And here I was, saying that Guardians episodes come slower than usual Telltale games and Telltale was like “ok then, here, have another one” … mind you I am definitely not complaining though. However, that leaves me sad that there is only one episode left now and I am quite enjoying this series.
Indeed our Guardians of the Galaxy journey is coming to a close and here is to me, hoping that one day I will see a season 2 and live to tell the tale.
The one major thing that concerns me with this episode is the story progression. While the episode was perfectly written and I loved every bit of it, it kind of felt like a filler episode, when it comes to the main storyline. We got to battle Hala in the beginning and then the rest of it was the Guardians fighting amongst each other, trying to escape the rock bottom they had hit … literally and figuratively. I guess you’d say that it’s kind of a built up towards the finale and the main point is to showcase the Guardians at their lowest point, but I still think all of this could have been intertwined with the main storyline. Up until now we’ve seen a lot of personal Guardians stories and minor plotlines, however we were always following the major story – the eternity forge and Hala, as the main antagonist (maybe with the exception of episode 1, where the spotlight was still on Thanos).
So what happens in episode 4? Basically we face the consequences of our choice from the end of episode 3 on whether to keep or destroy the forge, however I feel like in a way, it didn’t turn out to be such a major choice after all. If we don’t destroy it, Hala will get it, if we do, she will get its power, which is basically the same thing with minor differences I guess and a slightly angrier Hala in one case.
Then we fall to the depths of the planet we were on and there begins our journey to get out, which is what we do during the entire episode. First the caves, then the worm that eat us, though I have to say the colon escape was effin hilarious.
Anyways our journey begins in a very tight cave where we meet an adorable, cute little rock worm, which takes quite the liking to us I’d say. You have the choice to be mean or kind to it and honestly, I don’t know how can those 1.whatever% of people kick it … where are your hearts people!? We even get to name it too and out of all options, I kind of liked Blue the best. Anyways, the worm tries to help us escape, however we are ambushed by more of its kind and have to fend for ourselves. After that threat is done with, of course the guardians begin arguing (mainly Rocket vs. Gamora again) and they both go separate ways. This is our second (I believe), choice where we get to experience a slightly different following sequence of either reconciling with Rocket or … and to be fair, I kind of liked that … we can finally try to talk to Gamora about our feelings for her. I mean come on, when she tells Peter that she wants to leave and he says something along the lines of “stay for me” how the eff can your heart not skip a beat… can I also say that Groot getting high on some toxic plants was hilarious.
Yeeeaaaah … so moving on, after the moment of sentiment we get with our choice of Guardian, we find that the other group was ambushed by more rock worms and we have to get them out of their forced slumber. There we experience a memory of Drax and dayum … for the Drax I had seen so far pretty much everywhere, I can claim without any doubts that in the flashback, I met him in a new light. Yeah he was all warrior, fighting, glory, honor, however there is something that gets to you and you immediately know that he was a great father. Also, I kinda want to complain a bit about that choice, and while I do understand that assholes exist and they would totally push Kamaria off the ledge, I think a better choice would be if instead of push, Drax encourages her somehow to jump so she can do it on her own versus the pulling her back one. All in all, I’m glad we get to see more to Drax and I am jumping with joy that episode 5 is saved for Groot … Telltale, I need my Groot sentimental moment!!!
After almost escaping the caves, we get eaten by a gigantic rock worm and the next segment of the game features us trying to find engines to power up our ship and also get rid of belongings in order to lighten the ship so we can actually handle the trip. I like that this episode features a lot of gameplay and action segments, in comparison to episode 3’s packed dialogue journey. When we get the ship going we are faced with clearing our own room as well and throwing out our mementos. Truth be told, apart from the picture of Peter’s mom and the rocket from Yondu (which I ended up throwing away as well), nothing else really made me think twice whether I should keep. I would have liked more sentimental things so to make the choice really hard. I do admit, I didn’t want to get rid of the music player and I know I probably would have gotten away with it, but in the end we had to commit!!! Also here you get to choose whether to keep the little rock worm or leave it there (Blue <3)
The action packed sequence of getting away through the worm’s bum … to be honest, I probably would have chosen the mouth, but this is how memories are created and since these are the guardians of the galaxy, we can’t get away without ridiculous choices. And here comes basically the choice that pained me the most. Drax wants a glorious death, I get that. I get that he wants to meet his family again, however as the guardians leader and the promise I made to Gamora, I couldn’t just bare to let him go sacrifice himself. I saw I was in the minority based on the results at the end, but for me every guardian is like a family and one does not simply let a family member f*ck off in the face of death. On the other hand, when Groot gets badly burnt … I just hope he can regrow in episode 5, because I swear, if Groot dies … sorry Drax, you’re gonna have to go. There is nothing that can make me live with the choice of Groot dying (if I can change that).
Low and behold, after we go back to Knowhere, the guardians fall apart and as Peter made the snarky remark that at least he got to keep the S in guardians, we are basically left with one member of the team, based on what choice we made. If we let Drax sacrifice himself, Rocket will stay behind with us. If we don’t do it and Groot gets burnt ;( Gamora stays with us. Basically I’m left with Gamora and Blue now and come on, I need a happy ending in episode 5. Like seriously I’ve been trying so hard to keep the team together, to be just with everyone, to give them what they want, but sometimes it gets unbearable, especially between Rocket and Gamora.
Ah, so we’ve reached the verdict again. Like I said this will be the second review to test the new score, alongside Batman’s episode 2, so let’s go.
As a whole I will give episode 4 in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy an 8/10. While there are oh so many things I adored, the stuff that’re keeping it from scoring higher are the fact that the major choices didn’t turn out to be as consequential as I’d wanted them to, I would have also liked more engaging pick of stuff to throw out or keep and the entire episode feeling a bit like a filler to the main plot. Other than that, characters were top notch as always, the script was great and I loved the dialogue, choice of music – fantastic, especially the song when escaping the big bad rock worm and I loved the fact that we get more gameplay than dialogue – contrary to how it was in episode 3.
For more information on Telltale Games, visit the official website, Facebook, and follow Telltale Games on Twitter @TelltaleGames.
You must be logged in to post a comment.