Review: Guardians of the Galaxy: TUW

With Guardians of the Galaxy being only a few short weeks away, Disney and Marvel have launched any original story in the form of a mobile game. Launched yesterday, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon, is a simple strategic arena game with all your favorite characters from the GotG universe. Done in a very Star Wars: The Clone Wars-esque style, the artwork is bright, vibrant, and suits the off-the-wall style that should be GotG. Cut-scenes are done in comic book style and help introduce each character as you unlock them. The animation is fluid and very fun to watch as you direct your little GotG  fighters around the arena.

Gameplay is just that, an arean style battle. You choose your team, starting with Star Lord (who is a ranged fighter). As more and more enemies appear, the battles get harder, and you need to recruit more players. Thus, you unlock Drax next, who, as you could guess, is a close-combat fighter. Followed by Gamora, then Groot (the healer), and finally Rocket Racoon. Basically, your characters enter an area, you tap where you want them to go, then tap them again, drag to the villian, and they start attacking. Pretty simple and straight forward. You do have to purchase the characters with crystals that you obtain by completeing levels in the game.

The character roster so far.

In the actual story mode you can only play the heroes, each with their own abilities, power-ups, and weapons. In the arena you can play any character.You can build up your character any way you like, but you must spend money in order to buy the items. The great thing about the game is after the initial purchase (yes, it cost $4.99) you never have to spend any more money in the game to progress. It is self-contained and can even play while not connected to a mobile network. I found myself playing every free moment I had in order to get further in the game, which looks to be pretty big and has many more surprises left before the movie comes out. 

Overall I think Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon is highly entertaining and an addictive game. Fast, fun, and with a great sense of humor, the game moves quickly and allows for customization and varied game play. In a world filled with massive amounts of mobile games this one definitely stands out as one of the best in the universe.