MARVEL'S AVENGERS

Earth’s mightiest heroes aren’t looking so super

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Developer Crystal Dynamics

Publisher Square Enix

Format PC, PS4 (tested), PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X

Origin US

Release Out now (PC, PS4, Stadia, Xbox One), Q4 (PS5, Xbox Series X)

We were hoping to bring you a review of Crystal Dynamics’ superhero adventure this month. Alas, early code was not forthcoming – and, after spending time with the beta, we think we know why. Marvel’s Avengers isn’t exactly a disaster (it’s had too much money thrown at it to fail entirely), but like Bruce Banner and The Hulk it feels like two competing personalities in the same body, grappling for attention. The main difference is that Banner’s intelligence and Hulk’s strength are both suited to specific circumstances; whichever way you slice it, this game feels like a costly compromise.

As a modern singleplayer blockbuster, it mostly looks the part, those uncanny nonlikenesses aside. Its opening salvo, a series of set-pieces on and around a collapsing Golden Gate Bridge, grants you a glimpse of five of the main cast, with Thor, Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America and Black Widow each getting to showcase their powers before control is passed onto the next via a seamless cinematic. It’s effectively an expensive tutorial spliced into a story prologue, pitting you against a series of cannon-fodder enemies before a boss battle punctuated by QTEs. While Iron Man zips through the air and shoots from his palms, each of the other sections feels like a routine third-person brawler enlivened slightly by heroic abilities. Hulk and Thor (whose throw-and-retrieve Mjölnir attack is ripped straight from