Marvel's Avengers Game Critique | An Important Disappointment

[@MontyZander]

This critique is SLIGHTLY outdated now so to update it: War for Wakanda fixes none of the problems I've highlighted. The game is still broken. The enemies are still a chore. The boss fights are dull. Enter an arena. Stand near a checkpoint. Fight Robots. T'challa feels like he's wearing boots of stone and more and more it becomes clear that the avenger's need a mid-air dash to feel remotely agile in this play-style. Evan Narcisse does his best with a Black Panther story that's crammed into live service BS. It's a shame to see a great writer need to work in these confines. The conflict between T'challa and Shuri is raised and shrugged away in the space of 30 minutes. The expansion is not 6 hours long. The story is 2 and a half at a push. Wakanda is vaguely pretty in the most vanilla way you'd imagine. It crashed my PS5 twice.

[@centrevezgaming4862]

Great critique and earned a subscription

[@Andlekin]

This is even more out of date. The 2022 roadmap was dropped, and the live service is all but cancelled. Fun! Awesome critique, for what it's worth.

[@batmanbeyond5766]

I have no idea why you think that the camera focusing on black widows ass is a bad thing

[@Dhxgdbdhhxhdjdj]

@@batmanbeyond5766 🤣

[@mattbettcher7439]

@@batmanbeyond5766 because that’s not why I’m playing the game, if I wanna stare at ass I’ll just stare at ass? I’m here to PLAY

[@ttrop]

i never understood the whole "WHAAAA i'm a freak cuz i'm inhuman" while there are hundreads of powered freaks in the avengers world

[@SpiderSimpleton]

In the Marvel Universe, "mutants" were essentially portrayed as "threats to humanity" by propagandists that were attempting to goad them into serving various nations through the late 18th-early 19th Century. You also had Namor, one of the first documented mutants wreaking havoc against the surface during WWII. Around the 60s, the Fantastic Four saved NYC from the Mole Man and became the poster children for "enhanced superbeings" fighting for good. Iron Man, Ant-Man and Wasp followed. Thor was literally seen as a god walking among men. Hulk was seen as a menace (due to rampages at the military base he worked at), which also passed on to Spidey due to personal circumstances (some believed Spidey murdered the man who shot Uncle Ben, including JJ Jameson). The X-Men were formed by Charles Xavier in response to the fact the Charles' friend and colleague, Eric Lensher aka Magneto, was planning terrorist attacks. Now The Inhumans were an ancient race living in secret in the North Pole. They were not seen as threats because they were never discovered until the 60s (by the FF). This new phenomenon that has the Inhumans as threats came about from a mandate by Marvel itself to not acknowledge "mutants" due to 21st Century owning them. The role of The Inhumans was reversed. This also passed in to The FF, Marvel's first family, due to 21st ownership. This game has all the signs of being conceived during the stupid period when Marvel attempted to turn the Inhumans into "mutants" and trying to erase the FF because they couldn't use them in movies. That's a very crude explanation of Marvel history and the reason this game's story is kinda dumb.

[@SpiderSimpleton]

@SpoofyDooENT Iron Fist and Luke Cage used to sell thier services to the local NY communities, mostly Harlem and Brooklyn. They were viewed as Private Investigators, but also vigilantes. Luke, in fact, is seen as a reformed criminal in the eyes if the law, since he was convicted of a crime he didn't commit. His lawyer, Jeryn Hogarth, talked the DA into giving Luke a investigator license due to his intervening in various crimes. He was seen as a super-powered good Samaritan. Danny Rand was once thought dead. For a time he wanted it to be that way, but he began fighting for control of his father's company, which was taken over by his former partner. Danny's persona as Iron Fist is not a superhero's, but a "religious distinction." Iron Fist crime-fighting is literally seen as protecting a religious minority community in various Asian communities in NY as long as he is claimed as such. Iron Fist is seen as a vigilante beyond that. They both formed the Heroes For Hire services because they had a mutual interest in protecting smaller communities in NY.

[@thespider8654]

Also, why the Avengers are not seen as inhumans. These fucking avengers are as dangerous as the inhumans lmao 🤣. I like what they were trying to do, but it felt more rushed.

[@Montesama314]

I understand Kamala's sympathy for fellow inhumans, but with Miss Marvel SPECIFICALLY, I don't get her gripe about feeling like a monster. Her powers are surprising to an outsider when used, but when hers are inactive, she's relatively safe and inconspicuous as opposed to, say, someone who's permanently blue or who can't turn off their energy powers. To make an X-Men comparison, Kamala is closer to Jubilee than Rogue.

[@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009]

Well Because you can either be Jack 5 10 inche dicks or be John chainsaw hands that attracs angry hornets

[@whenisdinner2137]

It tries to be a looter shooter game but forgets the most important part of those games... Cool loot that actually changes your playstyle. Stat boosts aren't enough. They haven't been enough since the first fucking borderlands game in 2009 let alone now

[@MontyZander]

Tell me about it. I'm tired of watching the Reddit explode with "it'll get better!" comments. CD have given up on the game. It's clear a skeleton crew are working on it now.

[@Montesama314]

"I'm an Inhuman! I'm a freak!" Um, you can enlarge any part of your body, change form to look like any cool person you want, and you don't have any identifying characteristics like blue skin or flames coming out of your butt when you're inactive. Meanwhile, Bruce Banner can't even talk to an asshole coffee barista because if he gets mad, people could DIE. Kamala, YOU'RE FINE. Have some freaking perspective.

[@harlannguyen4048]

It's funny how she does NOTHING with her ability to shiftshape in this game (assuming that she even has it in this depiction). How cool it would have been if there was a mini stealth section where she has to impersonate a person to get inside an AIM building.

