Game of Thrones

You can't blame a game for favouring fighting over politics, but you can blame it for making the fighting so boring. [Aug 2012, p.105]

You must be a forgiving and devoted fan to enjoy the best that this game can offer. Otherwise, you're better off following the words of Genna Lannister: "Better to mock the game than to play and lose."

There's no active dodging and opponents move like they're from a 90`s PC game. An absolute low point was when we were given control over an archer who slowly fired his arrows at his targets, his animation unhindered by the brutes who were slicing him to pieces with their giant axes. [July 2012, p.80]

The story is worthy of the name, but unfortunately the rest of the game is nowhere near as good as the series it is based on. This could and should have been much better.

Yes, architecture and costumes are adequate. And yes, you can influence little things while both storylines offer interesting twists and turns. But the combat system in this superficial fantasy adventure is one of the worst in years, while the stealth and dialogue systems don't live up to their potential.

Combat is turn-based stuff that's a hasty facsimilie of Dragon Age: Origins. It's hard to get a kick out of any of these battles when your enemies are clones with all the guile of Hodor the village idiot. Expect no thrill from the grind, either, as the skill trees unlock stat 'boosts' more miniscule than Tyrion. Likewise, rare items are ridiculously so and the purchasable gear is so unattainably priced, not even a Lannister could pay their debts. [July 2012, p83]

Game of Thrones is a distinctly average affair plagued by poor visuals and monotonous combat.

Give me the option of a night in with the first season's Blu-ray boxset or this mostly shabby spin-off and I'd go HD Sean Bean chivalry every time.

A Song of Ice and Fire is a series begging for a good, in depth RPG. This just isn't it. The story may be of interest to some, but most will not want to have to slog through the game to see how it ends. Go watch the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, or read the books and forget Mors and Alester ever existed.

What makes this really disappointing, though, is that some aspects actually work well. But without good combat, it's all just academic. [July 2012, p.78]

Lacking. [Issue#220, p.76]

This effort has a few interesting ideas and a reasonably accomplished plot, fairly well progressed but it stumbles mechanically over every good idea it has and douses it in some genuinely shocking presentation.