because I am actually fairly excited for that if I’m being honest. I do also have to respect the developers for not giving up on the game despite a shoddy reputation and low player count.
I’m a firm believer that if the studio doesn’t give up, the players will come back. No Man’s Sky and Battlefront 2 are prime examples of being horrific at launch, but then genuinely becoming fantastic games to play.
It’s just a shame it sometimes takes so long for games to become good. I guess it’s why we shouldn’t have issues when it game is delayed, and why we shouldn’t complain.
At least with the games I mentioned, they just got better in time. I do believe Marvel’s Avengers will do the same, especially once more heroes come to the fold.
