Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Episode 4: Who Needs You (PC) review "Everything Goes!"

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - More Than a Feeling was just the latest in a long line of dumb, overlong names that I need only endure for a little while longer. But it was a good third episode, continuing the series trend of advancing its overall plot while allowing each episode to soft focus on a specific character. The second episode tried to discover why snarky mechanic, Rocket, threw up so many walls to block out other people. The third one decided to explore the turbulent relationship between Gamora and Nebula, two "sisters" torn from their real families, adopted by a tyrant and raised as peerless assassins.

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series - Who Needs You? is nothing if not faithful to the established formula. Like every other subtitled episode so far, it subtly winds me up by placing an iconic retro track in its title, and then uses exactly nothing from that artist’s back catalogue. It also has a go at spotlighting a member of the crew; this time, it’s Drax's turn. Only, he seems to get a lot less runtime than the previous Guardians did.



Perhaps some of this is because Drax’s motives have always been simply defined and worn on his sleeve. He wants revenge for the death of his family. Unlike Rocket, he doesn’t hide this behind an uncaring, snarling façade. And, unlike Gamora, he doesn’t need to battle through constantly evolving layers of emotion. He’s all grief and rage. So, rather than receiving an entire episode that slowly sifts through his issues, he gets a glimpse of his past that helps him come to terms with the restlessness he’s suffered throughout the series of games. What’s next for Drax after his quest for revenge is completed? How will he deal with his loss or process his grief, should the target of his rage happen to be vanquished? In this fourth episode, he seems to find that answer. You’re not going to like it.

That answer leads to another difficult choice that offers unavoidable consequences no matter what you do. Telltale’s choice system has long been criticized as being significantly shallower than it would like you to believe, offering often niggling variation on a rigid plot, but--for the second episode in a row--Telltale smugly forces me to make a decision I don’t want to make. Whatever you pick, whatever you do, there’s guaranteed fallout.



Which could be disastrous. Throughout the series, the theme of the Guardians falling apart at the seams has been ever-present, with each member staking his or her dissatisfaction with the group. There’s simply no way to keep every member happy, with numerous demands contradicting each other, forcing you to unwittingly pick sides every time you try to settle a dispute. The group's members come together to try and get out of their latest slice of disaster (which involves a small army or starving rock snakes and a particularly gruesome method of escape), but things will be said and done that can’t be taken back. Bridges will be burnt.

With the team’s increasing fractures, and with attempts at subduing their mounting hostilities deemed worthless and ultimately abandoned, the final chapter is set to take place with the Guardians in turmoil. A new feature drops endgame that tells you what relationships you’ve salvaged, which are on the rocks and which are dead on arrival. It doesn’t make for an uplifting read; unity is in short supply heading into the final chapter.

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Staff review by Gary Hartley (October 18, 2017) Gary Hartley arbitrarily arrives, leaves a review for a game no one has heard of, then retreats to his 17th century castle in rural England to feed whatever lives in the moat and complain about you.