Originally Published at CBR.com on October 4, 2019.

Following a questionable debut in July at Comic-Con International, Square Enix’s upcoming Marvel’s Avengers video game had a bit of a hill to climb in the public eye before its May 2020 release. Thankfully, it’s taking some massive steps forward this week at New York Comic Con, and CBR got some encouraging hands-on time with the game itself.

However, that’s not all, as the studio also revealed one of the game’s most important (and most promising) details of all: the addition of Kamala Khan as the story’s main character.

The announcement of Marvel’s Avengers met with a … less-than-positive reception. Formerly known as The Avengers Project, it landed with a thud, drawing complaints of ugliness, and questions about the confusing release schedule. Some positivity followed the reveal that Square Enix developer Crystal Dynamics would take lead in the game’s creation, but then came the announcement that the lineup of heroes just appeared to be a diet version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s original Avengers, minus Hawkeye.

The first glimpses of gameplay suggested a linear path through the story, with combat reminiscent of a mobile brawler. On top of all of that, Square Enix teasedthe game would undergo consistent content updates, potentially suggesting the it would feature an unfinished story at launch. The heroes themselves didn’t look great, even earning comparisons to the scene in Spaceballs in which they accidentally get the characters’ stunt doubles. Perhaps, many wondered, some of these issues are just limited to the opening portion, and it begins to open up later on?

It seemed slightly unfortunate, then, that CBR’s hands-on demo was also largely restricted to the same opening segment from that first trailer. Yet, it miraculously took only a few minutes for many of those issues to melt away. Once the player actually takes hold of a controller and gets into the game, it immediately feels perfect, like slipping into a favorite pair of shoes. The combat is clearly building on the Arkham/Spider-Man school of fighting, with light attacks, heavy attacks, a dodge and combos, but allows each hero his or her own style, skillset and specialty moves. The demo takes place in San Francisco, as the team of five Avengers (seriously, where is Hawkeye?) works to stop Taskmaster and his endless waves of goons from destroying the city.

It opened with Thor, who similar to Kratos in 2018’s God of War, has the ability to aim and call back Mjolnir with the press of a button. The enchanted hammer blends perfectly into the typical superhero combat system, fluidly allowing the player to continue combos, even when at a distance from the nearest enemy. The god of thunder also has the ability to fly, which gives the hero his own quirk, but it feels familiar.

A segment as Iron Man was next, and controlling Tony Stark felt similar to Thor in terms of power and flight controls, but his ranged attacks are much different. Marvel’s Avengers allows a massive amount of customization in terms of how the player wants to play, which extends to Iron Man’s ranged attacks, giving the player the ability to swap between lasers, repulsers and rockets on the fly, depending on the threat. There was also an on-rails flying sequence as Iron Man, but it only lasted about 30 seconds and offered very little depth, not even allowing dual-stick controls.

Playing as Hulk was probably the most satisfying part of the demo, swapping out flight and ranged attacks for an unstoppable, rampaging monster. Taking out the enemies was quite easy, even for a demo, but it felt so natural smashing around, picking up enemies and pieces of concrete, then smashing them into each other that the difficulty wasn’t really an issue. In terms of level traversal, Hulk leaps from bright red launchpads, there to help the player follow the critical path in a Naughty Dog-like manner.

Captain America received one of the briefest stretches in the demo, but the Avengers’ leader had a fully developed skillset and playstyle, even if he does meet his doom in the first act. Throwing the shield, fighting enemies while waiting for it to return, then delivering a finishing blow upon its return was an intuitive flow, and it’s sad to see it go to waste (or will it?).

The last stretch of the tutorial followed Black Widow in a boss battle as she faces off against Taskmaster. It was a bit clunkier than the first parts of the demo, and because it was a boss fight it’s difficult to get a grasp on how Natasha will actually control during battle. It’s still the early stages of the game, but the boss fight was quite repetitive, featuring three phases of “solve-and-repeat” action to eventually bring down the villain.

When the tutorial’s gameplay draws to a close, footage from the first trailer plays, as we see Captain America go down with a Helicarrier, the Avengers disband, and AIM replaces heroes as the law-keeping regime.

Narratively, outlawing heroes and replacing them with a more automated system resembles classic deconstructionist stories like Watchmen and The Incredibles, but it’s never really been done to this degree with the Marvel heroes. It’s intriguing, and the heroes are all left in duress, with Thor leaving Mjolnir out of fear of unworthiness and Banner trapped in a permanent Hulk state. The story properly kicks into gear when Kamala Khan, the stretchy Inhuman and future Ms. Marvel, comes to the team with proof that AIM has sinister motives.

The final hands-on activity CBR was granted with Marvel’s Avengers was in the HARM Room, basically a training facility for the Avengers, and control over Kamala herself. The character is easily the best-feeling in the game, with smooth animations that flow quickly into the next. Her expressive, powerful fists and feet grow when she makes contact, but she also moves quickly, dodging blasts more easily than some of the chunkier characters.

