Nearly a year after its release, War for Wakanda, the biggest DLC expansion, is waiting in the wings. But can the addon save the stumbling service game?
There are so many beautiful comeback stories in the gaming world. No Man’s Sky, Battlefront 2, Rainbow Six: Siege, even Ghost Recon: Breakpoint – all games that were as popular as mosquito bites in the back of the knee at release, but matured over the years like good beer or something. As angry as the gaming community may be at times: if a game improves, in most cases it gets a second chance.
Of course, the question arises: does this also apply to Marvel’s Avengers? When it was released in August 2020, the superhero clunker offered a very whimsical campaign, but only lame, monotonous “I always beat up the same enemies” gameplay. It’s no wonder that the game’s highly touted Live Service was as dead as the HD DVD back then.
War for Wakanda, a year after its release on 17 August 2021, is the biggest expansion yet. As someone who has been loyal to the Avengers far longer than the rest of the editorial team, I naturally said to myself: I’d love to have the developers show this to me. Is Wakanda and the new hero Black Panther enough for the comeback? Or is it – as the Frenchman would say – “too little too late”?
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What does the free DLC War for Wakanda deliver?
War for Wakanda delivers a new playable hero – Black Panther – new enemies, a handful of new campaign missions, drop zones for both single player and multiplayer, and a new location. You can now take a quick guess as to which one it is. Starts with “W”, ends with “akanda”. I was able to watch two of these campaign missions in their entirety, the presentation lasted about an hour. The Reveal Trailer gives a good insight:
Black Panther is there fighting enemy mercenaries in the jungles of Wakanda, there’s even a new boss fight against Hydra handler Crossbones. He also fights robot spiders, explores ancient ruins and all that is just more of what was already in the main game. T’Challa plays like a mix of Black Widow and Captain America, a more nimble, muscular hooligan who can alternatively hurl throwing knives or summon a mighty panther.
In quieter moments, explore the new hub base in the heart of Wakanda’s capital, chat with T’Challa’s sister Shuri and the Dora Milaje. Black Panther is voiced by legendary Stargate actor Christopher Judge (Teal’c), who also voiced Kratos in 2018’s God of War. What exactly is the DLC about? Well, good question
What is it actually about?
The story in the first two missions reaches the level of a good Saturday morning superhero cartoon (do they still have such things today?). I’m deliberately putting that optimistically now, because I had to permanently pull myself together not to lose interest. Marvel villain Klaue has done something in the jungle and now robo-spiders and mercenaries and crossbones and co. are getting involved and so now I have to destroy something and… so don’t get me wrong, none of this is complex or bad, just a bit petty.
Judge and co. do a good job with the dubbing. When the other Avengers get involved later on it makes for a nice dynamic, but the story feels far, far removed from the charm of a Black Panther movie, which benefited massively from the interplay of a Chadwick Boseman with Michael B. Jordan. But since you never interact much with the game world in the Avengers game apart from fisticuffs anyway, it at least quickly becomes clear what you’re getting here: more action.
Does it play well?
Marvel’s Avengers simulated the everyday life of a 70s comic hero in an almost unbearably realistic way: Every week I have to fight the same bosses (Taskmaster, Abomination) over and over again because the birds just don’t want to stay in jail. The fact that War for Wakanda throws a new supervillain – Crossbones – at me right in the first level, hach, that tastes like Pina Colada after six hours in the beer hall.
And that describes the general effect of War for Wakanda quite well: Black Panther, the new enemies and locations feel incredibly refreshing, because the main game dries up so terribly in the long run. And this is really said: If you liked the fights in Marvel’s Avengers, you will most likely get a few moody hours here, and completely free! It looks super fun to experiment with T’Challa’s skills, flinging throwing knives, unleashing the Panther and, and, and.
But looking at the big picture, War for Wakanda does too little to change Marvel’s Avengers’ fundamental bottlenecks: The battles remain a tedious “chipping down” of enemy life bars – already in the first two missions the enemies repeat themselves in every area, the whole loot system still doesn’t quite want to motivate.
And from a marketing standpoint, Black Panther might not be the right move to bring back alienated fans either. As much as I like T’Challa as a comic fan, in terms of game mechanics he’s just the fourth muscular hooligan. A cosmic superheroine like Captain Marvel or web-slinger Spidey or even a mystical villain like Loki would probably have made for a real change in the game – characters whose abilities really turn the familiar combat system upside down.
Will War for Wakanda bring the big change?
So does War for Wakanda bring the big comeback to the main game? Nope. The Panther just doesn’t jump far enough for that – all the problems that annoyed many people about the original Avengers are still in the game. Sure, little things have been improved. My colleagues and I can now play four Thors if we want. But such consolations don’t cure the deep aches and pains that plague Avengers.
And now for the big but: I already made an Asgardian lance in the original review of Marvel’s Avengers for not immediately firing the game into the corner because of its hammy Battle Pass system and all that sameness. If you fancy a bit of superhero brawling for a few co-op party nights with acquaintances, Avengers can be really fun. And War for Wakanda will very likely – if the remaining missions continue the trend of the first two – provide a nice free content expansion here.
So if you own the game and haven’t touched it since release: now would be a good time to pick up the new characters (Hawkeye, Kate Bishop and T’Challa) and check out the new content. I’d just personally be cautious about paying 40 euros for it outright. Even with the free addon.