[@Montesama314]

@@harlannguyen4048 Even if she never used it in a mission, seeing her try to transform into a hero she idolized, such as Captain Marvel or Black Widow, could have been a powerful character moment. Imagine Black Widow coming to check on Kamala after a really rough mission, and she sees CAROL FRICKING DANVERS sobbing in front of a mirror. Nat asks what's wrong, and Kamala explains how she failed in a mission. Nat hugs "Carol" and reassures her she did the best she could, as herself. "You're not Carol, or me, or anyone else. You don't have anything to prove to me or the others. You're an Avenger. The only one you need to convince is yourself." In Natasha's arms, Kamala shifts back to normal, getting her confidence back.

[@ChamiKhan13]

This honestly reminds me of that moment where Storm was saying that there was nothing wrong with being a mutant to Rogue, who kills people when she has skin to skin contact with them. But you know, worse, cause this game couldn't just use mutants. Because why not

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

As someone who can remember what it was like to be a teen girl, I have a hard time believing that a teen girl would get the ability to enlarge whatever part of her body she wants and then think that was a bad thing

[@sup1602]

Peek modern writing. I know I am late but that character is about a dime a dozen. Aka the chloe narc character who never sees past their own nose.

[@gontear3377]

"I'm a freak," she laments, to the man who transforms into a huge green rage monster when he gets a little bit too excited. "You don't understand, you're not inhuman!", she shouts at the man who has had several existential crisis episodes due to what he transforms into.

[@Ko700el]

you do not realize the struggle of being a woman, your life is constant terror of being catcalled all the time or someone explaining to you what to your job is....................... -SheHulk to Bruce FUCKING Banner One can not make a script most stupid than a woke person

[@senorsnout4417]

Bruce: "My father murdered my mother and horrifically abused me, and the repressed emotions I suffered and the trauma of my entire upbringing manifest as an emotionally volatile, unkillable monster with strength comparable to a walking earthquake, and I can't actively control it; the slightest slip of control, and entire cities die." Kamala: "Yeah, but I can make my hands big, so who's the real monster here?"

[@TheGraveKnight]

Super late but this kinda makes me wonder if Kamala's main mentor should've been Tony or Natasha since they don't really have powers themselves

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

@@Ko700el Go the fuck outside.

[@theoutsiderjess1869]

​@@TheGraveKnight would have been better because I just ended up disliking banner and the dialogye would make sense

[@Naetrox]

Hi, I worked on this game. Mostly engine work, some bug fixing, but I wasn't a fixed member of the team. I worked on Avengers with the people at Nixxes, we did have QA, both in-house and at Eidos, but the development process was tedious. There was a lot of mucking about with level order and confusing warzone requirements. Technically, I am still proud of our work, but it was botched it seems. Our lead programmer made this really awesome texture loading algorithm to prevent pop-in, but it seems to have broken for some reason - I am not super surprised considering the mess of having like 8 branches of code active, with people cherry-picking stuff and not exactly always being smart about it. It breaks my heart because the game could have been good, but a variety of issues I cannot go into simply doomed it early on. We all knew it was going to be mediocre, and we did what we could under the old leadership of Square-Enix. I've also done work on the Tomb Raider games, mostly porting and fixing bugs, so I am well aware that the old coalition of studios (Nixxes, Eidos, Crystal) can make good stuff - the Avengers project was just something we were all ill-prepared for. The engine used for the game is a modified version of the Shadow of the Tomb Raider engine. The warzone code is based on the old Rise of the Tomb Raider multiplayer code - e.g. both games use hexagonal level pieces that are mixed and matched.

[@Naetrox]

Oh yeah, I despised the live service idea. I voiced concern that it wouldn't keep players coming back if all they were getting were rehashed warzones. Obviously nobody listened. I'm pretty sure the live service idea came from Square-Enix HQ, but the netcode implementation was mostly just a new version of the netcode we had since Rise of the Tomb Raider. It "works well" on a technical level, but like I said two years before the game came out, people wouldn't care for it if the game didn't hook them. Here we are now..

[@caliginousmoira8565]

love the way the characters play.... but the missions and forever robot fight i dislike/d. i just wanted more 'factions' [edit] playable characters, team attacks[if possible] and story........ i liked anthem too.

[@Montesama314]

That Mjolnir sound effect is so weak. "Whosoever lifts this dodgeball shall possess the power of Thor!"

[@RRVCrinale]

If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge the gods!

[@Magnet_Chaos]

"Avengers, we ball!"

[@ShadowKamehameha32]

If you can dodge Mjolnir, you can dodge a ball

[@zerotolerancd8743]

The story has me wondering if there's any other group in the Marvel universe where they're constantly being hunted down because of their powers. Joking aside, replacing the Mutants with Inhumans is stupid

[@caliginousmoira8565]

i like them both

[@nathankelly5976]

They aren’t replaced in the comics instead they don’t live on earth I know it’s 1 year later

[@Hawkatana]

@@nathankelly5976 They were absolutely being replaced in the comics.

[@brycebitetti1402]

​@Hawkatana Well now that Disney has the X-Men back under their empire, the Inhumans have pretty much been thrown in the garbage to the point where Kamala died and was reborn as a mutant.

[@marocat4749]

I mean it works in agents of shield, but thats pretty much its own universe, and ther it makes sense, as they apearently couldnt use mutants to tell mutant stories.

[@darthsader7089]

Of they wanted to copy Destiny and Division so badly, I say they should've added more enemy factions. Now we have AIM but what about Hydra, The Kree, The Skrulls, some Actual Asgardian enemies, or what about Magneto and his mutant army "saving" Inhumans to radicalize them into a Mutant/Inhuman superiority faction?

