Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter (PS4) - Review
by Joseph Trotter , posted on 29 June 2015 / 3,749 Views
So far, so torturously horrible for everyone involved – and that includes those playing the game. As we pass into the fourth of seven episodes of this Telltale series the midway point flashes past us in a whirl of established characters and on-going concerns. The large gaps between episodes, however, have their own problems; at one point I made a decision, completely forgetting that I had spent the previous episode regaling against such a move.
The characters, now split into a clear four-way divide – Asher in Mehreen, Mira in King’s Landing, Rodrick in Ironrath, and Gared at The Wall – might not take too kindly to such inconsistency. As each person’s hand becomes stronger, so does their individual suffering and the danger of their situation.
Sons of Winter swings wildly between extensive negotiations to quick, brutal decisions with clear consequences. Events quickly over-take the characters, and although they follow the time-line of the TV series (as an adaption of that, not the book), they are microcosmic to the point that you cannot judge a decision purely based on the wider picture of future events.
The split actually works better in Sons of Winter than previously, where sometimes the jump between characters felt forced rather than natural. Here, the scenes are more like those of a play - self-contained - and when they fade to black before moving to the next character it is clear that the piece has ended, rather than been cleaved. It certainly helps with pacing, although so many decisions have been made to get to this point that the game clearly struggles to choose which scenario it needs to play out, resulting in horrendous slowdown.
This is not the only technical faux-pas. Characters are clearly out-of-sync, appearing as mumbling heads and jarring the image built up in previous episodes. Some of the acting has taken a turn for the worst – Kit Harrington delivers his words with the vigour of a man recently impaled – although the lead character actors still do a decent job. Sons of Winter is still a graphically mixed bag, with some fine character models ruined by an odd scratchiness around the edges.
Narratively, Sons of Winter is a definite improvement over the earlier episodes, and has a much easier, confident pace. Game of Thrones is still the weakest of the Telltale series released thus far, but that is testament to the endearing quality of the others. It is not a bad game, nor a bad series; it does, however, quickly need to find some character of its own before the axe falls.
This review is based on a digital copy of Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter for the PS4, provided by the publisher.
More Articles
Episode 4 review? Excellent. I'll be able to start episode 1 soon.
I just wait till all of them are out before playing now. Learn the hard way with Wolf Among Us. As brilliant as it was, releases were poorly handled
I haven't played this yet, if they give it a physical release I might decide to pick it up. However, I do agree that the Telltale-style games may become stale, after Back to the Future, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Tales from the Borderlands, and MineCraft: Story Mode.
I can't help but think it's due to how many projects Telltale have going simultaneously. I also feel this series is crap, with the only good series being the Borderlands one at the moment.
