While cloud streaming has its benefits, nothing beats having a native version of a game. Guardians of the Galaxy launched on the first Nintendo Switch as a Cloud version, and that experience wasn’t really recommended. Now, the game is having an Encore Edition on Switch 2 with an actual port. It’s the same fun adventure, but with some performance caveats.
Guardians of the Galaxy follows Peter Quill as Star-Lord, as he travels the galaxy with his ragtag team of heroes: Rocket Raccoon, Drax, Groot, and Gamora. It starts out as a scrappy adventure of them trying to get out of debt, but eventually becomes much more engrossing and deeper as it progresses. It’s a story about friendship and teamwork that hits all the right notes.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
As someone whose immediate frame of reference for this group is the Marvel Cinematic Universe rather than the comic books, I actually enjoyed this incarnation rather than their portrayal in the movies. The voice acting, script, and art direction are top-notch.
I already played the game once before on a different platform, but revisiting on Switch 2 felt like seeing an old friend again. I laughed at the interactions and jokes, as well as getting teary-eyed at the emotional scenes, as if witnessing them for the first time.
Unsurprisingly, the graphics have taken a small hit on Switch 2 compared to other platforms, but the gorgeous environmental and enemy designs more than make up for it. The different planets are alien, yet colourful, while enemy types are more plentiful than you’d think. From weird worms to gelatinous cubes, there’s enough wackiness to keep your eyes entertained.
While you only control Peter and his dual pistols during gameplay, you can deliver attack commands to the rest of the crew. For example, Drax can stagger bigger enemies while Rocket can clear huge areas with his explosives if you’re starting to get overwhelmed. It’s a little disappointing that you can’t play as other characters, but they all feel like they’re participating in some way.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)
Peter also unlocks different elemental shots throughout the campaign, giving him even more options. The Ice shot freezes foes in place, allowing you to inflict even more damage, while the Lightning shot can ricochet between nearby enemies. The combat isn’t particularly deep, but there’s more than enough variation to keep things fresh.
When building up a gauge, you can activate Huddle, where Peter gives a pep talk to his teammates to bolster their spirits. If you provide the correct response based on their mood, the whole team gets a temporary strength boost. Even if you pick incorrectly, Peter himself still gets the boost. This is also a clever way to show off the game’s fantastic soundtrack, filled with classic ’70s and ’80s jams like Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up and Europe’s The Final Countdown. The game is already bursting with charm and personality, and the music is the perfect cherry on top.
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
One of Peter’s many unlockable perks is an active-reload mechanic popularised by Gears of War. If you time your button presses correctly, Peter will reload immediately instead of having to wait, making it a satisfying minigame within the hectic combat. While my preferred way to play most Switch 2 games is with a Pro Controller, the constant rumbling when firing and the active-reload feel absolutely incredible on Joy-Con, and I eventually shifted to mainly playing with them.
The Switch 2 version includes two new control schemes in Gyroscope and Mouse Mode. The former lets you tilt your controller when you’re flying the group’s spaceship, the Milano, as well as guide Peter when he’s sliding or using his Jet Boots. The latter is just as you’d expect: you can use the right Joy-Con as a mouse to move the camera. There are no surprises here.
There are also new glam-rock-inspired skins for each of the main characters. I guess it’s a nice exclusive for the Encore Edition, but doesn’t impact the overall game.
This Switch 2 port’s performance is just…fine. While docked, the quality and performance modes target 30fps and 40fps, respectively. In handheld, it targets 30fps. Even in docked mode, there are hitches and stutters throughout the campaign. The loading times aren’t great either, and I booted up my PlayStation version from 2021 to compare. On that and the Switch 2, both loading screens last roughly 15 seconds, which can be quite annoying and noticeable. The bar is very low, but performance overall is still miles better than the Cloud version!
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld/Undocked)
Also, credit where it’s due, the Encore Edition has squished out a few bugs and glitches. A nasty one from other platforms was that certain conversations wouldn’t trigger when picking up collectibles if you decided to load up a previous save file. Thus the items wouldn’t show up in Peter’s glossary, which was a huge problem for completionists, and the feasible solution was to start a new game. After some testing, it seems like this particular glitch has thankfully been fixed in this version.
Conclusion
Guardians of the Galaxy was criminally overlooked when it first came out on other platforms. This single-player adventure is full of heart with equally fun gameplay to match. It’s also a shame that the disastrous Cloud version on the first Switch cast a large shadow on an otherwise stellar release.
But those dark days are over. If you can stomach some performance issues, this is one bright and resonating story you’ll want to experience at least once. Without the need of a constant internet connection, you can take Guardians of the Galaxy: Encore Edition outside in the sun, literally!