[@MontyZander]

Can confirm that the Future Imperfect release yesterday introduces no new enemy types, despite constantly teasing the Kree. This game will be cancelled after Black Panther. Calling it now.

[@harlannguyen4048]

@@MontyZander Specifically, Future Imperfect has you fight all the current enemy types in the game so far, including the Reapers and Watchdogs, in the same mission. Still, your point stands.

[@DJMarcO138]

@@MontyZander Well, it made it past Black Panther, but only barely, lol.

[@oscarclarke2653]

I was going to watch a movie, but this is more interesting

[@alefrodrigues8164]

Me too, swear to god, i was going to watch a movie but prefered to watch this

[@Largentina.]

I love this video and this channel, but you must watch some shitty movies then.

[@caliginousmoira8565]

i keep coming back to this video every couple of month's

[@avennoronha7081]

😂😂

[@joshwalker4950]

To answer your question, I do very much enjoy seeing cutscenes in their entirety in these videos, they're being highlighted for a reason, good or bad, so it makes sense to present them in their full context when discussing them

[@SageofStars]

You know my biggest disappoint with this one? That it used MODOK as the big bad, and did him well in his scenes. He has a presence that the mainstream usually won't give the character. He's a 'har-har' funny big head man to the mainstream. But in the comics, he's a threat. He's on the level of Doom or the Mandarin. He's a technopath, and he's able to control and manipulate any technology not specially designed against him. In the modern world, EVERYTHING around him is a weapon he can use, and his hover is fast enough to dodge bullets, while he's practically indestructible. With the failure of this one, it taints him and Kamala, and sadly, I don't think we'll be seeing him any time soon in a big role. I could be wrong, after all, Kamala is getting a movie...sort of, she's part of a cast of 'Marvels', so we'll have to wait and see how it goes. One final note, I found out about the reporter dude with one eye not from Marvels, but my first story with him was its opposite, Ruins, instead. That one is a trip and a half, though thoroughly depressing. Basically it's a universe where no one has the required secondary powers. So Quicksilver literally ground his limbs to dust moving them so fast. The Fantastic Four(Minus Ben), were burned, frozen, and stretched to death during their flight, with Victor Von Doom going up with them animal, and coming back down mineral. And the Hulk? He's still a hulking mass...of cancer and tumors though, and one that can't die. It's a read, if you're into what it has going for it, it does some things you might not expect.

[@Whiteythereaper]

Well now we've had Kamala in the Ms. Marvel series and she was done really well, and there's talk of a possible Jim Carrey MODOK showing up in something

[@LuffyBlack]

The Ant Man movie was worse with Modok

[@SageofStars]

@@LuffyBlack I hate to say it because it sounds like a cop out, but that was a bad MODOK, worse than this one honestly, because that was a bad movie. Pacing problems up the wazzu, bad writing, and I honestly think it screwed up Cass and Scott's relationship just because Marvel can't seem to understand how family dynamics work if they generations don't hate each other.

[@tylerleach8796]

MODOK started out as a joke villain, bruh. Hell, literally every version of him I have seen has had jokes made at the expense of his silly appearance.

[@SageofStars]

@@tylerleach8796 Try the one from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. They join him with AIM in that one(He does sometimes work with them, but it's not a constant thing), and he is pretty good at what he does, to the point where Hydra, when planning on double crossing him, brings in the big guns.

[@-chippedstars-2889]

I can't help but love that interaction between Tony and Kamala about the suit. Its so sweet, and really feels like Tony's trying trying to be a role model for her. And him not shaming her or even commenting on the outfit her mom gave her was just so good to see. Shame the rest of this game sucks ass.

[@drewbigan3688]

The ‘just be cool kid’ scene could’ve been so infinitely better with so little change. Tony would say his line, same as it is now, but Natasha instead says, “Just do the thing, Cap” Cap gives a little smirk, says the line, Tony rolls his eyes like the cynic he is and they do the pose as Ms. Marvel has the most giddy expression on her face. Instant vibe. You’re welcome Devs

[@ttrop]

small correction about dragonball backgrounds, they were following the original manga, and manga often they moved to canyon like areas, simply for the fact it was easier to draw the backgrounds weather making it mostly empty or rocks. super syian form was created cuz the mangaka did not like colouring in gokus hair black so much remeber this was back when EVERYTHING was done by hand so they had to take short cuts to meet the weekly deadlines and the anime simply followed the manga

[@MontyZander]

Yeah I'm never going to live down that mistake 😂 oops

[@ttrop]

@@MontyZander but you are partly right, dragonball movies that has no connection to the original manga always moved to similar empty lands haha

[@harlannguyen4048]

@@ttrop "super syian form was created cuz the mangaka did not like colouring in gokus hair black so much" I'm pretty sure the reason was that it would be easy to draw it as opposed to giving Goku a completely new design.

[@stefandinus7701]

​@@harlannguyen4048 Nah, genuinely, Toriyama went with the blonde/white color of it to save time and effort. Tails went away because he forgot they were a thing. SSJ2 went away because he forgot about it, and thought SSJ3 was 2. Toriyama is a gag mangaka that got pulled into doing serious things, but happened to do them quite well

[@Magnet_Chaos]

​@@harlannguyen4048 Toriyama was a master of taking shortcuts and making them seem organic to his work. The whole reason why Capsules exist was so he wouldn't have to draw backpacks. lol Him saving on inking time was totally the reason why Super Saiyan became a thing. Though being fair not having to come up with a radical new design could have played a part in it.

