Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode Four: Who Needs You (Xbox One) Review

Episode 4: Who Needs You begins right where Episode 3: More Than a Feeling leaves off, as the situation with Hala and the Kree turns into an all-out war zone. In an attempt to regroup, the gang falls down into a crevice, into the cavernous world below. The entire episode then deals with the Guardians trying to get out of this unknown place, while escaping the unknown monsters that dwell in this below-land world. While the long-form narrative thread centring around the Eternity Forge and the repercussions caused by Hala's plot for Kree domination takes a backseat, Who Needs You focuses on the Guardians' relationship with each other.

The choices in this episode hold a greater bearing on the outcomes, which was a feature sorely lacking in previous episodes. Now with the series about to wrap up, the differing outcomes are quite drastic. With multiple playthroughs on different saves and making different decisions, watching how this episode pans out is quite fascinating as they are greatly different to each other. The main issue is that, yet again, the choices on offer are highly weighted to one side, with rare moments of actual dilemmas. With one episode to go, these do not look like changing at all, although the ramifications of the alternate choices is looking to have a massive impact on how the series ends.

Writing dialogue is never easy, especially when there are six main characters that need their equal time to stand in the sun. In an episode where story takes a step back, this venture packs such an emotional punch. Whether it is Peter Quill trying to keep the group together when Rocket and Gamora get into their most heated exchange yet or revisiting old memories from his possessions, or even experiencing Drax's flashback to ensure his daughter is well trained for her trials ahead. This is an emotionally charged episode right through to the end, with dire consequences leaving the story on a cliffhanger, of sorts, regardless what choices are made.

The gameplay areas are back, although they are as clumsy and awkward to control as in previous episodes. A certain segment involves moving Star-Lord from one rocky surface to the next, hovering above a poisonous river of stomach acid. It sounds simple, but the sometimes non-responsive controls are costly, considering Peter has a limited amount of time to reach the next surface area. Between that sequence, and bumbling around fiddling with spare spaceship engines, all the gaming sequences seem so inconsequential.