REVIEW : Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Telltale – Episode 1(PS4/ PS4 Pro)
Telltale Games is offering you a chance to be a part of the story line that revolves around, as Gamora likes to likes to call them, “the biggest idiots in the galaxy” – Star Lord, Rocket Racoon, Drax the Destroyer, Groot and Gamora. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy was an unexpected hit of 2014; where a couple of misfits and goons join forces to fight against a common enemy – Ronan. The movie followed the footsteps of most Marvel superhero movies and had plenty of jokes and the misfits seemed to fit in naturally. However, the game is not a movie adaptation even though the characters are taken from the same movie – yet the storyline is pretty much different. The game works off like a classic Telltale game where in you are a part of the comic book storyline and through the game you would make decisions and based on these choices the game changes its due course.
Even though the game cast is different from that in the movies yet we found it difficult to not compare the movie and the game crew. Scott Porter’s Star Lord lacks the ease and the doucheness that Chris Pratt brought about in the movie. Chris Pratt had owned the character and this presents a dilemma for the audience to expect high of Scott Porter. Even though he has tried to do full justice with the character, there still seems to be an incompleteness about Star Lord and the game’s Star Lord comes out as a cheap impersonation. The same predicament is faced with another game version of Drax, Gamora and Rocket. Brandon Paul lacks the Drax appeal that Dave Batista could pull off on camera and Adam Harrington’s portrayal of Groot is also flimsy. Even though Groot manages to pull off only three words and strictly in the same order, yet the voice of Vin Diesel seemed coherent with the face of the tree giant. The part of Gamora played by Emily O’Brien is worth appreciating and it does live up to the expectations of Gamora. However, the character that truly steals the thunder is Nolan North’s Rocket. Bradley Cooper had set the bars pretty high with the sarcastic Rocket’s portrayal on screen and Nolan does achieve them and beyond. We find the same tinker of sarcasm matched with his body language and comic tone while kicking asses and on many instances, it out shines the Rocket Racoon of the movie.
Unlike the movie universe slowly trying to take the fight towards the Thanos, the game takes liberty of making Thanos almost immediately as the main villain and the gamble seems to work in an otherwise slow game. The movie had left us with a feeling of being just a tad bit short and expecting an extended version where the viewers enjoy the gang hanging back together cracking jokes and fighting on side missions before eventually facing Ronan. However, when presented with the exact opportunity in the game where we can hang out with the complete gang (and be in their shoes) we are left with the feeling that it is leading to a monotonous gameplay and after a point the witty remarks of Rocket and the ingenious (moody) Gamora also make it hard to skip scenes.
The game does manage to make you feel a part of the action always and with a great script and a fairly-good acting to match the script. The outcome is a classic Telltale game that leaves the user seated in front of the screen waiting to uncover more of the unfathomable scenarios that can occur due to various choices player makes through the game. The game seems like a perfect blend of the comic book and the movie’s cinematic universe and with time skews towards the more popular movies. This seemed like a smart and an apt choice to us, since people connect much more easily to the movie as it is the more accepted version of the two. However, the game does have some easter eggs for the comic fans like me too which I found noteworthy and Telltale does get some brownie points for that too. The dexterity of the storyline lies in the fact that it is impossible to even cover the basic plot without giving away some kind of spoilers or without compromising the sheer brilliance of the storyline. You must experience it yourself to comprehend the exceptional dialogs, situational comedy, script and acting as well as the simplistic gameplay.
The game does suffer from the general Telltale’s weaknesses and disappointments. The production house hasn’t evolved much in terms of the narratives and action scenes presentation and sticks to the mundane routine of events that proceed rather linearly. At certain points, there are noticeable pauses hinting at something big. This build up is pretty evident and this subdues the revelations which might have been better without this dramatic tipping. Even though the game doesn’t have any earth-shattering mysteries to unfold, the events could keep you occupied. The weird endings to dialogue choices often seem out-of-order. Guardians of the Galaxy doesn’t seamlessly fit together all the moving parts, even if together they make a very charming comic book story.