[@oduinn7948]

Isn't the point of a beta..... To criticize the bugs and flaws of gameplay mechanics...?

[@HarmonicVector]

Nonsense! Betas are meant to be just glorified hype machines! /s

[@Saje3D]

Weird. I saw the gameplay trailer of what I now know to be the tutorial and decided then and there it looked like trash. The iron man segment looked like something I could play on a mobile device. No thanks. The Avengers tower in Spider-Man was once both an Easter egg and a promise. Now it feels more like a middle finger.

[@MontyZander]

I wish I had your foresight. Sometimes my nerdgoggles get in the way!

[@andersoncnn]

While watching the Hulk fight breakdown, I realized this combat style looked familiar. A few seconds later, it came to me: this looks like a Lego game. The one button press for combat, the rush when starting an attack on a different opponent, the wild haymakers. Straight up Lego game. And after watching the rest of the video, I'm still of that opinion. Also, the warbots are just reskinned Deathbringers from HZD. Same specs

[@savagelogic8674]

Ik it’s incredibly minor, that’s not the real Mjlonir. When you go to the Chimera at the end of the game, you can go into rooms of each Avenger. When going into Thor’s room, you can TRY to lift his hammer...the only one outside of Thor that even shifts it, is Cap himself. Trust me, I almost flipped out myself when I though Kamala was made worthy in this game lol.

[@MontyZander]

Totally fair! Yeah in hindsight I overreacted there

[@massy9437]

to be fair to the writers it could work really well if after cap died and the mutant gas stuff happened she stopped being worthy because she wasnt a kid anymore and had matured but with it she was corrupted and scared

[@Hyena-t4r]

😗😗😗😗😗

[@FugginPhil]

26:35 "I would love to have known what happened to Captain Rogers that day, but I was nowhere near the reactor room." Spoken like a truly innocent man who was nowhere near any sort of reactor room. You're a brave man getting through this whole game. The writing alone sounds like a chore just to listen to, and the game just LOOKS like it feels unpleasant.

[@lukegregory5392]

Just hate how you can see the massive potential and all the parts they got right. A game about the AVENGERS should not be average

[@Revali69420]

3 years later and suicide squad kill the Justice league didn’t learn, history really does repeat itself

[@jackychang9148]

Took the words out of my mouth. Those morons really screwed up.

[@Scsigs]

Bro, DBZ wasn't set in a desert for part of the first arc because the show had a limited budget. It. was set there because they were adapting the DB manga & Akira Toriyama placed the battle there.

[@Montesama314]

MODOK is saying with the wolf cub story that you can't change someone's true nature no matter how much you try. He believes that those with superpowers are naturally destructive, and, like the wolf cub, will eventually go wild and turn on the rest of the people even if they try to be heroes at first.

[@galacticdevil]

I guess MODOK doesn't know where dogs came from.

[@ralfsstuff]

I remember being attacked on yt for calling out Avengers' live service bs and basically predicting the game's eventual downfall based on almost every other so called "live service" that came before it . Fun times...

[@baki484]

Been there I guess Suicide Squad will be next.

[@kevinthepilgrim]

​@@baki484It seems so.

[@Riley_Studios]

@@kevinthepilgrimand it was so

[@ttrop]

"you don't understand you are not inhuman" you are right he had it much worse, falling in to deep depression not being able to control your own emotions fearing yourself, even trying to kill yourself yup he can't understand. what were the writers thinking. really should have been tony that she should have been talking to

[@owenleal]

It is a wierd trend with people trying to assert that they somehow have it worse than the Hulk.

[@ttrop]

@@owenleal they did it again in shehulk

[@akbarrp7047]

Is there any good mcu series on disney+? ,,

[@MsIvalane]

some of the MCU D+ stuff is enjoyable depending on what characters you like, but it's all pretty flawed; not enough time to cook with the writers.

[@tylerleach8796]

@@ttrop Except in She-Hulk, Jen is wrong and the series shows that later despite what idiots on the Internet will tell you. In this game, it's just bad writing.

[@Montesama314]

Kamala: "You wouldn't understand what it's like to have freakish powers you can't control, constantly wishing you could be normal again!" Bruce Banner: *coughs awkwardly into his hand*

[@Inkblot_studios]

I think it's really funny to see companies talking about "its no longer about games you play once" blah blah blah "player engagement" cuz I played Gotham Knights and Avengers for a combined 10 minutes, whereas i've replayed Arkham Knight like a million times since release. shi is genuinely hilarious.

[@kevinthepilgrim]

Same feeling here. I finished the game and immediately forgot about it. Like can we get good complete games that are only that?

[@siloPIRATE]

39:00 somebody said it. I had this problem in the first two hours. It would flash X at me to grab a ledge so I press it and Kamala falls to her death. Then I had her slide off a platform and had to try the same jump four or five times

[@hanzundfranz]

What really gets me is that for the Kate Bishop starter mission, you're really forced to see how underpowered Tony is. I had to grind until I was a full twenty power levels over the recommended before he was actually able to keep up with the combat.

[@comic-forsaken6961]

This is high tier quality video, it amazes me you don’t have many subscribers very good video I literally watched the whole thing in one sitting lol! Good work dude

[@MontyZander]

Thanks so much man! In hindsight I think there's an over-reliance on playing clips from the game, but thanks for the kind words! Means a lot.

[@comic-forsaken6961]

@@MontyZander no worries bro I have just subscribed to your channel I’ve just checked out some other videos I like them, so you’ve gained another subscriber keep it up bro

[@Apollomasque]

The intense, heated debate between Tony and Bruce where all their frustration comes bubbling to the surface while Kamala witnesses the dissolution of her heroes is beautifully capstoned by that FACTION REWARDS AVAILABLE occupying prime real estate in the middle of the screen.

