Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series Episode 3 Review – Slow Pace Damages Strong Narrative

Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series Episode 3 Review

Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series Episode 3 comes in fairly hot, only to stall as it slowly builds to some excitement in the last few moments. While this episode features a strong narrative, and it brings the previous episodes into focus, it struggles to maintain any sort of momentum throughout the majority of the episode. Unfortunately, even though there are some great moments within this third episode, it comes across a bit more lackluster than the previous installments.

The third episode of Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series, titled More Than a Feeling, begins exactly where we left off in Episode 2. The end of the last episode ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, with Peter and Gamora stepping into a temple and ‘ascending’ into light. As you begin Episode 3, you will find yourself in the middle of a forest of white light, fending off attacks from Gamora. If you’ve been following this journey from the beginning, you know that Telltale wanted to tell the story of each of the Guardians, and this episode holds some truths about Gamora, as well as her sister Nebula. Unlike with the backstories for Peter and Rocket, we get to see both sides of the same story, which explains their broken relationship entirely. Between these memories and the one Peter has of his mother, this episode lives up to its name.

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“Where I was originally concerned about the team dynamics, Telltale has done a great job of strengthening the bonds between the Guardians.”

Much like these memories, this episode does a really great job bringing a lot of points of the previous two episodes together. Within the first half an hour, you will meet Mantis, an empath, who can read the Guardians emotions. As it turns out, she is the reason behind the memories each of the characters have seen over the course of the past few episodes. This introduction of Mantis explains a lot about the past episodes while adding a new dynamic to not only the story, but to the team as well.

Similar to the last episode, More Than a Feeling starts off quite slow, gaining momentum slowly as the 90 minutes progress, as it leads up to a huge moment for the Guardians. Peter must make a decision about whether to destroy the eternity forge or to empower it. This choice plays your mind and logic against your heart and emotions. On one hand, destroying it means that the eternity forge cannot be used for evil, like say, Hala raising an army of Kree. While this makes perfect sense, it’s hard to tear yourself away from the emotional side of things, especially knowing the back stories of the Guardians. In a move that echoes the same choices of the first and second episode, Peter must choose between Gamora and Groot, and Drax and Rocket. After playing through the Guardians of the Galaxy: A Telltale Series, Episode 3 twice, I can tell you that the decision you make about the eternity forge determines the fate of the universe, as well as the challenges the team will face in the coming episodes.

Even though I appreciate a great story, the majority of this third episode is spent talking or ‘pointing and clicking’ which never translates well for those who are looking for something a bit more fast paced. While it strengthens the narrative and team dynamics, it does make it a lot less exciting than it could be. Considering the Guardians of the Galaxy is famously known for quick-witted one liners, funny punch lines, and a ton of action, this lack of excitement can make the episode feel a bit underwhelming.

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“Unfortunately even though there are some great moments within this third episode, it comes across a bit more lackluster than the previous installments.”

With that said, I find the narrative gets stronger as you learn about each of the characters in greater detail. Where I was originally concerned about the team dynamics, Telltale has done a great job of strengthening the bonds between the Guardians. After three episodes, there is an obvious pattern that has formed, where every episode, Peter is tasked with talking to each of the Guardians in order to smooth out some issues between the team. Although this still feels a bit forced, there seems to be a better reason behind it this time around. This time, Peter must try to quiet the unrest of the team’s emotions in order for Mantis to feel out the location of the eternity forge temple. Thankfully, most of the interactions within this episode feel a lot more organic than in the first two episodes.

Although this isn’t the most thrilling episode so far, it seems like all of the conversations and emotional moments will act as a bridge between the first couple of episodes and the last two. While the excitement is rather lacking in the majority of this episode, Telltales gives us a more believable story overall, especially where all of the characters are concerned. The story is strengthened by the slower moments, and even though it would have been nice to have a better pace throughout, I have a feeling the story of this episode is very important to the remaining two episodes. If not for the pacing issue, this would have been the strongest episode of the series, as Telltale seems to have nailed almost every other aspect of the story and hashed out the problems that reared their ugly heads in the first two episodes.

*** PS4 code provided by the publisher ***