The first game to kickstart Telltale’s return to the gaming industry and to be honest, it’s a pretty weak one.
Let me start this review by saying I haven’t watched the show so I was going into this game as a newbie experiencing a brand new environment. Did this game intrigue me into the world and it’s story? Kinda. The premise of the story is okay and there are some interesting plot points and tense moments that get you to want to continue playing, but if you compare these moments to previous games in Telltales library, they’re not on the same calibre. It was more of just a ‘oh I guess I’ll find out what happens then’ instead of ‘I can’t wait to find out what happens next’ kind of thing. This isn’t good for a Telltale game when the whole fate of it rest on it’s ability to tell a good story. Another thing it lacks in its story in my opinion compared to the other games is in it’s final episode in particular. When you look at The Walking Dead’s final episode, having to rescue Clementine from her kidnapper, you notice it’s at an anxiety filled and gripping stage. But when it came to The Expanse, I didn’t feel in danger at any bit. I didn’t care what happened to the characters because the character building was nowhere near. The final showdown was flat as well, with the ‘villain’ kinda just popping in at the end and then dying super quick with very little build up. Overall an okay story on its own, but poor compared to previous Telltale titles.
The characters in this game are a mixed bag. Didn’t really get to experience much with some due to my choices in the game but for the ones I did interact with, there are only some that I found myself wanting to learn more about. The main character is fascinating enough to make you want to play as her but I don’t think she’s going to be memorable, not like Lee and Bigby. Everyone was just good enough to pass for a story, but I don’t know, maybe I was expecting more from a company that have delivered me some of my favourite characters in gaming.
Technically this game actually seems to lose a lot of things that were in previous Telltale games. The biggest of these is the stripping of the dialogue changes, we have now been reduced to only 2 options of dialogue instead of 4. This is a really poor design choice as it damages the games replayability with less unique dialogue. I replay Telltale to experience all those small dialogue changes and to have that taken away really puts me off going back to the game. Combat has also been watered down, now being more similar to older Telltale games which is also disappointing. Batman The Telltale Series had such a good combat system, really making the player more involved with the scene so I really can’t understand why they didn’t stick with this design. The level design too is different, with it leaning more to exploration and scavenging rather than an interactive story with bits of exploration dotted in it. This leads to some really long stretched out segments that kinda have you praying for a new cutscene as you slug through it.
While I have seemed harsh in my evaluation of the game so far, I didn’t hate it. It got me to play to the end and I was interested in what was happening to a certain degree. I was actually disappointed by its length, wanting it to be longer. 5 hours is very short for a Telltale game.
But Telltale are back, and while I think this game is far from their normal work, it is good to have them back. Hopefully they can build on this and get back to the heights they were once known for
Let me start this review by saying I haven’t watched the show so I was going into this game as a newbie experiencing a brand new environment. Did this game intrigue me into the world and it’s story? Kinda. The premise of the story is okay and there are some interesting plot points and tense moments that get you to want to continue playing, but if you compare these moments to previous games in Telltales library, they’re not on the same calibre. It was more of just a ‘oh I guess I’ll find out what happens then’ instead of ‘I can’t wait to find out what happens next’ kind of thing. This isn’t good for a Telltale game when the whole fate of it rest on it’s ability to tell a good story. Another thing it lacks in its story in my opinion compared to the other games is in it’s final episode in particular. When you look at The Walking Dead’s final episode, having to rescue Clementine from her kidnapper, you notice it’s at an anxiety filled and gripping stage. But when it came to The Expanse, I didn’t feel in danger at any bit. I didn’t care what happened to the characters because the character building was nowhere near. The final showdown was flat as well, with the ‘villain’ kinda just popping in at the end and then dying super quick with very little build up. Overall an okay story on its own, but poor compared to previous Telltale titles.
The characters in this game are a mixed bag. Didn’t really get to experience much with some due to my choices in the game but for the ones I did interact with, there are only some that I found myself wanting to learn more about. The main character is fascinating enough to make you want to play as her but I don’t think she’s going to be memorable, not like Lee and Bigby. Everyone was just good enough to pass for a story, but I don’t know, maybe I was expecting more from a company that have delivered me some of my favourite characters in gaming.
Technically this game actually seems to lose a lot of things that were in previous Telltale games. The biggest of these is the stripping of the dialogue changes, we have now been reduced to only 2 options of dialogue instead of 4. This is a really poor design choice as it damages the games replayability with less unique dialogue. I replay Telltale to experience all those small dialogue changes and to have that taken away really puts me off going back to the game. Combat has also been watered down, now being more similar to older Telltale games which is also disappointing. Batman The Telltale Series had such a good combat system, really making the player more involved with the scene so I really can’t understand why they didn’t stick with this design. The level design too is different, with it leaning more to exploration and scavenging rather than an interactive story with bits of exploration dotted in it. This leads to some really long stretched out segments that kinda have you praying for a new cutscene as you slug through it.
While I have seemed harsh in my evaluation of the game so far, I didn’t hate it. It got me to play to the end and I was interested in what was happening to a certain degree. I was actually disappointed by its length, wanting it to be longer. 5 hours is very short for a Telltale game.
But Telltale are back, and while I think this game is far from their normal work, it is good to have them back. Hopefully they can build on this and get back to the heights they were once known for