[@Oliver-os8xq]

Audio's fine, no issues & the playing of cutscenes gives a good perspective of what the game's trying to show vs what the player experiences between them. I've not played this, but watched the full 3 bloody hours because you had good pacing & the cutscenes gave context for me to follow the (and your) story. Love the "noobis" series too :') Very underrated atm. Great shows man!

[@MontyZander]

Hey thanks!

[@olek-piechaczek]

I had no intentions to ever play this game ever since I saw its E3 reveal live. Despite that I still watched and enjoyed your entire Infinity War-length video. Love your critiques Monty!

[@dragonslayergeorge898]

Hulk.... Hulk smash? Hulk.... SMASH! I've never been interested in superhero games so this is the icing on the cake for me. The spider-man games are fun, not good or great, just fun, but I've heard great things about GOTG. Gonna watch your dissertation on that before jumping to it - after Alan Wake. I've got way too many games backlogged now.

[@supernew10doh64]

1:12:21 this is false the reason why Dragon Ball Z is set in the locations that it is in the first section of the show is because that's how it is in the manga they fight in canyons and deserted areas because that's how Toriyama Drew those fights that's not on the anime staff that's on Toriyama.

[@amjnyc79]

This video was way ahead of its time lol. Nothing has changed, it’s still dying a slow painful death. I hope someone signed a DNR for this game, it’s never coming back.

[@johnfarmer888]

It felt so weak with every punch thrown in the game. They had no power behind them. They felt like wet slaps

[@steelsong2162]

Hulk screaming "SHUT UP" would be far more satisfying if it wasn't against someone who mocked his appearance, and instead against an intellectual type of villain who tries to lord their superiority over Hulk, like Leader or MODOK. I don't mind the beatdown part on Abomination though, but admittedly Incredible Hulk in the MCU may have desensitized me to it a bit. I always feel like big guys beating eachother senseless with whatever they can get their hands on is part of the fun with 90% of Hulk's villains though.

[@josesosa3337]

I thought i already commented this but i don't see my comment so here we go again. If I was involved with management and on the development team I would have scaled everything back. Let players unlock costumes, have better costumes, have combat shared between 2 players instead of 4 players. Have the unlock pacing be faster so there is no grind. I feel like i can say more but I'll leave it at that. Also, sadly this game probably spent too much time trying to look good and be realistic which is a shame. I know the publisher and anyone involved already an idea of what they wanted to do. But look at the game we got!!

[@ExoticBoysProductions]

The Avengers Game Is A Cash Grab/ what made me mad is the boring story and the lagging

[@MontyZander]

Tell. Me. About. It. Think I'll do a post-mortem next year once more heroes are released.

[@tareyus2977]

I really fucking hate it when devs try to make you sympathize with a character by making the character, themself, explain why you should sympathize with them. Instead, show it. Show why I should sympathize with them. Don't just tell me and move on with an awkward scene. It just makes the character look pathetic. I don't give a shit that you don't "fit" in. You're a fucking fighting for your life. There's got to be 100 things more important than giving a shit about yourself.

[@mysteryneophyte]

I actually really like this version of Bruce Banner too I don't know I just like his...soft-spokeness? The way he is and conducts himself in general. Asmr too for some reason, sometimes anyway.

[@YcMdattGUY]

Don’t know i found this but I will definitely be watching the rest of your videos.

[@MontyZander]

Aw mate. Thanks so much! This one's a little rough to look back on to be honest but hey, nothing wrong a bit of cathartic rage! Appreciate it!

[@TheGraveKnight]

Super late, but the misunderstanding of what Kamala's powers can do reminds me of what Injustice 2 did with Firestorm where they basically made him (them?) into the Human Torch

[@ravencollins5638]

I like the video but I do feel like you were a bit unfair when comparing the combat to god of war. I'm not saying this game has good combat but you could do more than just spam square which you could do in god of war, I'm not saying you're doing this but it reminds me of those commercials where they'll take a rusty knife and not push when cutting, while saying their brand new knife is better.

[@dragonbornexpress5650]

Then you probably missed the point.

[@FittedSheetGaming]

Square Enix was so concerned about making money that they made a game that wouldn't make them money. I've said it once I'll say it a thousand times. If they didn't focus on selling suits, and focused on improving the game mechanics and adding new content more people in turn would buy the game.

[@jbktpl1245]

Along with making better quality suits. Most people agree that the best post launch suits were the MCU ones. There's this one guy, DoritosGod I think, who made videos showcasing all the different suits in the game, including the ones based on the comics and most of the suits are lazy interpretations of the real deal or don't do enough with the design to make it stand out.

[@cerealvapist333]

As much more of a dnd boy than I've ever been a comic book boy, it makes me crazy to hear them using the word "polymorph" in the wrong way. Everytime I heard them use that word I instantly pushed my glasses up my nose and start saying "Well, actually...."

[@shadowanderson2004]

Polymorph comes from Greek mythology and just means many shapes or form. Originally it just meant “you can change your shape and/or form” so technically they are using the term correctly

[@cerealvapist333]

@shadowanderson2004 Lol thank you for "um actually"ing my "um actually"

[@shadowanderson2004]

@@cerealvapist333 hahahaha

[@cile01]

I don't have any deep thoughts to say on the matter since, being a comic buff, I can only sigh mournfully at every new superhero game announced but... one good thing came out of all that disappointment. Namely this video and that 'Hulk... smash' jingle! Would you be so kind as to share it as a separate mp3? I would LOVE it as my ringtone. 😄

[@MontyZander]

I don't have it anymore! It's lost to the wind 😂

[@cile01]

@@MontyZander Would it be alright if I extracted the audio myself? I would send it back to you of course in case anyone else would like the same. 😃

[@MontyZander]

@@cile01 be my guest!

