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After the rather mediocre effort that was the 2012 Game of Thrones game, it's not surprising that Telltale were able to wangle their way into producing a new episodic game based on the popular TV series. Nor is it surprising that they chose to draw upon the TV series rather than the books since it meant they were able to get the cast from the series to lend their voices to the game. What is, surprising, however, is that, despite Telltale's boast that in-game choices matter, Game of Thrones is one of their most linear games to date.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The game itself is split into six episodes, thankfully none of them having a direct cliffhanger, three of the episodes having been released to date. You play as several members of House Forrester, a group of lords ladies who previously supported House Stark in their war against the Lannisters.
If this isn't making a lot of sense to you, then you might want to either watch the series first or give the game a miss. Because the game does rely on you knowing a lot of the show's story. Essentially, House Forrester ended up backing the losing side and, as such, find themselves in a various precarious position indeed. Not no mention the fact that House Forrester's Lord and his son end up at the Red Wedding. Not so good.
The series is pretty dialogue heavy and largely focuses on you trying to build alliances or appease other characters. The one exception is the character who gets sent to the wall, who has been given a secret mission of sorts, though that mission likely won't get resolved till the last episode. The dialogue is pretty well written and while characters from the show do crop up they never steal the limelight.
The one problem that does occur is when a character is killed off by one of the show's main characters. Your characters can swear vengeance against him but you know that said character will only be killed off - if at all - in a future episode of the TV show so you won't have your vengeance. That said, the game likely will give you the chance to off the Whitehills, the game's primary antagonists.
The non-show voice cast are all pretty good, and the characters themselves are fairly rounded and believable. It's hard not to sympathize with the Forresters, though I can't shake the feeling that things won't end well for them. The game's graphics are okay though there is some weird oil painting effect going on that can make the backgrounds look a little weird. Sadly, there's no way to turn this off.
The story is also pretty well written, with plenty of twists and turns, worthy of George R R Martin himself. However, there's one big problem with the story in that your choices simply don't matter. At all. Take The Walking Dead, one of Telltale's previous games. IN that title, the game was fairly linear but you still had the chance to change the story a little. For example, near the end of Episode 1, you could choose which character lived or died. In Episode 3 of Game of Thrones you're given the chance to save one of two characters from a dragon. The game slows down as it did in The Walking Dead, and you choose a character. Only problem is, whichever character you don't choose only gets slightly burnt, and continues as if nothing had happened. Hardly a huge consequence.
And this is just one of the many examples of how your choices don't matter. Here's another. When I played through the game the first time, I made alliances with another character, something which came back to haunt me, especially when that character was denounced and I had to search their offices for evidence against my character. So next play through, I resolved to ensure my character didn't take them up on their offer. I chose every opposite choice, including silence and yet the game still forced me into an an alliance with them!
Similarly, I more or less took all the choices that I didn't take in my previously play through. And what changed? Nothing. It's pretty disappointing and it's something that has given me second thoughts about playing further episodes. This is unlike Life is Strange Episode 2, which I bought despite having some reservations about the the first episode. Yet I enjoyed Life if Strange Episode 2 because it became clear that my choices did have consequences.
Game of Thrones isn't a terrible game by any means, and I did want to know what would happen next to the characters. There are also some very cool moments like the end of Episode 3. But as a game that's supposed to give you real choice, it fails to deliver. If you are a hardcore Game of Thrones fan then by all means check out the first episode, but I wouldn't recommend buying it until it is heavily discounted. As is, this is a little too linear for my tastes.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Pros:
The story itself is fairly well written.
The characters are interesting.
Cons:
None of your choices really count.
The graphics have a weird oil painting effect.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The game itself is split into six episodes, thankfully none of them having a direct cliffhanger, three of the episodes having been released to date. You play as several members of House Forrester, a group of lords ladies who previously supported House Stark in their war against the Lannisters.
If this isn't making a lot of sense to you, then you might want to either watch the series first or give the game a miss. Because the game does rely on you knowing a lot of the show's story. Essentially, House Forrester ended up backing the losing side and, as such, find themselves in a various precarious position indeed. Not no mention the fact that House Forrester's Lord and his son end up at the Red Wedding. Not so good.
The series is pretty dialogue heavy and largely focuses on you trying to build alliances or appease other characters. The one exception is the character who gets sent to the wall, who has been given a secret mission of sorts, though that mission likely won't get resolved till the last episode. The dialogue is pretty well written and while characters from the show do crop up they never steal the limelight.
