ToriJ reviews: Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones is an action RPG developed by Cyanide and published by Atlus for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It is based off the first book A Game of Thrones from the Song of Ice and Fire series written by George R. R. Martin, and the TV series on HBO. So, being based off one the most popular book and television series of all time, with perhaps one of the largest cast of characters of all time, which ones will be playing as? Ned? Daenerys? Tyrion? Robb? Jon Snow? Arya? Are we finally going to get some much needed Hodor action? No. The characters we do get to play as in the game is Ser Mors of the Night's Watch and Lord Alester Sarwyck of Riverspring. Never heard of them? That's because they're original characters made just for the game...
The game's stages are formatted like chapters in the books switching between Mors and Alester in much the same way the books switch perspectives through multiple characters. This helps to make it feel just like the books which is great, but it also has the same weakness the books does if you happen across a character you just don't care about. At least with the books you can always read ahead if a chapter bores you to tears; that isn't the case here. You have to play through and just when things start getting good you switch back to the character you really don't care all that much for. I get trying to make it feel like books but there are just some things that don't transition well from book to game and this is one of them. They would have been better off just letting you pick which character you wanted to play as and go through his scenario.
Before you begin your adventure you're able to decide your character's combat style, attributes, abilities, character traits, and not much else. So if you're used to making your character from scratch this isn't the RPG for you. Fighting styles consist of hedge knight, magnar, and landed knight for Mors and water dancer, sellsword, and archer for Alester. Attributes are the same as they are in any RPG. Character abilities can be called upon during a fight and depend on what you have equipped and branch off from your fighting stance. You can also switch weapons at any time. The main thing that sticks out here is character traits. They require you to select special skills and then weaknesses to balance them out before you can continue, but all throughout the game I didn't see anywhere where they affected the gameplay and you can leave them blank.
Fighting in this game has to be one of the most boring and repetitive experiences I have had for a while. To compare it, it's a lot like the fighting in Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, once you reach a target the computer does the rest for the most part while you're tapping on the attack button and performing special moves every now and again. There's no way to disengage and the most you can do beside attack is switch which enemy you're facing. They would have been better off looking at Skyrim, Dragon Age, or even Dark Souls on what the fighting should have been like.
The strength comes from the writing which is on par with the books. Mors and Alester are implemented so well into the story you won't remember them ever not being there to begin with and their stories work in parallel with the main canon story. Both men were a part of Robert Baratheon's rebellion which took place fifteen years before the events of the game and both men ended up leaving Westeros. Mors took up servitude with the Night's Watch at Castle Black, and Alester went across the narrow sea to Essos and converted to R'hilor, the Lord of Light. And now both men find themselves being pulled back into the land of politics and intrigue at around exactly the same time. Coincidence? I think not.
We do get to interact with a couple of the characters from the books, at least. Above we have the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jeor Mormont. Lord Varys of the Small Council and Queen Cersei also makes an appearance in the game. James Cosmo and Conleth Hill even lend their voices for Mormont and Varys respectively. Unfortunately, Lena Headey does not reprise her role as Cersei Lannister and I'm assuming it's either due to her schedule or the game not being able to afford her. The voice actress they do get to voice the queen isn't half bad, though. None of the other characters from the series appear in the game and are only mention, though I have no idea why. If they could find someone to fill in for Lena Headey surely they could have done the same with the rest if they couldn't get the actual actors.
Exploring Castle Black and King's Landing is fun. It's just a wonderful experience to see these places come to life in a video game and being able to explore them yourself. The sad part is that there is actually little exploring in Westeros overall. You're limited to Castle Black, the cities outside of it, King's Landing, and Riverspring. There's very little exploration when it comes to Westeros overall and I can't help but feel that was a missed opportunity with how rich the world and lore of Game of Thrones is.
Cons: The gameplay is boring. There's nothing that reaches out and grab you and the story isn't enough to counterbalance how lackluster the rest of it is. The story is drawn out like it in the books and show so the gameplay suffer from a slow start because of it. There are also some annoying glitches that causes you to switch to a first-person view perspective and not be able to do anything until it switches back or a cut-scene is triggered.
Conclusion: Game of Thrones combines the franchise's strength with its weaknesses in one small package and if you can overlook the dull gameplay mechanics than you might be able to get enjoyment out of the story. If not, then I'd have to recommend you pass on this one.
ToriJ says: Skip it.
