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monition : This clause hold in spoiler for Telltale’sGuardians of the Galaxy
It ’s far too other to say that after a string of strike , Telltale Games hasmissedwith theGuardians of the Galaxy . But with the first installment down , the effect are underwhelming enough to make us wonder : is this a typeface of a successful property simply being a poor fit to the revealing experience ? Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe only hoping to see more stories have the likes of Star - Lord , Gamora , Drax , Rocket , and Groot may be satisfied disregarding of the tale . But at some breaker point … they ’ll need to in reality take over ascendence of the secret plan .
And while Telltale ’s house style of dribble - feeding plot , advance slow exploration , investigation , and ruminate of moral dilemmas shone when lend oneself toThe Walking Dead , Fables , and evenBatman , it ’s a poor fit here . There are bright spots for buff to relish , but at its pith , the first sequence extradite an experience that is , arguably , theoppositeof what player draw by the characters or title would hope for - or rightfully expect .
On paper , the gameshouldbe as successful an version of the risible asBatman : The Telltale Serieswas , leaping into the kind of action mechanism lover of the Marvel film would go for for . Star - Lord field a request from the Nova Corps to aid defend an attack from Thanos himself … after an amount of bargaining or instant heroism that ’s go out up to the participant . No time is wasted , dropping the Guardians into a space battle with Thanos ’s personal ship , finally sending them damage onto the surface of an alien Earth where Thanos is on the search for something of import enough to guarantee his personal care .
The alchemy of the heroes work well enough from the start , mimicking the broad tone and personalities of the comic Quran and moving picture . Star - Lord is the kind of voguish - aleck scallywag that Telltale craves , Drax descend easily into the loveable lunkhead archetype , while Rocket is harsh and opinionated to an extreme . Gamora suffers the worst of the adaptation , becoming a self - confident , reverential , morally upstanding cooperator and conscience to Star - Lord ( since the team want an proponent for the ' rightfulness ' path ) . Since the audience is potential to feel that they alreadyknowthese characters , the rough position or thin picture is n’t a problem - not decent forth .
The same goes for the plot ’s " activity , " with the team pursue Thanos to a distant temple building complex but find out their way blocked by monolithic doors . Star - Lord , equipped with rocket iron boot , makes his way through an upper fault in the temple to solve the problem from the other side - encounter the slaughter in the Mad Titan ’s wake . Carnage composed of three layers of Nova Corpsmen , crash Nova ship , and collapse gem . massacre that , true to the biz ’s format , players must take the air through one distributor point of interestingness to the next , cuing pre - recorded sound bites of piffling relevancy to the problem at hand , until - hopefully - they notice a Nova ship ’s gun bespeak at the doors in need of firing .
forget the obvious frustration in the game design , and the lack of contextual cue or nonrational camera controls that led to this issue … this isStar - Lord . The devilish , smartass infinite outlaw now fraction from his teammates , plunged into silent exploration , slowly picking his path through prescribed icons for the only solution to a fairly simple job . When players really just want to get this over with and get back to the fun .
The ensuing action scene that follows - pitting the Guardians against a superpowered Thanos -shouldscratch that very itching . And on one story , it does , swapping the action between Gamora , with her devastating brand attacks , and Star - Lord , burn down with duplicate pistol . It ’s a luck to see the heroes do their stuff as Rocket attempt to complete his secret , oversized weapon . And yet , as one chain of QTEs lead to another with no signboard of damage visit , advancement made , or that player should actually be require anything but " superhero fighting " with no actual payoff … the action , too , seems to be a hollow experience .
That ’s a literary criticism some leveled at Telltale’sBatmangame , too , but at least there players werewinningthe fights . And in the case of the investigating , Batman ’s crime setting outfit his character , were give way supererogatory tending , and infused with his unequalled brand of gadgets . Guardiansstill equips Star - Lord with a equipment tolerate him to see what events took place before the Corpsmen were vote out , but with no account ever offered , and it notreallymaking any deviation to the sequence of upshot , it ’s an attempt at a great , unrealized musical theme , if anything .
start the game experience with some of its weakest elements , and some hollow combat set an odd tone , but theoutcomeof that Thanos fight is likely to keep players in their seats . That keepsake that Thanos pursued becomes a main plot of ground point go forward , but not at all for its impacts on gameplay . The secrets it bear within quickly dwarf even the determination - making hook of Telltale experiences , where the choices will apparently matter , but lack any - if notall- of the subtlety of the organisation and writing at its dependable .
What ’s bad , the dialogue options are at betting odds with the very nitty-gritty of Star - Lord , the player ’s character . It ’s not a critique of vocalism actor Scott Porter , by any way , but the plain challenge of living up to previous writer of the Guardians and their leader . Movie fans will expect Peter Quill to be well - mean , if juvenile . Or at his best , romantic or hokey in a scripted , Hollywood sense of the full term .
The plot pop the question neither , really , instead allowing players to take between lines that one wouldexpecta game hoagy to select , and an easy , discarded one - ocean liner . The investment in this " family " is heavy to see , and the fight vacillate wildly between bluster and portentous , team - terminate angst ( when Star - Lord indicate out thathewas the one who took Thanos down with Rocket ’s weapon system , instead of reach him all the credit rating , he responds by say he will provide the crew after such clamant disrespect from someone he envision as a friend ) .
That does a disservice to the possible interpersonal storylines and alternative thatarepresent at times , include the aforesaid story unlock when Star - Lord snatch up the relic Thanos pursue . Moments of real , solid , Telltale - brand storytelling follow , as well as nods to the larger Marvel Cosmic Universe . But those are merely offered as a hook to keep musician concerned in the game ’s final act - asking them , in a horse sense , to ignore the fact that the first episode was n’t all that fun toplay . To watch , sure , but theGuardians of the Galaxyanimated serial publication and films already exist for that impulse .
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We ’ll still keep our fingers track that it ’s simply an awkward start to a serial that soon locks in to the most bright scene , but for possibly the first fourth dimension since Telltale began its gravid - scale adaptation of third - party dimension , Guardians of the Galaxyfails to show why it fit this normal of video game at all . Other than the appeal of Marvel ’s hottest commercial-grade property , of course .
NEXT:Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Early Reviews Say It Exceeds Expectations
Guardians of the Galaxy : The Telltale Series ' first episode , " Tangled Up in Blue " is available now for Android , iOS , Windows PC , PS4 , and Xbox One .
