Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Episode 1: Tangled Up in Blue

Just like any other Telltale game, Guardians of the Galaxy is a great adaptation. It suffers from some minor technical and gameplay issues, but strong story, high replay value, and marvelous sound design and music easily overcome those shortcomings.

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 first episode delivers enough sharp story hooks, entertaining action sequences and amusing lines that I found myself quickly sucked in, my reservations swiftly squashed; by the time it was over, I was looking forward to the next episode and finding out where Telltale is taking the Guardians of the Galaxy.

An interesting prologue filled with action, jokes and our favourite team of former outlaws, but the "more of the same" feeling that the gameplay gives you is stronger than ever.

Guardians of the Galaxy of Telltale Games begins shy of top form, but with potential to recover in the subsequent episodes. Its good narrative and a universe full of possibilities give us hope to believe that it will. At the graphical level, it needs a good revision.

It's not a bad game by any means, but I'm starting to feel fatigued by episodic games. The characters work well together, and there are some nice ideas, but I'm not finding anything beyond this to keep me hooked.

After the kind of bonding experience only fighting a genocidal maniac can achieve, not being able to make everyone happy is a little heart-wrenching.

Telltale fans and Marvel fans won’t be disappointed with the first episode of Guardians of the Galaxy, but they might have expected more from it. The soundtrack is a perfect example of this; it uses licensed music just like the movie, but it almost seems like B-sides. Clearly the game didn’t have the same budget of the movie or the same people who picked the music, because it just doesn’t seem to be on the same level as the movie, and let’s be honest, these comparisons are inevitable. Telltale announced they would be working on a Marvel game nearly 2 years ago, and I guess they decided if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, because they didn’t take any chances with this release.

Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Games Series kicks off with a mixed bag of feelings. The episode is funny but boring, touching, yet unrefined. The gameplay is slick, but the quick-time events are a chore. It flips and flops between ‘intriguing mystery’ and ‘mediocrity at its okayest,’ but there’s plenty of room to get better. Now that the stage has been set, I am ready for episode 2 to go the distance.

Familiar issues hold it back from hooking us on its feeling. [July 2016, p.90]

Tangled Up in Blue lacks the narrative heft of many of the best Telltale games, and the individual Guardians aren't given enough to work with in the short running time to help distinguish them from the versions seen in the 2014 movie. There are flickers of hope – usually involving Rocket – that the characters will come into their own in future episodes, and some of the flashbacks and backstory hint that the storyline might go in interesting directions, but it feels like Guardians of the Galaxy-lite, lacking the irreverent humour, swashbuckling action, and the occasional heart of James Gunn's surprise hit.

Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series gets off to a good start with a story that intrigues about a set of characters all too familiar. How closely the game looks to the recent movie and upcoming sequel for its tone, characters and design is to some degree understandable, but also seems like a missed opportunity – at least this early on. As ever with a Telltale series there's potential going forward, but if the Guardians are to strike out on their own in video games, they need to play something new. At the moment, they're a bit like a covers band.

The graphical departure and lovely humour paper over the cracks of a weak plot, but barely. Telltale fans will love it and Marvel fans will appreciate the reasonably faithful translation to the small screen, but for everyone else it would be advisable to wait and see how the next four episodes pan out before committing to another potentially lacklustre series.

While there’s nothing here that will cure Telltale fatigue, Guardians of the Galaxy also manages to stumble in its writing and visual style where the studio typically succeeds.