[@Montesama314]

"Rips his clothes off when he gets stressed"--Bruce isn't a mutate, he's just the type to be an angry drunk.

[@getschwifty5537]

1:01:05 lol only since you asked, yes it's just you. One of the big surface level appeals of Hulk is violent catharsis, also we're supposed to assume that he's damn near unkillable so it stands to reason that Abomination is too (honestly no clue why the multiplayer part of the game insists on there being *clones* of Abomination when the prime one would be a perfect recurring villain for this reason) that we can assume the vicious smashing in that cutscene only accomplishes a pretty long knock out, not a murder. I basically cheered during this part, I think the vocal performance rivaled Fred Tatasciore's (the usual voice of Hulk in animated and video game media) and that kind of brutality, environmental weaponization (can't believe we can't even pick up cars in this game), and ability to leap straight up at a target (instead of trying to find the right angle and momentum to try to do *platforming* as Hulk in later areas) is what Hulk should have had in moment to moment gameplay.

[@MontyZander]

Hey man, totally fair! I appreciate the depth of the feedback. I think just the framing of the scene made me wince a bit. As far as older videos go there's a lot of reactionary criticism in this one.

[@getschwifty5537]

@@MontyZander no problem, really enjoyed the in-depth breakdown of the GoW combat arena btw and while I have a few disagreements with your assessment of Avengers you do have some really good points and I'll be checking out your story rewrite video too when I get the chance. I do feel like in an alternate reality where CD had a better production pipeline and direction the game could have had an amazing story and could have launched with a lot more content but I guess I'll see what your ideas on that are later.

[@neilholmes8200]

I'm old enough to remember when demos were a regular thing. I loved the half life demo for example

[@calemr]

I didn't just feel uncomfortable about Hulk battering a clearly defenceless, beaten foe. I was also Confused. Hulk's screaming out "Shut up" over and over at someone who isn't saying anything. A-Bomb's laying there, motionless. He's already shut up. Maybe that's less out of place if he's talking in previous moments, I don't know, but as is? That just feels odd. The energy orb just flying into Hulk's hands looked wrong, too. Note that the uncomfortable feel could be really good, if it felt framed as intentional. If it felt like you were Supposed to go "Oh, wow, yeah, Hulk is kind of a brutal monster." It could be great as a character moment. But from what I saw at least, I really don't think you're supposed to get anything more than "Heck yeah, beat on that bad person!"

[@f1jones544]

How can someone think you can't tell what a product is from a beta? As a QA tester and product manager for over 21 years, all a beta is in and of itself is a release candidate with bugs. Then there's a program surrounding that it collect that information. The product should be 99% feature complete. No new development will be done. It's just a matter of fixing bugs and establishing stability. I hate how much gamers pretend to know what software development is.

[@AltairEgoX]

its been cancelled and shuttered...Well done everyone! lol

[@TheLevitatingFleem]

I think Remedy Ent. and FromSoft are the best right now when it comes to 3rd person adventure/fantasy games

[@AHarp]

Well since you asked. Yes! I HAVE been binge watching all of your videos since I ran into your brilliant Control critique yesterday. 🤙🏾

[@loganbrightworks6430]

Enjoyable video, thank you for your efforts here. As per your meta feedback: i) audio sounded fine throughout. First video of yours I've seen, but no complaints on balance or mixing. ii) I also liked seeing lengthy cutscene excerpts. Gave lots of context to your analysis, so I'd say they're worth including. Thanks again for posting, I've subscribed!

[@MontyZander]

Aw my dude. Thanks! Appreciate it.

[@dumbghost3109]

Gotham knights may be garbage but at least it commited to batmans death. this game made me go "oh he'll be back in about 4 hours of gameplay" and i was right.

[@Draliseth]

This game is a turkey that wanted to do nothing more than gobble your hard drive and your money.

[@Frogman1212]

Your mom is a turkey and I want to do nothing but stuff her.

[@Hiihtopipa]

I don't really understand how couple even an army of those robots could kill the Hulk

[@HappyLarry.]

Spending 10 minutes inaccurately counting decisions really messed with the pacing of the video ngl

[@KnightOfGwyn]

So far I like this review, and I’ll add whatever comments I have further on. I’m at the part where Hulk smashes abomination multiple times after the first boss fight with him. I personally very much enjoyed that scene. They did a great job encapsulating the raw anger and hatred that is The Incredible Hulk, displaying his lack of self-control and deep thought, only wanting abomination to both die and shut up, doing everything in his power to stop him as brutally as he can until he stops moving. Edit: 1:30:25 “Avengers doesn’t have xp boosters” - not yet it didn’t. 😂 Edit 2: I just finished. Holy shit that was in depth. I don’t think there was a single point I could disagree with besides the one above in this comment. Your arguments were not only sound, they were supported by numerous examples / pieces of evidence. I don’t subscribe to people often, but after watching a few of your reviews in the last few days, you’ve got a new fan for sure. Keep making content like this and you’ll keep growing. I saw a comment on some video of yours from the last 12 months, where the commenter said (paraphrasing) “how do you only have 2500 subscribers?” Now youre at 24k (edit 3: holy shit man 28k+, good on you!) if I recall correctly and you earned all of that growth with the quality and care put into your content. From someone who loves to see how other people analyze games and other media, your channel makes me so extremely happy. Thanks for the time you put into this. We could tell the effort was put in.