The one problem that does occur is when a character is killed off by one of the show's main characters. Your characters can swear vengeance against him but you know that said character will only be killed off - if at all - in a future episode of the TV show so you won't have your vengeance. That said, the game likely will give you the chance to off the Whitehills, the game's primary antagonists.
The non-show voice cast are all pretty good, and the characters themselves are fairly rounded and believable. It's hard not to sympathize with the Forresters, though I can't shake the feeling that things won't end well for them. The game's graphics are okay though there is some weird oil painting effect going on that can make the backgrounds look a little weird. Sadly, there's no way to turn this off.
The story is also pretty well written, with plenty of twists and turns, worthy of George R R Martin himself. However, there's one big problem with the story in that your choices simply don't matter. At all. Take The Walking Dead, one of Telltale's previous games. IN that title, the game was fairly linear but you still had the chance to change the story a little. For example, near the end of Episode 1, you could choose which character lived or died. In Episode 3 of Game of Thrones you're given the chance to save one of two characters from a dragon. The game slows down as it did in The Walking Dead, and you choose a character. Only problem is, whichever character you don't choose only gets slightly burnt, and continues as if nothing had happened. Hardly a huge consequence.
And this is just one of the many examples of how your choices don't matter. Here's another. When I played through the game the first time, I made alliances with another character, something which came back to haunt me, especially when that character was denounced and I had to search their offices for evidence against my character. So next play through, I resolved to ensure my character didn't take them up on their offer. I chose every opposite choice, including silence and yet the game still forced me into an an alliance with them!
Similarly, I more or less took all the choices that I didn't take in my previously play through. And what changed? Nothing. It's pretty disappointing and it's something that has given me second thoughts about playing further episodes. This is unlike Life is Strange Episode 2, which I bought despite having some reservations about the the first episode. Yet I enjoyed Life if Strange Episode 2 because it became clear that my choices did have consequences.
Game of Thrones isn't a terrible game by any means, and I did want to know what would happen next to the characters. There are also some very cool moments like the end of Episode 3. But as a game that's supposed to give you real choice, it fails to deliver. If you are a hardcore Game of Thrones fan then by all means check out the first episode, but I wouldn't recommend buying it until it is heavily discounted. As is, this is a little too linear for my tastes.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Pros:
The story itself is fairly well written.
The characters are interesting.
Cons:
None of your choices really count.
The graphics have a weird oil painting effect.
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After the rather mediocre effort that was the 2012 Game of Thrones game, it's not surprising that Telltale were able to wangle their way into producing a new episodic game based on the popular TV series. Nor is it surprising that they chose to draw upon the TV series rather than the books since it meant they were able to get the cast from the series to lend their voices to the game. What is, surprising, however, is that, despite Telltale's boast that in-game choices matter, Game of Thrones is one of their most linear games to date.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The game itself is split into six episodes, thankfully none of them having a direct cliffhanger, three of the episodes having been released to date. You play as several members of House Forrester, a group of lords ladies who previously supported House Stark in their war against the Lannisters.
If this isn't making a lot of sense to you, then you might want to either watch the series first or give the game a miss. Because the game does rely on you knowing a lot of the show's story. Essentially, House Forrester ended up backing the losing side and, as such, find themselves in a various precarious position indeed. Not no mention the fact that House Forrester's Lord and his son end up at the Red Wedding. Not so good.
The series is pretty dialogue heavy and largely focuses on you trying to build alliances or appease other characters. The one exception is the character who gets sent to the wall, who has been given a secret mission of sorts, though that mission likely won't get resolved till the last episode. The dialogue is pretty well written and while characters from the show do crop up they never steal the limelight.
The one problem that does occur is when a character is killed off by one of the show's main characters. Your characters can swear vengeance against him but you know that said character will only be killed off - if at all - in a future episode of the TV show so you won't have your vengeance. That said, the game likely will give you the chance to off the Whitehills, the game's primary antagonists.
The non-show voice cast are all pretty good, and the characters themselves are fairly rounded and believable. It's hard not to sympathize with the Forresters, though I can't shake the feeling that things won't end well for them. The game's graphics are okay though there is some weird oil painting effect going on that can make the backgrounds look a little weird. Sadly, there's no way to turn this off.
The story is also pretty well written, with plenty of twists and turns, worthy of George R R Martin himself. However, there's one big problem with the story in that your choices simply don't matter. At all. Take The Walking Dead, one of Telltale's previous games. IN that title, the game was fairly linear but you still had the chance to change the story a little. For example, near the end of Episode 1, you could choose which character lived or died. In Episode 3 of Game of Thrones you're given the chance to save one of two characters from a dragon. The game slows down as it did in The Walking Dead, and you choose a character. Only problem is, whichever character you don't choose only gets slightly burnt, and continues as if nothing had happened. Hardly a huge consequence.
