Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode 1 Review

Reviewed by Max C. on May 15, 2017

Rating:

One of our first big Marvel games is held up by Telltale Games. Check out Kidzworlds review of the first episode of Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series.

By: Max Cannon

If you're a fan of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy movies, as we were, then you may be itching to try out Guardians of the Galaxy - The Telltale Series. After leaks, rumors, and an award show announcement, Episode 1: Tangled Up in Blue is finally available. Does it hit the highs of the film or is it held back by the issues we've learned to expect with a Telltale game?

Like the movies, Star-Lord is the star of the show in the game.

A Cool and Quick Setup

The story doesn't waste any time to get going. Opening up with the Nova Corp, the galaxy's police force, pleading for help in a fight against Thanos, the Guardians find themselves in a dangerous temple. In a shocker of an opener, the Guardians don't just take down Thanos but they kill him, seemingly once and for all. Controlling Star-Lord, the leader of the group, you're tasked with deciding what exactly to do with the body of the galaxy's biggest monster. Cash in on the bounty with the noble Nova Corp or maximize your earnings by dealing with The Collector?

This episode very clearly feels like a setup. There's an awesome battle with Thanos at the beginning and Star-Lord is faced with some tough choices throughout the game but nothing has fully hooked me, yet, and that excellent high happens early on and is unbeaten once my short hour long gaming session was over. It nails the vibe that was popularized by the film, the group is always at odds with each other, classic rock -- namely the band Electric Light Orchestra -- matches the movie's tone, and the characters share many traits with their onscreen counterparts.

Thanos brings an awesome opener to the series.

But at the moment this series feels unnecessary. The story's ending, which I won't spoil, just gives us a deeper look into themes that we've already seen in the movie. Let's hope the future episodes give us a little bit more. Luckily the source material is so interesting, Drax's dense attitude gets a few smiles, Gamora's sisterhood story sets up an inevitable problem for the future, Rocket Raccoon is a huge jerk, and Groot... is there and I can't really ask for anything else from him.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Official Trailer

Tried and True Telltale

For those unaware of the gameplay of any Telltale Games, it's basically a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" game. Most traditional gameplay takes a backseat to the story. Button presses will be used to select dialogue options through most of the game. The action set pieces will progress with quick time events which are button presses or thumbstick movements used to dodge or attack in predetermined, fully scripted ways.

There are a couple of moments of brief exploration in an open environment but these are typically short and very contained moments, and I would argue that they are the worst parts. Pacing is killed whenever the game asks you to look around for the next button to press or door to enter, luckily it only happens 3 times that I can remember but I would rather they be completely removed or reworked.

Telltale's Guardians mirror both the film and the comic characters.

Telltale isn't just known for their unique gameplay but their buggy engine. So far it's not nearly the disaster of the later episodes of Batman - The Telltale Series but I definitely had a few moments where Rocket Raccoon would disappear, the dialogue wouldn't sound right, and loading between scenes would hiccup. I've seen worse but it's clear that there wasn't much effort to patch the holes of other entries, which is disappointing in a game that's so technologically underwhelming.

Final Thoughts

While the opening fight left me impressed, the majority of Episode 1 is lackluster. The series is far from dead in the water but Telltale will need to find their own identity in future episodes to escape the shadow of Marvel's blockbuster and the previous franchises they've tackled.