Examples of Damage Control in Gaming: The Faces of Square Enix’s Avengers

Square Enix has shown their adaptation of Marvel’s Avengers a few times since the reveal at E3 2019, and it’s garnered a, let’s say, mixed reception thus far. The action looks very linear from the early sections they’ve shown, which isn’t entirely surprising when they want to make all the main Avengers — Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and Black Widow — playable for the single-player campaign. It’s not like all five could practically be controlled simultaneously in an open world-style setting. The core action is rudimentary as far as superhero games go, though it looks better than previous games these characters have starred in.

Much of the discussion has focused on how off the Avengers’ faces look, for understandable reasons. When most people envision the superheroes involved, they think of their counterparts from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and imagine their faces to be those of their actors. That’s why it was jarring to see the realistic Avengers in this game with faces that looked different from the actors. The interpretations resembled TV versions of the superheroes at best, and porn parody versions at worst.

Sure, that’s harsh, but there’s a good reason for that. In crafting the characters’ faces, it’s evident developer Crystal Dynamics wanted to make them resemble the likes of Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America) and Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow) as much as possible. They couldn’t make them completely resemble their movie counterparts, let alone work with the actors to capture their likenesses and voices, which would have required paying expensive royalties with money a company the developers don’t have.

Not to say that’s entirely a good excuse; there’s a reason why the Batman Arkham games and Marvel’s Spider-Man game didn’t suffer from this, though these comparisons are somewhat unfair. The iterations of Bruce Wayne, Peter Parker, and other human characters are realistic versions based on comic book iterations, instead of trying to be almost-but-not-quite MCU versions. But it was easier for them to get away with it because there have been several human interpretations of Wayne, Parker, and other characters in their franchises over the years, so it’s not jarring to see yet another different interpretation.

Not so with the Avengers, where most are adjusted to only one actor playing them, while other interpretations haven’t been anywhere near as memorable. Does anyone outside a handful of people remember Reb Brown when thinking about Captain America? No, they don’t.

(I do sometimes, though. I love me some goofy-looking superhero interpretations.)

The faces also don’t look as good as those from Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, despite the Switch being considerably less powerful than other current gaming platforms. But I know this comparison isn’t entirely fair, since this game has a comic book cel-shaded style that can produce good-looking results even on systems that generate less horsepower. The audience that enjoys AAA games wants a facsimile of the look they’d expect from the MCU movies for the Avengers game, so the style wouldn’t fly for this particular project.

Fortunately, the developers are applying aforementioned the logic from the Batman Arkham and Spider-Man games for the Avengers character models now. There’s no way they didn’t hear all the criticism, so they’re making quick adjustments before the May 2020 release date. Some changes have been shown in short character videos posted on the game’s Twitter account.

The God of Thunder, Thor flies in for his very own Hero Week! People of Midgard, behold his mighty strength, his glorious lightning strikes, and his unmatched ability to make the snidest of comments. pic.twitter.com/R53WLrWdqB

— Marvel's Avengers (@PlayAvengers) September 27, 2019

Thor, for instance, previously resembled Jeff Bridges circa The Big Lebowski cosplaying as the character — an interpretation I would not be opposed to if they went all in. Now, his beard is a little more polished, and his hair is tied up. It’s interesting how minimal changes can alter the reception to a look.

Heroism in Natasha Romanoff’s heart allowed her to move beyond her checkered past as a KGB agent. The assassin-turned-Avenger operates at peak human levels, thanks to increased strength and a bolstered immune system through biochemical conditioning. pic.twitter.com/xqcL7O6zvD

— Marvel's Avengers (@PlayAvengers) September 26, 2019

The same applies to Black Widow, who simply resembles another realistic interpretation of her comic book counterpart. They’re doing the best job they can in time for the deadline they have.

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics will have to understand that they’ll never impress everyone here. Again, there’s an audience only familiar with the MCU versions, incapable of seeing any other non-comic or non-cel-shaded versions as legitimate. This isn’t entirely their fault; their subconscious is doing all the work. What’s necessary is for them to look palatable for a large-enough audience, which CD is doing in the little time they have. I just hope they don’t overwork themselves to polish the game before release, because even delaying the game would be a better alternative.

This adaptation of Marvel’s Avengers will arrive on May 15th for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and a currently-unknown PC platform, a mere two weeks after the Black Widow film hits theaters. It would be a surprise if the game didn’t make some kind of appearance at New York Comic-Con this weekend, but Square Enix could also start the typical promotional cycle leading up to its release soon.