Telltale has managed to translate its unique style of gameplay to a number of different properties across the entertainment spectrum. Video games like Borderlands and Minecraft, comics like The Walking Dead and Batman, and even movies and TV like Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones have all been given the Telltale twist. Now that Guardians of the Galaxy is here, how does it compare to the other Telltale series? While this may be the most technically sound episode of a Telltale game, it is also one of the most boring.
Things start out as you would expect for the Guardians. Star Lord gets a call from Nova Corps asking for help with Marvel’s ultimate badass villain, Thanos. The team shows up and… kills him. Seriously. That’s it. That’s not even halfway through the episode!
The rest of the first chapter deals with what the Guardians are going to do with their new corpse, as well as the introduction of a strange relic that makes people hallucinate and maybe even revives the dead. However, Thanos being out of the picture really reduces all the tension that has been built up. How are we supposed to perceive anything else as a threat if Thanos can’t even take out the Guardians?
For the first episode in a new series, Guardians of the Galaxy does little to make you want to keep going. There’s no major hook that caught me, no big twist or surprise at the end to get me thinking of the next episode. This is surprising coming from a Telltale game, which tend to have reliably consistent pacing.
Gameplay consists of choosing dialogue options and making major decisions to see how the story plays out, while also doing a bit of puzzle solving and interacting with your environment. It’s all typical Telltale stuff. The one big change is that, unlike previous Telltale games, Guardians of the Galaxy looks and performs almost flawlessly. Compared to Batman and its framerate, lip syncing and animation issues, Guardians looks way better.
The voice talent is hit and miss. Unfortunately, Marvel’s movie casting is so good, Telltale would never be able to live up to the talent found on the big screen. Scott Porter can handle the more serious side of Star Lord, but fails to capture the bubbly energy Chris Pratt brings to the role, while Emily O’Brien’s Gamora just sounds off compared to Zoe Saldana’s take on the character. The only character that does manage to feel right is Rocket Raccoon, but that’s mostly because Nolan North is a voice acting wizard.
For the first chapter in a new series, Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t make you want to keep going. Hopefully the story can pick up in the next chapters to let Guardians stand shoulder to shoulder with the other great Telltale games.
So what do you think? Are you excited to see Telltale’s version of Star Lord and the rest for yourself? What other big properties would you like to see Telltale make a game for? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
