“Marvel’s Avengers,” from Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics, is an action-adventure game based on the popular characters from the Marvel comics and film. The game is built around a multiplayer system that will be familiar to those who have enjoyed the likes of the “Destiny” series or “The Division.” 

Players choose from a selection of missions and can elect to complete the task with any online co-op AI controlled characters. Each player chooses one out of a handful of superheroes to upgrade and customize as they see fit. 

At the time of writing this, none of the promised DLC heroes and their related story expansions have been released, so the roster is limited. The drawback to this system is that the game, at least in the main campaign, wants you to switch between heroes to complete each mission. In some cases, you can find a way to play as your preferred hero, but in others, you are forced to play as a specific character. Some characters are weaker than others by default, and you must spend extra time looting around large maps and fighting enemies you aren’t prepared for in order to find specific gear and equip each individual hero that will make them stronger. 

If you, like me, don’t have the hours needed to grind in between levels or the budget to buy certain cosmetic upgrades that can also be found this way, then you will inevitably choose one hero to focus on leveling up (Iron Man for me) that will carry you through the more difficult portions of the game. But for story portions where you are forced to play as Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel), the weakest of the bunch, you may find yourself stuck dying against waves of enemies and having to start over, picking off enemies one by one while slowly waiting for your most powerful abilities to recharge. 

At its best, “Marvel’s Avengers” provides cool, gratifying moments of destroying enemies with flashy finishers. At its worst, it’s a chore of slogging through hordes of enemies while you try to reach one of five repeated objectives in every level.