Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Episode 1: Tangled Up in Blue Reviews
Tangled Up In Blue is one of the best episodes that Telltale has ever made. But the story isn't perfect yet and need a little extra work to be fantastic.
Review in Persian | Read full review
This first episode sets the stage in an entertaining and action-packed way, leaving just enough room amongst it all for the sarcastic group of characters many of us have come to know and love.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy feels like a mixed bag. While there's the promise of a fun adventure in the Marvel universe with a likable group of characters, it's hampered by the same problems of nearly every Telltale game in the last few years, plus a few new ones. It's not terrible, but I'd wait to see what the other episodes look like before picking it up.
I'm sure one day I'm going to finally be able to sit down and say that the well has run dry for Telltale, that their stories can't carry them through anymore. But today isn't that day.
On the bright side, Tangled Up in Blue is a solid first salvo for Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series. Though some of the early storytelling does prove to be disappointing, it is nice to know that they have plenty of room for improvement in future chapters. Given the nature of the conflicts dealt with in this installment, I am still extremely curious to see where things go from here. The sky's the limit for this series. Let's hope that Telltale is shooting for the stars.
Maybe future episodes will improve on this. Unfortunately Tangled Up in Blue starts Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series off on an unconvincing note. Its best plot ideas are ditched before they get going, the soundtrack is good but repetitive, and it fails to improve on the formula in the way recent Telltale games have been doing.
All in all, despite a slew of visual glitches and indefensible movement problems caused by Telltale refusing to seriously upgrade their engine, the excellent writing and abundance of humour stops Guardians Of The Galaxy from sinking into the pit of ‘bad video games based on commercially-successful movies’. The fascinating character interactions and engaging storyline that never ceases in springing up surprises around every corner makes this a must-play for fans of the series and those who want a bit more after coming home from watching the feature film.
The opening episode of Guardians of the Galaxy sets up the series for what's to come, capturing the tone of the source material really well with on-point vocal performances and some terrific visual gags.
With the Guardians of the Galaxy, Telltale offered us a good use of the license with an interesting story that included a couple of nice plot twists. This chapter is just the beginning of something that should continue to improve in the following episodes to really shine between this kind of interactive stories.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Episode 1 of Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series isn’t part of the movie universe, and doesn’t try to be. It’s characters, mostly, take more cues from film than page, but the story itself is uninhibited by any existing canon. I entered worrying Telltale might try too hard to tie this closely to what we already know, and exited laughing at myself.
A stuttered start to this new story. None of the characters feel quite right for some reason, and the story is filled with developments that are telegraphed or predictable. Worse yet, the decisions are lacking any sort of grey area and instead seem to just be fuelling breaking the Guardians up in a later episode… Telltale has got its hands on a great licence and this first episode does not do it justice. Here's hoping it improves in subsequent parts.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy : The Telltale Series tells a story that is both interesting and surprising. But the technical limitations of Telltale's engine are really starting to drag its games down. The game's half-assed translation is also pretty annoying.
Review in French | Read full review
The first chapter's conflicts and outcomes may be conventional, but so were the the ones in the weird comic books my best friend's older brother stored in bread bags, which we'd read as fast as we could before he got home from football practice to terrify us. The feeling of wanting to read the next issue is just the same, too.
There’s something innately fun about this brand of Guardians, and TellTale was right to capitalize on both the recent films and the comics lore. There’s a very deft story being told, and one that’s definitely got a few unexpected turns even after one episode. Side note, I also really appreciate the stellar soundtrack and that every episode title is another fantastic song title. The question is whether or not it can carry this momentum and give us as satisfying a conclusion as we received with the Batman series. If so, someone please give TellTale more comics to make games with.
The first episode of Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy felt like it was phoned in. Though the trademark characters and world is there, it lacks the essence that put the series on the map. Here's hoping future episodes recapture the spirit that made the comics and movie so great.
All in all Guardians of the Galaxy seems to be one of the most promising Telltale series so far. It tries to improve a lot of aspects that drag these games down since years, while maintaining the Telltale typical strengths. Especially the story shows that they want to try something new with this series, offering a very compelling alternative plot to the movies, enhanced with strong characters and dialogues that can successfully carry it. Yet, it´s often gets dragged down by the fact that the story often revolves around the future of their friendship, which doesn´t really work, if you know that its just the first episode. Hopefully they don´t loose this trail and continue pursueing it in the next episodes, due to the new main villain.
Overall, this wasn’t a bad start to the series, but the story did dip in places after a massive spike right at the start, it kind of came crashing down with a slight peak again towards the end.
Another Telltalte game. Another case where more of the same is good. Guardians of the Galaxy takes a great approach to the franchise introducing us to an already formed team fighting against a big villain like Thanos in the first chapter. Same framerate issues as always but this time a great soundtrack makes up for that.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
For what it's worth, 'Tangled Up in Blue' does do a good job with its emotional beats, and it's going to be interesting to see where it leads.
It would seem that Telltale really gets the Guardians, or at least my idea of the group and its fun.