Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, then, is a game about how that dynamic shifts. It's enough for them to have known successes and failures together, but they still don't entirely know each other. It may be best described as a 'Year Two' take: They've only been on a dozen or so jobs when we start. There's an emotional arc here that winds through a pivotal moment in the super-team's history. Without question, story is the strongest weapon in this version of Guardians' arsenal. Cosmic Marvel is best Marvel This is a Guardians of the Galaxy story. There's plenty of '80s hair metal to go around, too - you can even play any song from the superb licensed soundtrack during between-chapter stays aboard the team's ship, the Milano. It also means we get quiet and often wordless mediation from Groot, gruff aloofness from Gamora, and comic relief-by-way-of-unfiltered honesty from Drax.

That means lots of contentious sniping between Peter Quill aka Star-Lord and Rocket, whose disagreements always seem like they're on the brink of tearing the team apart.

The titular super-team's lineup and interpersonal dynamics in many ways mirror those we've seen in director James Gunn's films. On its surface, Guardians should feel immediately familiar to Marvel fans of all stripes, including those raised on a diet of only MCU movies. I've played plenty of games over the years that boast thematically appropriate mechanics, but I can't recall any that slid this easily into a story-driven action game.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy took me by surprise.

Galaxy fight sprites