What’s the point of having a varied team of Super Heroes if you can’t assemble your friends in your own team to take AIM down? Luckily, Marvel’s Avengers features a few modes which offer an exhilarating cooperative experience for players. Whether it’s exploring a large map to discover more gear and grinding up your skills as a particular character or just dishing out some damage as a well-oiled Super Hero squad, let’s look at the co-op in Marvel’s Avengers.
Co-op
Players can team up with up to three friends to form their own band of heroes to fight AIM across a wide range of maps while offering a number of diverse challenges to fight through. Head to the War Table on the Chimera Helicarrier, the Quinjet or in a number of outposts to find the missions which are spread out across the world. The missions need a varying range of abilities from each squad, so it’s not possible for multiple players to use the same character. From reaching elevated platforms with Kamala’s stretch ability or using Black Widow’s ranged dual pistols – play to your strengths! But let’s say two members of your team prefer Iron Man, maybe one of them could switch to Thor since his godly powers let players soar through the air with his hammer Mjolnir.
We’d definitely recommend getting comfortable with all of the Avengers though, especially since the Hero missions focus on particular characters. Don’t worry if you can’t fill your squad, the game’s A.I. will fill the gaps in any team. These computer-controlled heroes automatically appear to use each player’s own customised versions of every hero, to give it more of a personal feel. Of course, you don’t just have to invite friends to a mission, the online matchmaking system will let other players join the party as well. None of the missions pit players against each other competitively, but that doesn’t mean these battles aren’t a challenge!
War Zones
So what can players expect when they jump into battle? Well, co-op offers a few different War Zone mission types for players to assault AIM. The smaller, direct missions are in the Drop Zones – these offer a singular objective like aiding a group of SHIELD allies or destroying AIM. laboratories and other facilities. But the most exciting missions are the Vaults. After piecing together the locations from various SHIELD hideouts across the world, teams can explore these larger maps more than any other, with chests filled to the brim with gear and resources hidden throughout the extensive battlefield for players to discover. Aside from equipable gear for each hero, there are also collectable items like comic books which call back to some of the most classic or iconic tales from throughout Marvel’s storied 80-plus year history. The chests also give out resources which can be used to upgrade individual pieces of gear that players add to each character to boost their abilities.
While the game isn’t an open-world adventure, the exploration side of the Vault maps is the perfect opportunity to get to grips with each hero and discover how to make their abilities the most effective in battle. But there’s a multitude of different objectives and mission types in the various War Zones. The resistance is made up of a number of factions throughout the world, like SHIELD or the Inhumans. Faction Missions from group leaders give players new objectives which will help these groups get more supplies as they fight AIM and these continue even after the main campaign has finished. While Iconic Missions offer a story-based mission which explores the Avengers, their motivations and their personal problems a little further, all while smashing AIM’s robotic Adaptoid army to smithereens, of course. Players are rewarded with character-specific gear and armour for completing Iconic Missions, so if you have a favouriteAvenger, keep an eye out for their individual task.
While all the War Zone missions can be taken on in single-player, working with a team makes the challenge easier, especially when it comes to the difficulty of each stage. With each mission comes a performance rating out of five stars, every time players get downed and need reviving, they lose a star. But with co-op, players are less likely to get downed since the whole team will be focused on taking down the most dangerous enemies. Stuck on a particular objective? Assemble your friends.
Avengers Assemble
One of the best things about working cooperatively is the combination of moves between heroes, especially when facing larger enemies that can withstand a lot more damage than the stereotypical drone. Coordinating with other players over voice chat is the best way of dishing out some impressive attacks that look like they’ve jumped right out of a comic book. Or if you’re not in a party, keep an eye on the attacks being used by your teammates. The easiest way of teaming up is for one player to stun the enemies, while another follows it up with a devastating barrage of ranged attacks. So why not use Ms. Marvel’s huge high-five attack to stun an opponent, before a teammate blasts Iron Man’s rockets or even his chest beam to wipe them out?
Speaking of the Armored Avenger, players will already know that his ultimate ability lets him call down the Hulkbuster to the battlefield, but a brilliant mechanic actually lets any player jump into it once it’s been activated. Hold down L1 and R1/LB and RB instead of tapping them brings up an icon which shows where the Hulkbuster will land, use the left stick to choose its exact location. From there, any character can leap into the hulking mechanised weapon. It’s an easy way of adding an extra dose of power to your time aside from Iron Man. If the team’s facing a larger enemy, it might be worth gifting the Hulkbuster suit to a hero like Black Widow just so she has a little more effectiveness on something like any Adaptoids.
Marvel’s Avengers is available now on PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC and it’ll later make its way to PS5 and Xbox Series X.
