Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode Five: Don't Stop Believin' (PlayStation 4) Review

The previous episode ended with the Guardians being split apart, based on the decisions of the player that meant at least two of the three Guardians were gone. The Fellowship broken and now the antagonist of the series is out being a cliché Marvel villain, slaughtering worlds on a quest to kill the hero. Halaa with her newfound powers (or army, based on the choices of the player) threatens to destroy all Peter Quill loves; she plans to destroy the Guardians' makeshift home of Knowhere and then move onto Peter's original home of Earth. This means tracking down the team and taking her on.

While the actual narrative that has played out across this game has been rather humdrum, there have been some great moments in the flashbacks that gave further insights into each character and every of them has had some time dedicated to their past. All bar one. He. Is. GROOT! That terrific triffid is playable here with some surprising lines of dialogue. It's just a shame his flashback covers the history of the Guardians rather than the history of the talkative tree.

This episode takes a step backward after the marginal improvements of the fourth episode, with the interactive segments falling back into bad habits. The writing again is seemingly outsourced and there are decisions that lack any real weight. Even worse, even the comedy falls flat for most of this episode; it's like a really bad '90s sitcom.

After now seeing this story through to its conclusion, finally the main problem is completely identifiable: the characters. The best Telltale stories have memorable characters that the audience can connect with; characters where it's easy to get invested in their journey, to care about what happens to them. The Guardians seemed a perfect fit for this sort of story. These broken, damaged individuals are relatable, even when they include a talking Raccoon and a talking tree. However, here they are just awful. Telltale has tried to emphasise the gruff and argumentative nature of the group. There are moments of brilliance here, truly funny and smart parts, but on the whole, every step forward in ingratiating the characters to the audience is quickly undone with cringe-worthy or obnoxious dialogue.