March saw quite a mish mash of games I've played this month. Whilst there was a good mixture of genres, there were some I found myself really enjoying whilst others were pretty tedious but all contributed to a good amount of gaming this month. So let's dive in:
As a fan of the Marvel films, I decided to give this game a try. I had seen an episode of it played on JackSepticEye's Youtube channel and thought it looked really good and as a big fan of Telltale's games I thought I'd give this one a go. It is an episodic graphic adventure based on the Marvel comics. Achievements for this game are easy as they are earned through just playing the episodes of the game. I actually think this game is slightly underrated compared to other Telltale games.
The plot is based on introducing the Guardians and then how they find an artefact called the Eternity Forge which can has great power that can resurrect people from the dead, they all yearn to bring someone they love back to them and it shows flashbacks to everyone's memories with them and what happened to them. They also must protect it from being taken from Hala the Accuser from Kree who also wants it for her own to cause destruction.
As with the films, the game has an incredible soundtrack. As a lover of music from previous eras like the 70s and 80s, I was in my element. I also appreciated how the names of the episodes in the game and the achievements are all named after songs. After playing this game, you will have Livin' Thing by Electric Light Orchestra stuck in your head on repeat.
The story itself was quite slow paced but the personality of all the different characters really made it for me as it keeps the story going and keeps it interesting. I particularly love Drax as he's so blunt when he speaks to the others, so brutally honest and hilarious. In my gameplay I chose to rectify his loved one as that was the one I most connected to, however I do feel like the story tries to steer you to choose Peter's loved one to rectify more than anyone else.
There were two elements I liked which was different to other Telltale games I'd played was during the fighting sequences it swaps between characters so you feel like you've played as all of the Guardians at one point or another. The other element I liked was, at the end of each episode there were a 'Next Time On Guardians Of The Galaxy' they were set up like they were filmed on a video camera which was cool and a refreshing change.
I think others may find it hard to play the game and not think of the actors and actresses from the films but if you can get past that, you'll probably have fun playing it like I did. Overall I enjoyed it and would probably play it again.
Before reading this section, I'd recommend reading my thoughts on the rest of the game first which I discussed in my February review. I liked the idea of adding a bonus episode for this game as it added another layer to the whole franchise and it was interesting to look back on the past of these well loved characters. I think the title choice of the episode was a great ambiguity for the characters saying farewell to each other and other for the fans to say farewell to these beloved characters in the franchise.
I found the gameplay and story really nostalgic to my childhood too of old friends playing imaginary games and it was also bittersweet as we know what is to come from playing the other games. One of the scenes at the start has the two girls blowing up dolls which made me think of Sid from Toy Story but less maniacal haha.
But WOW, I was not expecting such a tragic, emotional ending :( I had originally thought it would be more happy and nostalgic for the bonus episode. I had an inkling at the beginning of the episode that Chloe already knew Max was leaving so I was pleased at how that played out at the end and how she dealt with it (despite us knowing what happens after). I was also thrown off about it being the day William dies by the slight inconsistency of Max and Chloe wearing different clothing (unless it's implied they got changed later that day or something haha), I got chills when it showed Joyce open the door. As someone who was never that keen on Chloe's character in LIS, I definitely got to understand more why Chloe is the way she is and it did make me really sympathise with her at the end of this episode.
SUPER LUCKY'S TALE*
(1, 525/2,000)
A very cute and colourful game which was really fun to play. It is a 3D plat former game about a fox named Lucky who has to help protect the Book of Ages from this evil cat named Jinx and his minions from trying to steal it. It's gameplay reminds of the Spyro games, where there are hub worlds that you explore and in each hub world are different levels and you have to collect Clovers from the levels which after collecting certain amounts unlock new levels. Each hub has 5 levels usually with 3D arenas and with one 2D side scrolling level and a few mini game puzzles with a Sokoban-style and a boss level. Also in the levels you can earn a Clover by finding all the letters that spell the word 'Lucky' which reminds me of the Donkey Kong games.
Achievements were a mix of easy to get, story based and others were more for being a completionist or for playing boss levels without being hit so I wasn't really bothered about getting those. The original game had 1,000 gamerscore however, the reason it is 2,000 is because they released a DLC a few months later which I will cover in a few months once I've played it.
At first when I began playing I found it tedious as the game doesn't really give you many tips on how to play it but once I understood how the game works properly from watching online and just messing about on it, I started to enjoy it more and found it much easier. The levels weren't too difficult and the boss levels weren't too hard either, it was only the final boss which took a few tries and getting the clovers are pretty easy enough to get. The levels were varied enough to keep the game interesting and I loved the colourful graphics and art style. The mini games were good to change up the pace too. The only negative I have about the game is the soundtrack is incredibly repetitive but overall I had a lot of fun playing this.
YOOKA-LAYLEE*
(110/1,000)
As you may guess from the small amount of gamerscore, I did not enjoy this game at all. It was a shame as I had heard it was a decent game and I liked the look of the fun art style and characters but I just couldn't get into it at all. The characters were cute and the rural looking hub level at the start was super colourful and lively but I just couldn't get into the game and gave up after playing it for half an hour. But incase those of you want to know more about it, the game is a third person platformer in an open world about a chameleon and a bat who are on a quest to retrieve magical book pages from this evil corporation run by a bee called Capital B and it holds similarities to the Banjo-Kazooie games.
A personal highlight that amused me was a character called Trowzer who is a snake who wore trousers. Trouser snake, get it. I'll see myself out.
TALES FROM THE BORDERLANDS*
(1,000)
Another great game by Telltale which I think is also slightly underrated. Although maybe not as enjoyable as the likes of The Walking Dead and Batman but still worth a play. It is an episodic click and point graphic adventure comedy with sci-fi elements and based on the Borderlands series. It focuses on two characters Rhys and Fiona who both been kidnapped and have to share how they eventually crossed paths and showing common events in the game from how they perceived it and then how the other did, which is humorous as sometimes one calls the other out for exaggerating parts of the stories. He used to work for a big company called Hyperion whilst she is a con artist both after a Vault which contains vast treasure.
There's also great supporting characters like Vaughn (Rhys best friend), Sasha (Fiona's sister) and Hugo Vasquez (Rhys' boss and rival) who are brilliant, the latter plays a douche bag voiced by Patrick Warbuton who I love and has the best voice in the world haha.
The story is pretty slow paced and there's a few squeamish moments whilst playing but there are some elements which make it worth playing: the voice actors are brilliant as always (Patrick Warbuton and Troy Baker, need I say more), the brilliant comedic writing, the little mini game you have to play when breaching the firewalls on the computers, the finger gun fight, the romantic moments involving certain characters, the fight scene that had similarities to the power rangers, the legendary characters of Vaughn and Scooter. Scooter especially needs his own shout out as he was so weird and funny and adorable, such a likeable character: 'Catch a riiiiiide' being his favourite catchphrase and his emotional journey. The ending has a great twist, one I had expected but the other one really shocked me in a brilliant way. I did not see it coming which made up for the slow story. It was a weird but humorous game which I overall enjoyed playing.
LEGO BATMAN 3: BEYOND GOTHAM*
(110/1,300)
Another game I found disappointing. After playing Lego Jurassic World on my Xbox 360, I had high hopes for playing another Lego game but I just couldn't get into this one. I found the game too complex with having to use all the different gadgets and suits for the different characters and not having much guidance on when and where to use them and I thought the episodes were so long and slow to play compared to LJW, I just found it tedious to play in the end which was a shame.
That's all for this month. Thanks for reading! & as always let me know:
What have you been playing this month? Have you played any of these games?
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