[PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Game discussion
Post Reply
User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

[PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

https://www.telltalegames.com/talesfromtheborderlands
Tales-from-the-Borderlands.jpg
Tales-from-the-Borderlands.jpg (211.45 KiB) Viewed 5490 times
Launch trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOaoHzYc41A
User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

Now this was a real surprise. Telltale's finally stumbled upon a license fully in sync with their strengths, and the results are stupendous. Forget about all the boring drama from The Walking Dead and the attempted maturity from The Wolf Among Us and welcome in the exciting new generation of Telltale games. This is the best it's been since the studio's beginning and should put an end to any doubts over whether or not they were ever going to recover from their Walking Dead experiment.

Borderlands of all things. Who'd have thought? I don't keep up with the universe at all, having only played through the first one, but no matter. You don't need to know anything about it to enjoy this game. Just know that it's a sci-fi action adventure that'll have you smiling the whole way through. The only bad thing I can say about the story is its heavy dosage of modern comedy writing style, the kind engineered to get 20-somethings yucking it up afterward at the office. I have a low tolerance for that kind of thing, but even still, it didn't seriously detract from my enjoyment of the first two episodes.

Telltale's even taken some of their biggest criticisms against their QTEs to heart. I nearly fell off the couch when I played this part from the first episode. There are plenty more scenes like this where you have to rapidly think to yourself, Do I do this, i.e. follow the button prompt, or don't I? Although there was some element of my wanting to fail that QTE on purpose because I thought it'd be funny, because the setting allows for such humor in the first place (unlike in games like Heavy Rain) it becomes a valid branch, and we're treated to an unexpected piece of videogame magic that we can laugh with, not at.

This has turned out to be a real fun adventure that I'm glad to be a part of. Part of me wants to load up the third episode right now, but I've already played enough for the day. Even so, it makes me wish we had more games like this, and it's even got me interested in what's in store for Telltale's Minecraft: Story Mode, which could potentially turn out to be just as great.
User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

I don't exaggerate when I say that there are certain scenes in this game that come close to matching the same heights as Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.
User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

Review - http://victorygamecenter.com/tales-from ... nds-review

I know that the scene where Rhys fails to choke out a guard was a mandatory failure now, but not when I originally played it. When it came time to press the action button, I didn't press anything, hoping for the game to respond appropriately, and it did! The impression that left on me was worth preserving in the review.

I also didn't mention the potential here for a co-op Telltale adventure game. That would have been the perfect reason for the multiple protagonists.
User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

Looking at the retrospective video, the voice actors are performing in the same booth together. That's usually a good sign.
User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

User avatar
christian
Posts: 1683
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 5:21 pm
Location: Houston, TX

Re: [PC] [VAR] Tales from the Borderlands

Post by christian »

Post Reply