All in all, if gameplay is king, Marvel’s Avengers will turn out just fine, with a bountiful selection of gameplay styles that are each rewarding in their own way. And that isn’t to speak of many additional systems, like upgradable power moves, gear and unlockable costumes.

As for the questionable release schedule, Crystal Dynamics head Scot Amos helped clear that up as well. The game will feature two types of missions, one titled HERO Missions, which are solo levels that progress the story, and another titled WARZONE Missions, which allow for up to four-player online co-op, and add additional story content. From launch day, Amos confirmed that the entire story of Kamala and AIM will be available to play from start to conclusion without waiting for any updates, but that there will be free updates that add missions, heroes, and locales.

After learning a bit more about the game and spending some time in the tutorial and training modes, it’s safe to say many of the initial concerns about Marvel’s Avengers are unfounded. Generally, the combat is fluid, with enough distinct differences between characters to justify the full roster of heroes, but similar enough to feel a cohesive unit. With Amos’ guarantee that the game, at launch, will feature a start all the way through the conclusion to a satisfying story arc, it’s safe to say that in the end, the only issue that remains is the muted, gray color palette, and hey—maybe they’re just trying to carry on the tradition of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Developed by Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix, Marvel’s Avengers features Nolan North as Iron Man, Troy Baker as Bruce Banner, Laura Bailey as Black Widow, Jeff Schine as Captain America and Travis Willingham as Thor. The game is scheduled to be released on May 15, 2020, for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia.

Originally published at CBR.com on October 10, 2019.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is the latest in a long line of video games based on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. The most prominent among them is Telltale’s story-focused adventure games, but at New York Comic-Con 2019, CBR got some hands-on time with the upcoming VR game Saints and Sinners, and it looks to be the series’ high point in terms of gameplay.

The game’s first trailer didn’t give an in-depth view of the gameplay, though it showcases the story’s morally murky atmosphere. The developers estimate the larger story, which we still have few details on, will take about 15 hours to play through. If it’s anything like that trailer, it’s sure to be gripping, but what about the gameplay?

Odds are players are familiar with Saints and Sinners‘ style of gameplay. Anyone with a passing familiarity with the genre will feel at home in seconds. That sense of comfort is important, as players see this type of world through an entirely new lens. Like The Last of US, ZombiU and many other undead thrillers, it’s a survival action game with low supplies of weapons, a stressful item management system and, of course, hordes upon hordes of undead. But where many of zombie games have started to become overly familiar, Saints and Sinners immediately feels fresh and fun due to depth added through the immersive VR headset and controls.

Where many virtual reality games tend to fine-tune the entire experience around a specific gameplay mechanic, like the way Superheat VR plays with the passage of time, Saints and Sinners takes a much more ambitious route. In a decision that may eventually come back to haunt the developers, it is a fully fledged single-player campaign, complete with a larger story and sandbox-like environments to explore.

In CBR’s hands-on session with an early level of the game, the player was tasked with traversing a single location and navigating complex scenarios through speech and/or action. Set in a fairly unremarkable neighborhood in New Orleans after the zombie apocalypse, the player had to attempt to talk down two rival groups and resolve the situation before zombies began plaguing the neighborhood. There were plenty of ways to go about resolving the disagreement, but it seems they all eventually lead to violence against one of the groups.

Thankfully, the actual combat in the game is some of the most satisfying in a virtual reality game. With multiple different weapon and enemy types to balance, there’s tons of depth (and a steep learning curve), but a clear John Wick-like quality once you actually get the hang of it. For example, the player can hold two small weapons and a large weapon, with extras in a backpack.

To grab the large weapon, like an assault rifle or baseball bat, players reach behind their back right shoulder and hold down one of the triggers. To grab either of the smaller weapons, like a handgun or a knife, they reach down to their left or right hip. If a zombie is nearby, it’s less of an immediate threat and won’t require a bullet, but they can be difficult to stab perfectly. The fastest way to dispatch a walker is to move close, grab it with one hand using the controller’s trigger, then grab the knife with the other hand, flip it in that hand using one of the controller’s buttons and thrust the weapon into the zombie’s skull. It takes some getting used to, but after about half an hour we were doing it with ease.

On the other hand, actions like this open the player up to enemy fire, so the player has to keep an eye out for humans and use one of the guns to keep them away. Even the guns have a complex, mini game-like reloading system, requiring emptying out the magazine, replacing it and cocking the weapon. Because of this, enemy encounter is a time-management problem as well, because running out of bullets when surrounded by a horde of zombies is the last place you’ll want to be.

In the admittedly short playtime we had with The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, the game showed mountains of depth in terms of understanding the combat systems at play. It wasn’t quite as polished as some of the VR games focused around a particular gimmick, sometimes leading to a stab that glances off a villain’s head. What it lacks in polish, it makes up for in ambition, and though it may eventually run dry around the 10th hour or so. When Sinners and Saints works, it works, delivering some of the most rewarding combat in any game over the past few years.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners releases January 23, 2020.