Happy Sunday folks and welcome to this all-new review column where I take a look at a title currently available via Microsoft’s Games Pass service and review the heck out of it. This week’s game: Guardians of the Galaxy.

Now, I know I’m a little late to the party for this game but as someone who purchased The Avengers on day 1 in good faith, I’ve clearly been burned before by this exact studio. Thankfully, Guardians of the Galaxy is NOTHING like Square Enix’s other Marvel videogame (The Avengers, as literally just mentioned) and plays like a game that’s come from a place of love for the franchise.

The Man’s Name Is Star-Lord

Something that the game was panned for prior to release was it’s lack of playable characters. The line-up for the game matched up against the MCU version but only Peter Quill was announced as being playable. Despite all of the negative press that bit of news received, it’s actually turned out to be a good thing. For a start, the game is very focused on Peter’s origin – which they also chose to focus on the comic book version instead of the movie version and gave him J’Son of Spartax as his dad instead of Ego. There are flashback scenes throughout this incredibly story-driven romp which show a young Peter Quill’s upbringing with his mother, Meridith, as well as the moment that the Chitauri came for them and his mother’s death as a result. This was slightly remixed from the comics as it was the Badoon that came after him in the source material as the Chitauri were created for the 2012 Avengers movie and bled straight over into the comics.

Refreshingly Unique Team-based Combat

You can run and gun as Star-Lord as much as you like, but ultimately you’re going to need help from your friends. Thankfully the team of Rocket, Groot, Gamora and Drax have your back and feature a wonderful array of special moves and commands that you can use mid-fight which adds to the gameplay. At time of writing I am 10 chapters into the game (and, at a guess, around 12 hours deep) and it hasn’t dragged in the slightest.

A Decent, Original Story and Great Fan Service

I’m lumping these two points in together as they go hand in hand in this game. The story has been a joy to play through so far with several interactive elements shifting the way your teammates behave around you as well as hundreds of nods to the source material. There are hidden costumes available throughout the game which are instantly equippable and add to the fun (I currently have the entire team decked out in Nova Corps uniforms) and each one features a bit of real life info on the descriptions. For example, the Drax “Cage Fight” costume from Drax’s solo series written by pro-wrestling legend CM Punk is actually listed as being introduced in Drax #1 by CM Punk and so on and so forth.

Final Thoughts aka Smash or Pass?

I’ll be honest, I had no interest in this game despite being a huge Marvel fan as well as a fan of the Guardians in general. The single character aspect had put me off as well as how jangly The Avengers had been on release. Having now given it a go, I can gladly give it a verdict of “Smash” as I would of, could of and should of picked this up on day one.

Overall Verdict: Smash!