Hala’s wreaking havoc all across the galaxy and only the Guardians can stop her. There’s only one issue, the Guardians broke up. Can Starlord get the gang back together and stop Hala?
Any true Guardians fan knows that the answer to the last question is yes. I’m sure you also remember the death that broke the Guardians up in the last episode. Turns out that the writers didn’t go through with it, but I think that we can all figure that out. I’m not going to give much away but I will tell you that two of the Guardians are miserable. After all they’ve been through; I can’t really blame them. This time, they’re actually upset about events in their life that matter. The final Guardian, Groot, gets his time to shine in a flashback about how the Guardians met.
It’s similar to the movie with a few humorous moments that makes it the Guardians of the Galaxy. That’s what I love about this franchise; the writers know how to blend the perfect amount of darkness and light that makes Guardians of the Galaxy shine. It’s something Batman Forever failed at miserably. You also get a scene where you can listen to Starlord’s awesome music.
The game play is typical of any Telltales game, with you picking dialogue choices for Starlord and, at one point, Groot. During action scenes, you have to press the right key at the right time. Let me tell you, those scenes really sneak up on you.
At one point, you get to assign a task to each Guardian during the final mission to take out Hala.
Rocket came up with the plan, so you can bet that one of these tasks is useless but still funny. There’s another scene where Mantis takes you inside Peter’s head and you can determine Peter’s thoughts and relationships with the other guardians. It’s fun and heartwarming at the same time. When you’re finished, you can compare your choices to those other players made and get a sneak preview of what’s to come in season 2.
This game is addictive and amusing. I give it 8 out of 10, a brilliant finale for Guardians of the Galaxy Season 1.
After making your choice about the Eternity Forge, Hala buries you underground. Meanwhile, the Guardians find themselves at odds about your decision. Can you stop Hala while repairing the damaged relationships among the Guardians of the Galaxy?
I’m sure you remember that decision you had to make in the last episode that I talked about being the strong point of the story. Now be prepared to find out that whatever decision you made doesn’t matter in the slightest. If you destroy the Eternity Forge, Hala sucks up all of its energy and uses it to bring her race back. So all that time you spent mulling over what to do with the Eternity Forge is useless. Even Rocket takes the time to point that out to you, in case you didn’t come to that conclusion yourself. This is what we in the story business like to call lazy writing. To top it all off, everyone’s so busy fighting each other the Guardians forget that the issue is that Hala is out there committing mass murder. Unfortunately, you don’t get a dialogue choice to remind them of this either. Say what you want about the Final Frontier, which is a guilty pleasure for me, but the characters had enough sense to realize that they need to focus on the major problem. Let me explain that, in the movie, Sybok takes over the Enterprise and uses it to cross a deadly barrier to find God, or Sha Ka Ree. Spock talks about how Sha Ka Ree is not real and Kirk tells him that the present issue is a mad man took over his ship and could possibly destroy it in some mad quest. When Final Frontier beats you in a story aspect, you really need to re-think your writing.
The story does have its strong points, such as Drax’s flashback. I have to admit, I’m not really a big fan of Drax. However, his flashback is one of the most well done I’ve seen and it doesn’t take away from the story. It’s a short and yet memorable scene where Drax talks to his daughter before she has to go away for training.
Your choices determine how Drax’s daughter thinks of him. It also leads to scene where Drax makes the ultimate sacrifice to save the Guardians in a scene that’s almost a tearjerker. I have to admit, it took me by surprise. While the scene is sad, the episode is not without its funny moments. Some of the humor can get juvenile and, at one point, the game makes an unnecessary fart joke. However, when a giant worm eats you in a plot point similar to Star Wars, you have to make the decision about whether you want the creature to vomit you out or poop you out. I went with the former and, in this case, I’m glad the writers realized how silly this sounded. One of the aspects of Guardians of the Galaxy is that the writers know when to take the plot seriously and when to embrace the silly. The CW show, Supernatural, also uses this writing technique.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can ignore the story’s weaknesses. In the second paragraph, I talked about how everyone forgets about the threat Hala imposes on the universe. This doesn’t change by the end where, depending on how you handle Drax, people are mad at you. It gets so bad that people leave the group, starting with Mantis who can’t take having to deal with everyone’s extreme emotions. Never mind that the Eternity Forge is her responsibility and still causing havoc around the galaxy because of Hala. Then, depending on whether you let Drax sacrifice himself or not, different people get mad at you and leave the group. They just momentarily forget that Hala is committing mass murder across the galaxy because of what they did. No, it’s all about them; how they can’t cope with all of the drama in their lives. I understand that your main characters need to have flaws and that no one can agree with each other all the time. However, the moment when your heroic group breaks up is not supposed to be when the world or, in this case galaxy, is in serious danger. These characters act like spoiled children who throw a tantrum the minute things don’t go their way.
The game play is typical Telltale with you making dialogue choices for whatever character you currently play. However, your choices make no difference except to determine who stays with you when the Guardians break up. There is one impact in the game about whether you get to have a sandworm companion but that’s about it.
The game comes with its own quick time events that are addictive as always without sneaking up on you. You also get to explore the inside of the giant worm in order to collect engines to fix your ship and talk to the Guardians while you do so.
The game is disappointing yet fun. I give it 6 out of 10; not the best story but still a nice little diversion.
When the Guardians rescue an eccentric alien name Mantis, she claims to hold the key to the Eternity Forge’s power.
Now Starlord’s left with one decision, destroy the Eternity Forge or unlock its full power. Either way, the fate of the universe rests in his hands.