[@MontyZander]

Hey dude thanks for the kind words!

[@Bishop2155]

Yo Monty try and keep these videos about the same game I don’t need to hear 10mins+ of god of war just breaks up viewing pleasure I get your trying to reference but you don’t half blabber on

[@silvermoon5583]

Okay, Monty I love your work, but PLEASE tell me you didn't actually think that carnival game was the real Mjolnir. Your supposed to be smart, man.

[@disxorybaby8473]

I think this game could have had the graphics of Ultimate alliance with some fringegritcomic filter tease like x men legends minus flight ceilings and more roster and done superb..

[@grory14]

After not fixing anything, it has now ceased development. 😂

[@CarlolucaS]

Years later and it is still the same. Maybe worse.

[@johnnymillar9056]

Very good video once again. I honestly have no audio issues at all, your voice and sound mixing is fine. A think maybe there's a little kill-your-darlings that could have been done to get the video length down a little. Summarising cutscenes instead of showing unless they're absolutely vital, cutting similar jokes if they're too much like previous ones. But the longer the video the more you're rewarded by the algorithm so I don't really mind. Just don't become the next mauler. The best long reviews I've seen are from Noah Gervais, you should check him out if you haven't before. I also think you're wrong about DBZ. The reason DBZ has so many canyons/wastelands is because the manga did at that point. Because the longest Toriyama went on drawing it the less and less he cared about drawing in backgrounds and that translated to the adaptation. Though I could be wrong

[@MontyZander]

All very fair points. I went back and forth on the cutscenes, the mentality was, seeing as I'm pretty harsh all around, evidencing them was key, but I agree with your point. I think some of the points would have flowed better without them. Big fan of Noah - and Chris Davis as well. Also I don't know what you're on about, the mr potato-head gag was as funny the 50th time around as it was the first ;) ALSO also - good point about DBZ - I've been revisiting Kakarot so had it on the brain!

[@johnnymillar9056]

@@MontyZander the money money money gag was great every time. Fuck capitalism

[@DrKumkar]

my new favorite channel on youtube. thanks for all the work and care you put into these! truly, these critique videos are awesome!

[@dillyndvd]

1:12:12 That’s factually incorrect. The show was based on the manga, which had canyon fights. The anime just adapted that. It wasn’t due to budget constraints

[@charlietownsend2826]

Ok, I’m 47 minutes into the video so far. Enjoying it too, it’s pretty good, interesting points etc. But goddamnit dude, you need to Google what the word "decision" means lmao 😂

[@gentleman_muk]

You are correct in your prediction. I had totally forgotten this game until i saw this video today

[@KingdomHearts863]

I 1000% agree while I do remember this game, it was stupid mediocre. Your voice is absolutely fine by the way. And your explanation/cutscene ratio is perfect. 🙏🙏

[@EldritchHarrr]

Thank god the subtitles were there to tell me that Kamala climbed through a window while I watched her climb through a window. Oh, and that time I watched Iron Man punch the Hulk and saw text appear at the bottom of the screen telling me that Iron Man punched the Hulk, never would have been able to tell what was happening had they not added this not-at-all overbearing, obnoxious, distracting, pointless or patronizing feature.

[@MegaCygnusX1]

Stick with it man, quality like this is only going to see your numbers go up.

[@MontyZander]

Thanks man! Appreciate it

[@onatkalkan4907]

I thought you were talking about the game for a second.

[@sambooth3615]

Future me, how long does he do this “decision X…” thing?

[@sambooth3615]

Jesus Christ…

[@Gordonfreeman551]

So when you put it all together, this game is expecting you to work your ass off for really shitty rewards, and if you don’t wanna work for it you have to pay actual money upfront Yeah because that’s exactly what marvel was in desperate need of after 27 years Fucking micro transactions.

[@crisa3509]

So many live services eating butt. Good to see it. Extremely sad rocksteady is having to make one though.

[@SirDenzington89]

I really like these really long reviews and I think you did a really good job. I get tired of the Avengers is so trash bro videos. Yeah we get it, the game isn’t great. I like how you level plenty of criticism at the game but you also pick out things that you really liked. I haven’t played the game myself, I’ve just followed the epic fail that it was but I really like most of the cinematics with characters interacting. When there’s a deep sale on this game I’ll probably pick it up just to play around with it for a little bit. I love the concept but boy howdy it was not executed well.

[@MontyZander]

Appreciate it man!

[@owenleal]

You arent wrong, there was something disturbing about Hulk beating Abomination basically to death and then collapsing a reactor on top of him. But thats Hulk for you, he is pretty murderous, even for a team of people who dont really have a compunction with killing people if it has to come to it.

[@adamtideman4953]

Tips for future critiques: your videos are way too longwinded. You get sidetracked and spend MINUTES talking about a God of War example that could've easily been summarised in a couple of sentances, I'm sorry but I don't need to hear all 30 different options Kratos has in an encounter in a Marvels Avengers video. Just gives us the essentials and move on. The gameplay sections and story cutscenes you put in this critique also goes on unnessesarily long and can be shortened so we get more of your own takes and analysis. At times it feels like you left on cutscenes from the game and went off for a bathroom break or something. I like and respect your videos, you clearly put a lot of work and thought into them but please try to tighten them up. They really don't need to be this dang long.

[@PapaMidnite__]

i hope he doesnt take this advice

[@Andlekin]

@@PapaMidnite__ Agreed, I would happily listen to Zander talk for hours on end.

