Prologue and Chapter One:
First and foremost, SPOILER WARNING. If you haven’t played this game or played the new Prologue and Chapter One then this will spoil what happens. Most of us here, however, know the story and so we continue on to the stuffs.
Before I begin, I started playing this game as an early beta tester. I’m not much for raiding, but do love to just jump in and do Terminals, Legendary Quests, Patrol Zones, etc. I have been away for a while, taking the break we all need to take from time to time.
For my analysis, I decided to use Star Lord as he is level 1 and I need to get him levelled anyway for the achievements. I picked Gamora as his Team Up and off we go. Too bad we don’t have Rocket as a Team Up.
On to The Prologue:
I enjoyed the Raft before, but this newest version actually does feel more fun. It is an entirely new area, with all new assets created just for it. The previous re-do added the prisoners in their orange jumpsuits that we would have to fight and I really enjoyed them- and they are back again in this new version as well. I believe each of them has different powers this time out too.
All of the Hydra Models have been changed and very much for the better. The Escaped prisoners that we fight all look better imo. The Shield Agents are harder to tell as far as visual upgrades because of the nature of the colors used. They may have been tweaked as well.
One of the first things I heard when I entered the zone was ‘Here comes the Juggernaut!’ and I looked down and sure enough, Juggernaut was escaping right below me! I couldn’t do anything to stop it. Then a little later Electro also escaped. Venom gets away very similarly to how he escaped before.
I feel that these little touches make the level, as well as the early part of the game, better. Why? Because it helps with immersion to see them literally escape and then have to put them back in the bottle later on.
On to the boss fights. Living Laser: I thought and I may be wrong, but I thought that he had at least one new power. In any case I do think he was given a visual upgrade. I have always liked the fight with LL and he would actually be my choice for a playable character if/when another villain gets added. “Remember Kids! Never look directly into the laser!”
Green Goblin: I’m not sure if he had anything new as I defeated him way too fast. I’ll have to try it again on another hero because for some reason it won’t let me back in to his area after beating him once.
The art for The Raft itself is really, really, good. I loved everything- including the submarine that is part of the base. Honestly the art work here is some of the best in the game as far as buildings in my opinion. I felt there was just enough to fight and wasn’t really bothered much that we are shoehorned in a specific direction.
On to Hell’s Kitchen:
I really liked how Hell’s Kitchen is now a Hell’s Kitchen South area that flows into Hell’s Kitchen North. I feel it works very well and I really, really enjoyed the art assets used in both zones. This zone was a mixture of the old and the new. I believe all of the enemy models here have been upgraded! Nice!
Heck- I can remember when we had only one type of car in the game and now they come in many colors, shapes and sizes. Every couple months I’d notice the addition of a new color or two, then a new car, then another, etc… To continue that thought and as an example for how far the game has come in this regard- I will concentrate on ONLY police vehicles: We now have motorcycles and meter maid cars…plus patrol cars, Police SUV’s and basically Swat Vans. That being said, I didn’t see any of the Meter Maid cars this time out-maybe they just didn’t spawn, or maybe they will be in another zone.
Now, I am the kind of guy that likes to roam an area for a while and take everything in, so I like my zones to be a bit larger, but these were good for what they needed to be. I uncovered everything and did all the treasure rooms or whatever we are calling them now. I do like how the chest spawns after you beat whatever is in the room.
Also I must add that I loved the new buses and the big semi-truck that blocked off areas in Hell’s Kitchen North. Hopefully at some point heroes like the Hulk can lift and break that type of vehicle in game as well. Besides that, however I would like to see those types of vehicles as destructible. Now, obviously if they are used to block off areas so we can’t get by them then that’s one thing-but I do hope we can break them later on.
I also noticed that some shops look like they are open now with lights on the inside- this is a nice touch.
On to the Electro Fight. I absolutely loved this part! I loved that the gang inside were marked as Electro’s own gang and I loved the zone itself. I feel that things like that really make the game feel good.
On to the Shocker Fight. I thought I noticed a couple new powers here also. I enjoyed the fight as well- and again his gang members were labelled as his gang. And they were fighting another different gang.
On to The Nightclub District:
Bloodrose Club is much better now. Plus, the Bartender sells something we can collect to boost ourselves… Nice! Even though it’s a small boost its always good to have that kind of stuff in game to collect for in game money. Also I am pretty sure the cut scene changed.
I really like the new club- especially the colors that flow down the walls on the inside. I also like the Daft Punk-esque Aim DJ’s. They were in the previous version but I think their equipment has gotten an upgrade. The Maggia have new skins now! It looks like even the two machine gun guy got an upgrade- looks the same only better now. This is a vast improvement. The environment was always the strong point versus the old style character models. I also like the use of truck trailers to hem in the action just before the warehouse.
The Doc Octopus fight: Again the boss here seems to have a couple new powers. I enjoyed the fight. I also enjoyed afterwards when Maria Hill tells us that the tablet has something to do with other versions of ourselves running around in Avenger’s Tower. It just fits well.
What I wish would be included:
1/ Make the Biker Gang in Hell’s Kitchen North- and the ones fighting the Shocker’s Gang the ‘Dogs of Hell’ from the Daredevil show.
2/ Put Luke Cage’s bar from the Jessica Jones show in there somewhere.
3/ I wish the areas were larger. Maybe if we get a red and cosmic version of story mode they will be increased in size.
4/ The tombstones in the cemetery I wish had the nicknames of Gaz employees that have moved on, on them as a tribute. Or put in a monument we can click on like the one in Asgard, but that would have all the names or nicknames of past Gaz employees who worked on the game and have gone on to other things.
5/ More zones in the chapters to come. We need more places to go and more things to do.
My conclusion: I really enjoyed the new stuff! I have to say that I didn’t see why it needed to be updated for newer players AGAIN, but whoever is in charge of this particular upgrade did a very good job planning and pulling it off much better than previous versions. I only hope the other chapters will be better off like this when they are tackled.
I would very much like more things to do in the Savage Land as well as in the whole Stryker chapter. Heck, the Asgardian Chapter needs to be expanded upon- there are more ways to go that lead to nowhere (And I’m not talking a giant celestial head in space which I would also like to see added). They need to lead somewhere.
I do intend to update this for each chapter update that I see come through. Hopefully there will be more soon!
