Telltale’s Guardians of The Galaxy is finally back. Episodes of this season have been released quite far apart — it will be another month or so before Episode 4 drops and then the Episode 5 finale will release towards the end of the year. Episodes 2 and 3 are now available, however, and we’ve happily dug into them.
Telltale’s Guardians of The Galaxy Episode 2: Under Pressure begins where we left off, with Star Lord on the verge of being brought back to life. We witness this strange artefact and realise its potential of bringing back the dead (I knew it wasn’t just a drinking cup). Now the Guardians are trying to come to terms with this device called the Eternity Forge, after all, most of the team have someone they would like back in their lives that have passed, which makes this an even more intriguing and deeper story than I first thought it would be after the fairly ordinary first episode. While discussing the possibilities we are also along for the ride as the Guardians stay on the run from “Hala” a Kree warrior who is after the device to bring back the long dead Kree!
Meanwhile we are given the choice to look after a request from Rocket and we delve into some fantastic backstory which leads to Halfworld the original home world of Rocket. I love that each episode is a characters backstory, it is great because we haven’t had much time to do that in the films yet and if you don’t read the comics, even more so! Keep in mind Rocket’s backstory is gut wrenchingly emotional.
As with most Telltale titles nothing is improved gameplay wise on our journey through the episodes, the game stays the same throughout, some dialogue transitions seem off sometimes however, not sure how some of them get through testing to be honest, but maybe it is sadly down to being pushed for release. Most of the time however the game leaves us to enjoy the plot and its characters without worrying about mechanics.
We do get a few extra songs in episode 2 but the rest of the soundtrack is mostly on repeat (especially while exploring the Milano) it can get really annoying and that isn’t something that should be said in relation to Guardians of The Galaxy name and its Soundtrack.
The second episode feels more at ease with itself, it isn’t trying to impress us and dazzle us as much so that we will buy a season pass, it doesn’t feel forced, this time around feels more natural and it really does grow on you. The interactions and scenes we witness of Rocket on Halfworld are some of Telltale’s finest, heartbreaking and beautiful and almost as dark as its The Walking Dead series can get if you can believe that.
If you’re here for episode 2, chances are you’re going to stick around to the very end of our heroes journey. It may not be Telltale’s finest work (still beats Telltale’s Jurassic Park), but with our favourite new Marvel heroes, who cares.
Telltale’s Guardians of The Galaxy Episode 3: More Than a Feeling this series again, shows me that the more I sink my teeth into one of Telltale’s weakest titles and outdated mechanics, the more I’m actually really enjoying it. Now that we’re three episodes in and have only two more to go, things couldn’t get more interesting. We have the Eternity Forge and the one big choice that will tear the game into two very different ball games. Destroy it and save the Galaxy from any threat that can use it, or take it and use it to bring dead loved ones back to life. I was a good guy, but it pissed a lot of my team mates off. One day I will go back and try the other route.
It all started off so simplistic in the first episode, fun yes, but simplistic. Episode 3 however, focuses more on Gamora and Nebula this time around, on top of all the Forge main plot thread it really serves fans of the Guardians here by feeding us with more of its juicy universe. Whether it’s the films you love or the comics or even as a noob coming into it all of this for the first time, It’s fantastic to see and feel what Gamora and Nebula went through with a father like the mighty Titan Thanos and quite disturbing (verging on child abuse).
One minor fix I noticed here and maybe it’s because they have had more time to fix any issues being an entire month and a half from episode 2, but I noticed far less frame rate and lagging issues here and the scene to scene transitions seemed to be more streamlined and less noticeable making it seem less of a game and more of a cartoon this time around.
What happens by the end of More Than a Feeling actually left me very excited to see what’s coming and even more excited knowing we have two more back stories to still come, Drax and Groot. I can’t wait and I wish it was like this from the first episode, because I’m sure this series has already lost fans along the way due to its fairly standard mechanics and repetitive music choices and slow moving plot. Again, if your still here, it’s time you stayed for the rest of the popcorn.
Score: 6.5 out of 10
Highlights: The Strength of the story is growing around the backstory of its characters!
Lowlights: Usual Telltale mechanics, scene transition lags, occasional freezes. Weak Combat (it doesn’t need to be interactive)
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (Coming Soon), Windows PC, IOS & Android Devices
Available: Now
Reviewed on PlayStation 4 Pro
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