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The King is finally here! After months of high anticipation, Black Panther finally makes his debut in "Marvel’s Avengers. Marvel’s Avengers: War For Wakanda" expansion pack was released on August 17, 2021 as a free expansion pack to all players. This free expansion to Marvel’s multiplayer action game adds Black Panther as a playable character, as well as a well-written story campaign and a handful of new multiplayer missions. While all of these are things are great new additions to the game, the game still suffers a little bit from its original problems such as its repetitiveness. Let’s get into some details about this expansion pack.
War For Wakanda not only just introduces us to T’Challa himself, but also Princess Shuri, Okoye, the Dora Milaje, and Wakanda itself. One thing I love about this game in general is the storytelling. This game has not missed when it came to the storylines which each expansion pack and they certainly do not miss with this story for this one. War For Wakanda takes place after the events of the main game’s story and we see Black Panther doing his best to protect Wakanda from… you guessed it. Ulysses Klaue. But it isn’t just him. He is surprisingly joined by Crossbones as they plan to steal the country’s most valuable resource…vibranium. Klaue is basically raging chaos all across Wakanda in which he is testing the patience and even the morals of T’Challa. We even get to see Shuri challenge the way that her brother is running the kingdom. Although the Avengers are present to lend a hand, this is very much Black Panther's story. It's about him and the lengths he'll go to protect his people, leading to a lot of rather intense situations as Klaue walks some lines. With Wakanda in general, it’s a fantastical and rich country making players want to explore it and see its many secrets (which is what I did and why it took so long for me to complete the story). The developers of this game have done such a great job with making Wakanda awe-inspiring and vibrant in detail. Crystal Dynamics has gone to great lengths to not only build upon the basic history of these characters that many know and love, but also utilize the rich mythology that has been seen in the comics. It mixes the modern, advanced era of Wakanda with its ancient roots in a really exciting way to inform the world and characters, similarly to how Wakanda is portrayed in Marvel’s Black Panther.
While the new expansion does offer a lot of good, there’s still a little bit of bad to go with it. One flaw of this expansion is that I thought the story was too short. With the rich history of Black Panther and Wakanda, you would think the story would be a little long. Not as long as the main story that focused on Ms. Marvel but something that was longer than both of the Hawkeye’s. I caught myself yelling, “That’s it?!” as soon as I finished it. Which means that I still really enjoyed it. My main problem with this game is that there is still a repetitive feel to this game. While Black Panther (and all the other characters) are still very fun to play with, there is a notable repetition that is doubly hindered by the fact that things like takedown moves are unlocked via things like microtransactions. War for Wakanda also suffers from a lack of meaningful post-game content as well, sticking to the same routine and vapid grind that was there before.
Although there's some improvements made to the UI and a few other quality of life improvements in the game, "Marvel's Avengers - War for Wakanda" is worth playing through for the brief story and Black Panther himself (who is now my favorite character to play in the game). This expansion shows some promise for the game in the future, and it seems that Crystal Dynamics is moving forward in the right direction with this game. Also, want to give a quick shoutout to some of the voice cast such as Erica Lutrell as Princess Shuri, Debra Wilson (MadTV) as Okoye, and most certainly Christopher Judge (Kratos in God of War) as Black Panther. Overall, this was a very fun expansion to play with and I had a great time playing it. The game tends to succeed at what it has always succeeded at (story, character gameplay, etc.) and fall victim to the fundamental issues that have been there since launch, something that may leave a bitter taste in the mouths of veteran players. But me, I’m looking forward to seeing what Marvel’s Avengers has in store next and I can’t wait.
My rating: 8.5/10. Marvel's Avengers - War for Wakanda DLC is available now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Google Stadia.
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