1. Dancing llama.
There was a dancing llama. OK? A dancing llama that you can pet. With hair. Not like normal llama hair, but a full on ‘do. And seriously, that dude was rocking it.
2. Ample time for character development.
By nature, movies are timed mediums. It’s difficult to tell as detailed of a story in 2 hours of a movie as you would in 25 hours of gameplay. We come to expect more from games for this reason; I found myself thinking– ugh, only 25 hours of gameplay? But it was well utilized. There’sthese wonderful, small moments where we peek into Groot and Rocket’s backstories, into Drax’s family, into Gamora’s heartache. You can give Quill a mullet. Even better, you can NOT give Quill a mullet.
3. Russian space dog.
I know there’s a lot going on socially and culturally with Russia right now, but Cosmo the Russian space dog has no parts of that shit; he’s been in space long before any of that started, and all he wants is to go home. Cosmo just wants his family. I bawled my eyes out at this psychic dog, and his end credits homage is much better than whatever the hell Quill tried to do for Gamora in Infinity War.
4. Mantis is actually cool.
You don’t realize how underpowered Mantis is in the movies, or how annoying, until you see her exist outside of the MCU. Mantis is actually cool as heck; her powers are cosmic level, and she is a grade A space case… but it makes sense! With ample time for character development comes understanding of character motivations. Who knew?
5. Your choices matter.
Don’t get me wrong; I love the movies. The game has been pretty slept on because the graphics just aren’t up to the parwe expect with PS5, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good game. It’s actually phenomenal, and once you get the movie skins, the graphics become a lot more bearable. Surethere’s bugs and it can be a bit finicky, but you’re part of the story. The choices you make impact gameplay.. You’re involved and invested, and you’re meeting these characters and understanding them in ways you’ve never been able to before. You’ll laugh, if you’re like me you’ll probably cry, and you’ll get to jam to some wild tunes of your choosing while doing insane things.
Sara Watkins is an editor, author, and collector of tiny, fat dragons. She has been published in Pennsylvania’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Fiction, Pennsylvania’s Emerging Writers: An Anthology of Nonfiction, and Blink Ink. Sara Watkins can be reached via www.sarawatkins.net or @saranadebooks.