Telltale Games is the prolific studio behind episodic adventure games such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us and Minecraft: Story Mode. I have a simple hypothesis as to why that may be the case: Let's call it "Telltale fatigue." But it didn't come close to making Polygon's top 10, and as far as I can tell, few of my esteemed co-workers played it.
Tales from the borderlands choices tree series#
Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Games Series is the funniest game of 2015. As with last year, we're running a series of opinion pieces by members of the Polygon staff explaining why certain games earned top marks from them even if they didn't make our staff-wide Game of the Year list. While Tales from the Borderlands doesn't have the bite of The Walking Dead, it's got a snap, a pep, that should make this series an enjoyable, if forgettable, diversion.Every year the Polygon staff chooses 10 excellent games to award our Game of the Year honors, but that means some games we love don't quite make the cut. Pandora makes for a surprisingly engaging backdrop to your shenanigans, and even as someone who never really got into Borderlands I found a lot to like in the Mad Max meets Looney Tunes universe. There are a few technical hitches here and there, including some odd clipping when some characters don masks, but there's nothing game-breaking.
Tales from the borderlands choices tree full#
But it's still a delightfully brash experience, full of swagger and bravado. Is it Telltale at its best? No - it was never going to be.
![tales from the borderlands choices tree tales from the borderlands choices tree](https://fandomania.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/01/borderlands4.jpg)
When things come to an end you're eager to find out what happens next, which is always a good sign in an episodic series. Tales from the Borderlands might not stick in the memory, but it's a wry, intelligent adventure full of likeable characters. FunlandsĪnd all the while you're having fun. There are some more traditionally point-and-click sections here, and a scene in a bar where you need to remember some quick-fire information to pass yourself off as an archaeologist.Įventually the two characters' threads start to intertwine, leading to a slightly bonkers finale in a chariot racing arena. She's part of a trio of conmen out to fleece Rhys with a fake vault key. IlusoryĪfter some shady dealings and the appearance of a man who bears a passing resemblance to Hunter S Thompson, you switch to play as Fiona. In fact a lot of the choices you make feel slightly arbitrary - like things were going to play out one way and you've just been given the illusion that you're affecting anything. Characters remember certain things you say, although the implications of this aren't clear. In between you pick from conversation trees. Swipe to dodge, mash the screen to open a vent, that sort of thing. Prompts flash up on screen and you need to follow them. This is very much a story driven QTE experience.
![tales from the borderlands choices tree tales from the borderlands choices tree](http://downloads.2kgames.com/borderlandsthegame/img/news/claptraptree.jpg)
A massive fight with some bandits involving a huge robot and clever use of a toilet door shows the game's true colours. It's a bright start, and once you're on Pandora things start to heat up.
![tales from the borderlands choices tree tales from the borderlands choices tree](https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NJv389D2Zl0/VtHotN18mAI/AAAAAAAABOs/gHvpv8JUeqg/s640/gtav-featured.jpg)
You're Rhys, a salaryman who's on the cusp of a life-changing promotion.īut then things start to go wrong, and after the timely entrance of a space-bound corpse you head to Pandora to steal a deal from under your new boss's nose. The game starts on Helios, the headquarters of the Hyperion company. But a stellar voice cast and some stand out moments make it an enjoyable romp all the same. This is distinctly lightweight, with a few technical problems here and there. There's plenty of gore and sarcasm here, and more than one line that'll raise a giggle.īut there's a distinct lack of weight to proceedings - your choices aren't so hard to make, and the outcomes aren't so dramatic. It zips along at a much faster pace, cracking wise as and it does.Īnd since it's set in the crazed universe of Gearbox's FPS RPG, that makes a lot of sense.
![tales from the borderlands choices tree tales from the borderlands choices tree](https://i2.wp.com/mentalmars.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Flak-the-Beastmaster-Screengrab-04.jpg)
Tales from the Borderlands doesn't have the bite of some of Telltale's recent fare.