And this is just one of the many examples of how your choices don't matter. Here's another. When I played through the game the first time, I made alliances with another character, something which came back to haunt me, especially when that character was denounced and I had to search their offices for evidence against my character. So next play through, I resolved to ensure my character didn't take them up on their offer. I chose every opposite choice, including silence and yet the game still forced me into an an alliance with them!
Similarly, I more or less took all the choices that I didn't take in my previously play through. And what changed? Nothing. It's pretty disappointing and it's something that has given me second thoughts about playing further episodes. This is unlike Life is Strange Episode 2, which I bought despite having some reservations about the the first episode. Yet I enjoyed Life if Strange Episode 2 because it became clear that my choices did have consequences.
Game of Thrones isn't a terrible game by any means, and I did want to know what would happen next to the characters. There are also some very cool moments like the end of Episode 3. But as a game that's supposed to give you real choice, it fails to deliver. If you are a hardcore Game of Thrones fan then by all means check out the first episode, but I wouldn't recommend buying it until it is heavily discounted. As is, this is a little too linear for my tastes.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Pros:
The story itself is fairly well written.
The characters are interesting.
Cons:
None of your choices really count.
The graphics have a weird oil painting effect.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. The game itself is split into six episodes, thankfully none of them having a direct cliffhanger, three of the episodes having been released to date. You play as several members of House Forrester, a group of lords ladies who previously supported House Stark in their war against the Lannisters.
If this isn't making a lot of sense to you, then you might want to either watch the series first or give the game a miss. Because the game does rely on you knowing a lot of the show's story. Essentially, House Forrester ended up backing the losing side and, as such, find themselves in a various precarious position indeed. Not no mention the fact that House Forrester's Lord and his son end up at the Red Wedding. Not so good.
The series is pretty dialogue heavy and largely focuses on you trying to build alliances or appease other characters. The one exception is the character who gets sent to the wall, who has been given a secret mission of sorts, though that mission likely won't get resolved till the last episode. The dialogue is pretty well written and while characters from the show do crop up they never steal the limelight.
The one problem that does occur is when a character is killed off by one of the show's main characters. Your characters can swear vengeance against him but you know that said character will only be killed off - if at all - in a future episode of the TV show so you won't have your vengeance. That said, the game likely will give you the chance to off the Whitehills, the game's primary antagonists.
The non-show voice cast are all pretty good, and the characters themselves are fairly rounded and believable. It's hard not to sympathize with the Forresters, though I can't shake the feeling that things won't end well for them. The game's graphics are okay though there is some weird oil painting effect going on that can make the backgrounds look a little weird. Sadly, there's no way to turn this off.
The story is also pretty well written, with plenty of twists and turns, worthy of George R R Martin himself. However, there's one big problem with the story in that your choices simply don't matter. At all. Take The Walking Dead, one of Telltale's previous games. IN that title, the game was fairly linear but you still had the chance to change the story a little. For example, near the end of Episode 1, you could choose which character lived or died. In Episode 3 of Game of Thrones you're given the chance to save one of two characters from a dragon. The game slows down as it did in The Walking Dead, and you choose a character. Only problem is, whichever character you don't choose only gets slightly burnt, and continues as if nothing had happened. Hardly a huge consequence.
And this is just one of the many examples of how your choices don't matter. Here's another. When I played through the game the first time, I made alliances with another character, something which came back to haunt me, especially when that character was denounced and I had to search their offices for evidence against my character. So next play through, I resolved to ensure my character didn't take them up on their offer. I chose every opposite choice, including silence and yet the game still forced me into an an alliance with them!
Similarly, I more or less took all the choices that I didn't take in my previously play through. And what changed? Nothing. It's pretty disappointing and it's something that has given me second thoughts about playing further episodes. This is unlike Life is Strange Episode 2, which I bought despite having some reservations about the the first episode. Yet I enjoyed Life if Strange Episode 2 because it became clear that my choices did have consequences.
Game of Thrones isn't a terrible game by any means, and I did want to know what would happen next to the characters. There are also some very cool moments like the end of Episode 3. But as a game that's supposed to give you real choice, it fails to deliver. If you are a hardcore Game of Thrones fan then by all means check out the first episode, but I wouldn't recommend buying it until it is heavily discounted. As is, this is a little too linear for my tastes.
Score: 6 out of 10.
Pros:
The story itself is fairly well written.
The characters are interesting.
Cons:
None of your choices really count.
The graphics have a weird oil painting effect.