Marvel’s second venture into video games, following the tepid response to Marvel’s Avengers, is a game based on Guardians of the Galaxy. It’s released a gameplay video of the Guardians title, and there are several elements of that gameplay that are reminiscent of the branching dialogue and choice-driven story characteristic of another developer — namely, Telltale Games. And the last thing this new Guardians game needs is to be a Telltale title.
For those of you who weren’t aware, there already exists a Telltale game called Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series. And if you weren’t aware of it, I wouldn’t blame you, as the game was one released during a huge Telltale glut, when the studio was releasing a new Batman game, a new Walking Dead game, and a new Minecraft: Story Mode game. You know, the proliferation that basically caused the studio to fold. But it existed, and
As great as Telltale Games’ signature style was, there were shortcomings, and they’ll only be more prominent if the upcoming Guardians title attempts to ape that style. For starters, what’s the point in having a dialogue tree? What’s the point in having an approval system? We just accepted that it would exist in a Telltale game because… well because it’s a Telltale game. But think about it, what about this is important to the Guardians themselves? What do we, the players, gain from creating a power struggle with Peter Quill and the other Guardians?
According to the pre-release materials, these choices and branching dialogues are not in service of a changing narrative, as the story will only have one ending. So again, I ask: What’s the point? If you want to tell a story about swashbuckling space mercenaries stumbling their way into adventure, I could not be more here for it. But we’ve already tried adding Telltale’s gameplay to a Guardians title, and I don’t think it needs to make a return.
