Tales from the Borderlands: A Telltale Games Series – Episode 4 Review

Despite some great moments, Episode 4 feels a little bit too much like filler too much of the time.

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Bravo Team?

Tales from The Borderlands has been consistently funny from the outset, but the quality of the episodes has been a little inconsistent despite the extended release schedule. How does Escape Plan Bravo turn out?

Storyline:

Escape Plan Bravo has Rhys, Fiona and team leave Pandora pretty soon into the episode, and return to Helios, the Hyperion station where everything started off. Episode 4 manages to be both the funniest and most touching episode released to date, which is all the more impressive since not much actually happens in the episode. It’s a shame that everything seems a bit stretched out to fill the requisite minimum 2-3 hour playtime.

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Gameplay:

Escape Plan Bravo, whilst one of the shortest episodes to date (I saw everything is just a couple of hours), tries to mix up the formula a little bit by being more action focused than some of the previous episodes. There are a couple of real highlights, probably because the scenario, and what you’re doing, is just so dumb. Telltale try to up the slapstick ratio by taking the mick out of testosterone filled corporate environments, and for the most part it works really well. Despite the feeling I got that Episode 4 has been a little stretched out, it’s still pretty relentless in pushing you onwards.

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There is virtually no exploration possible at all, and even the inventory management and shop options have been cut back to a single instance each. Part of me wishes the episode was a little longer, but given the already stretched-thin plot, at the same time I wouldn’t want the quality elements to be squeezed further apart.

Presentation:

The mix of the Telltale engine and the cell-shaded style of Borderlands continues to work really well, and in this episode, the fact that our crew leave Pandora, go into space, and then into the heart of Hyperion allows for plenty of visual variety and is a real change from the simpler environments of Pandora.

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Tales from the Borderlands has always been Telltale’s strongest offering in terms of sound design, and Escape Plan Bravo continues to delight. The voice acting is really strong, well delivered and genuinely amusing. Gortys remains the cutest robot imaginable, and the use of licensed music in the delayed title card continues to work perfectly as ‘To the Top’ blares out as you blast off into space.

 

Conclusion:

Escape Plan Bravo” has some fantastic highs, and a surprisingly poignant moment that I wasn’t expecting. But it also feels like the plot isn’t moved on very far or fast, so the pacing is a little off. When combined with the extended release schedule and the fact that Episode 2 also had some unnecessary scenes leaves me thinking that Tales from the Borderlands may have been a more consistent offering as a four episode series. As it stands, we’ve got another 2-3 month wait to see whether Telltale can wrap things up in style.

Good

  • A genuinely touching sequence
  • Some really funny moments
  • Great use of licensed music

Bad

  • Weird cliffhanger ending
  • Doesn’t move the plot forwards much
  • A few filler moments
7.9

Good

Story - 8
Graphics - 8
Sound - 9.5
Gameplay - 7
Value - 7

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