I have to admit, my original impression of the game was that each episode would be about someone each of the Guardians lost in their past. It would also give a reason for why each one of them wants to use The Forge. Instead, only two of the Guardians want to use the Forge while the other two think Starlord should destroy it. If you want to know who wants what, remember Drax’s reason for going after Thanos. Then remember Rocket’s origin story from Episode 2, the one that sent me spiraling into depression. After that, use the process of elimination to figure out which two Guardians want to destroy The Forge. If you feel that I’ve turned a complex plot from a fun and yet serious super-hero story into a boring math problem, you couldn’t be more right.
Each episode delves into the past of one of the Guardians. In this one, it’s Gamora’s turn. Unlike the last episode, this one doesn’t insist on taking a break from the plot at large to delve into a Guardian’s back-story. During the game, it’s clear that Gamora and her sister, Nebula, have issues. Considering that they’re both the adopted daughters of an evil overlord who turned them against each other as part of their assassin training, it’s not hard to believe.
Now we get to see what drove Gamora and Nebula apart. In the interest of not giving anything away, I’m just going to tell you that it’s a very deadly Three’s Company plot. Whether they make up or not is in your hands.
The game play is typical of Telltale with you picking the dialogue options for the characters you play.
There are times when you will have to participate in QuickTime events that require you to press the right button at the right time. Like many other Telltale games, they sneak up on you.
In the previous episodes, you had the option of checking your codex and mail and you can do so in this one as well. If you chose to give Thanos’s body to NovaCorp, let me tell you that Rocket’s right, they are d*cks. In the last episode, they refuse to stand down and let you handle Nebula. These so-called cops won’t even listen to you when you claim that it’s to save the galaxy. In fact, they won’t even give you the bounty and proclaim you the enemies of the galaxy. It makes you want to replay the game and give Thanos to the Collector.
Some choices will affect the game play and, as I said earlier, there is one choice that will set the stage for future episodes. At the end of the episode, you have the choice to either use the Eternity Forge or destroy it.
I’m sure many people who’ve lost a loved one can sympathize with Drax and Rocket when they vote to use the relic. However, consider that the relic can only bring someone back from the dead if someone else takes their place. Also, remember that Hala wants to resurrect the entire Kree race and she will murder whoever stands in her way to accomplish this. Would you take away someone else’s life and risk ruthless people using this power for evil just to get the people you lost back? Trust me when I say that it’s the most difficult decision you’ll ever have to make in the game. No matter what you do, this decision will test the bonds of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
This game is addictive and intriguing. I give it 9 out of 10, the perfect combination of light and dark elements.
After the resurrection stone brings Starlord back from the dead, everyone wants to find out its deal. Meanwhile, Nebula’s back and she’s ready to take vengeance for her father’s death.
This story picks up where Episode 1 left off, with Starlord’s resurrection and everyone wondering what happened. You can bet that the Guardians are not going to believe that Starlord came back from the dead and, when they finally do, they’ll want to investigate the relic that made it possible. To do this, they have to go to Yondu.
That’s right, our favorite blue-skinned pirate finally made his appearance. The meeting even brings a few funny scenes, such as Yondu and Rocket meeting for the first time. That’s what I love about Guardians of the Galaxy; it can be humorous without undermining the tragedy in the story. Believe me when I say that there is some serious tragedy.
The main plot of the game is Nebula retrieving Thanos’s corpse from either Nova Corp or the Collector, whomever you gave the body to. However, there is a side story involved with Rocket, should you choose to take it.
Yes, when I said the game involved serious tragedy, this is what I meant. The side story explores Rocket’s past and reveals that he once loved, and still loves, a female Otter named Lylla. Even though her character is, to use a common saying, stuffed in the fridge, the story of how the scientists treated living beings as science experiments is still a serious tearjerker. Add what happens after we meet her and it gets worse, much worse. Just watching this scene and seeing Rocket’s emotions afterward made me cry. Even after I played the game, everything about Rocket’s side quest put me in a seriously bad mood. Even as I write this, I feel like crying. Despite the effect the scene had on me, I still recommend that you take a break from the main story and explore Rocket’s side quest.
The rest of the story involves Gamora trying her best to fix things with Nebula and failing. Unlike Rocket’s back-story, Gamora’s plot actually ties in with the main story. The language of the relic is Kree and only Nebula can speak it. However, it’s tough luck getting her to cooperate. I wish I could give a more detailed review of the main plot but the problem is that I still find myself affected deeply by Rocket’s side quest. Therefore, it’s a little hard for me to focus on everything else going on in the game. I will tell you that Yondu has the hots for Gamora which, considering Starlord, who Yondu raised as a son, and Gamora’s ship tease in the movies, I find a little creepy. However, there doesn’t seem to be a ship tease between Starlord and Gamora in the games, more like a deep friendship. Then again, I could be wrong. I will admit that I kind of like the hint that Yondu and Starlord’s mother might have been involved.
The game play is much like your average Telltale, picking dialogue options for Starlord being the main aspect. However, I’ll admit, from the description of the episode and having not seen the trailer before playing, I thought that you’d play Rocket for the whole episode. Since Rocket’s my favorite character, you can bet that this excited me. While you can play as Rocket if you choose to take the optional side quest, you mostly play as Starlord. The game also features QuickTime events requiring you to press the right key or button in order to survive. Let me warn you, it will come when you least expect it. You can also explore the ship and, once again, check your monitor. However, the second part didn’t feel quite as fun as I found it in the last episode. Mainly because you learn nothing new about the characters or places in the codex, save for a few places and characters that the game adds. In addition, you can’t respond to email people send you; you just read it. However, it is a bit cute to discover that Groot believes in chain mail. At the end of the Episode, you can compare your choices with ones from other players.
This game is tragic and a bit of a disappointment. I give it 7 out of 10, two points added for Rocket’s side quest.
