Square Enix's Guardians of the Galaxy Reveal Left Me Cold

Square Enix kicked off its E3 2021 presentation with the reveal of a Guardians of the Galaxy title, and it felt immediately exciting.

I'm not a huge Guardians comic-book buff, but in a job where everything is all leaks, it was nice to have something actually surprising. The soundtrack seems to be spot-on, the VO and writing is fun, and there's special attention given to your team's dynamic.

It just doesn't look all that fun to play.

Read More: Guardians of the Galaxy: Everything We Know

Square Enix's Guardians of the Galaxy Reveal Left Me Cold

Now, I'm going to preface this by saying - yes, I'm the guy on Gfinity's staff that plays Marvel's Avengers semi-regularly still, and many of my favourite games are, for lack of a better word, grindy.

Watching Guardians of the Galaxy, though, I just felt like I wanted to see things step up a gear.

For one, Peter Quill (or Star Lord, if you're feeling fancy), might be the least interesting of the Guardians. If I had the choice between a human with guns, Gamora with her melee weapons, Drax with his brute strength, and Rocket and Groot with their unique mix of fur, foliage, and fury, I'd be struggling to pick Quill.

I know there's a desire for single-player games, but Guardians of the Galaxy, above almost any other Marvel property, feels like it's made for co-op. Sure, sending your party members into battle to follow your bidding, but would it not be more fun with friends?

So, what we're left with is, at least from the initial reveal, a mix of third-person shooting and some jumping. That may seem reductive, and there's nothing wrong with a solid third-person shooter, but I'm going to need more than "extend this bridge" level design to be hooked.

Still, I don't want to 'poo-poo' the game before we've gone hands-on - I just felt like a more exciting slice of combat gameplay would have gone a long way.