New mobile Guardians of the Galaxy game hits stores today.
The Guardians of the Galaxy won't hit theaters until August 1, but you can start adventuring with the team today. Courtesy of Disney Interactive, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon hits app stores today for $4.99 on Android, iOS, and Windows Phone devices.
The new game takes more cues from the comics than from the film. "We started the game before we knew anything about the film, other than the release date," producer Aaron Norstad told Polygon. "We knew from the beginning that although we were going to strategically plan to launch the same time as the film, we knew that we didn't want to be the game that was the same storyline as the film." In helping to nail down tone, characters, and interesting storylines, the game's producers sought creative advice from Dan Abnett, the man who co-wrote the comic during its 2008-2010 run, consulted on the film, and penned the new novel Rocket Raccoon and Groot: Steal the Universe.
The Universal Weapon doesn't mine material specifically from the comics, but more fits in a parallel timeline to the movie. ""It's sort of another kind of offshoot of a story that draws references to and from the film, but is different," Norstad said. Players start out as Star Lord and pick up more characters, like the other four Guardians, Gamora, Drax, Groot, and Rocket Raccoon, and plenty others. There are 25 characters total and 60 playable levels.
Gamers, working through an in-game comic, must acquire five pieces to the Universal Weapon. Each character has unique abilities, giving gamers the ability to mix and match to their hearts content. "One of the things we really doubled down with was the variety and the depth of characters in terms of the skills and abilities they have, but then also in terms of the broad variety of characters," Norstad said.
Check out the official trailer for the game below, and be sure to check out the film version of Guardians of the Galaxy when it hits theaters on August 1.
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