[@PapaMidnite__]

@@Andlekin there's so many other short videos on games. We need the couple accounts willing to do more long form breakdowns

[@AquaFan1998]

Tbh one problem with the game is that for the oppression of the inhumans, kamala is the only playable inhuman, they had dante/inferno in the story but hes only met at the start then in the anthill, couldnt they have just made him with like ironmans moveset but make it fire based or something. Maybe no flight.

[@aerophage]

01:28:32 - This is what the FFXIV cash shop would be if Naoki Yoshida wasn't at the helm

[@AimingAtYou]

I loved how Hulk roared Shut up. He actually got angry! The rest I agree with the vid.

[@Whiteythereaper]

Dead things in this video: E3, The Avengers

[@RunnyTinkles]

Cant believe its been three years since this game came out. I disagree about the combat. I think it is very fun once you get your abilities unlocked, but CD giving all enemies a hitstun proof blue shield come endgame really makes your hits feel weak. Maybe its cause i played as Thor, but I had a blast playing as him. Being able to choose between using my hammer or pinning an enemy to alleviate pressure for my team was always interesting. Cant believe how this game was squandered though. Should have been a single player or multiplayer only game. The gamebreaking bugs were absolutely awful and unforgivable as well.

[@androidsenpai1462]

About your Dragon Ball take: First, that wasn’t even a clip from DBZ you used. That was a cutscene from Ultimate Tenkaichi. Second, they didn’t have a small budget at all. The reason the environments look like that is because those equivalent in the Dragon Ball manga looked like that. Third, Dragon Ball Z is not just some anime show from back in the day. It’s adapting an existing work written by someone else, with the various animation problems being BECAUSE it was adapting a running manga.

[@siloPIRATE]

I thought that hammer at the start was just a mechanical prop or something, not actually Mjolnir

[@rahmellbrown162]

Man tell me about it. I can go on for days as to why it’s the biggest disappointment of gaming in so many years....... with how amazing marvel’s Spider-Man was and miles morales was.. not only that, there’s soo many amazing games and superheroes game that came before where they could’ve got ideas and inspiration from. Batman Arkham series, marvel ultimate alliance, x men legends, infamous series, hulk ultimate destruction, God of War, uncharted, last of us part 1, horizon zero Dawn, soo many games that they could’ve took ideas from. Yet we get this shit, a story that doesn’t even focus on the avengers, not even missions just objectives, no end game content, no content at all, everything is buy buy buy buy buy, all they do is try to get you to pay for this and that. Buy this costume, marketplace on sale, most of the costumes are reskins, let alone not even good costumes at that.. the combat i in s okay but gets boring, two villains, maestro is basically the hulk, they released two of the same superheroes came out (Kate and Hawkeye), the loot is shit, like this game have had soo much content to pull from.. comics, movies, fav shows, like WTF???? How did we get this?? Why did we get this? The biggest letdown, a terrible game. You can’t even change cap’s shield, Thor’s hammer, this game is just ass.

[@thirteen_candles9806]

Okay while I absolutely adore god of war.... you could really take off 10+ decisions lol.

[@jeop133]

Iron Man, Captain America, and Hulk are voiced by the most annoyingly recognizable voice actors in gaming

[@gembocobo9484]

live service is basically a grind slave camp based on what design choices they went with

[@callumcranstoun9067]

Just found this channel and the content is great! Deserves a lot more subs

[@MontyZander]

Thanks man!

[@Lispetsketches]

I only found your channel about a week ago and have watched a BUNCH of your videos in the meantime BUT I got to 25:10 into this video and paused it to yell "PHIL SHELDON???" to myself and the dogs, because it really highlighted the laziness of the development team in the production of this game. AND THEN!! they have the audacity of having someone with a voice reminiscent of Nick Fury to explain the following plot? super lazy and screams of cash grab to anyone who didn't realise it at first... if that doesn't sound too cynical

[@exogris]

This video and in depth analysis is fantastic. You sir have earned a new subscriber. Excellent job man 👊🏽

[@MontyZander]

Holy crap, man. Thanks! Dumb question but how did you find me? Twitter? Recommendations?

[@exogris]

No problem I love long from analysis videos of games and movies so finding this was like hitting the jackpot. I completely agree with your take on damn near everything. I’m an avid comic reader myself so again a lot of your takes on the characters were bang on! And I found you through Twitter! Going to watch the rest of your videos too.

[@thatoneguy7765]

PRAISE THE PARRY!

[@leonsprings8517]

I really appreciate the thorough break down of this game and all the ways the powers at be went wrong and how they could've done better. I just hate that I actually took the bait and bought the game solely off my hopes that they had finally made another decent marvel game since ultimate alliance. Ours my fault I didn't do research prior to purchase or even looked at reviews. I got to the part where I had to find the vault (I think less than halfway) and I deemed the game unplayable and just boring. Wish I would've watched your video first and I would've saved myself some $$.

[@dankeykang4576]

23:25 "Khamala Khans costume in the comics is amazing" It literally looks like a pair of pajamas? What are you smoking?

[@MontyZander]

It's a burkini.

[@blackrigga7401]

@@MontyZander but it's not cool

[@christianwelch4206]

Well, fashion is subjective. I like Kamala's costume, but I wouldn't say it's "amazing." Monty does have a point, though. Incorporating one's culture into their super suit is a great idea, and I, for one, would like to see other heroes give it a try.

[@harlannguyen4048]

Some people believe that the costume is the way it is so that it would be easy to cosplay.

[@dankeykang4576]

@@harlannguyen4048 Yeah that makes the most sense. Not entirely sure if that's a good way to design a character or hero though

[@Dr_Pepping]

It’s crazy watching this in 2024 after Gotham knights and Suicide squad