The International House of Mojo

What do you mean this follow-up review came late? It's not our fault Mojo took its semi-annual nosedive!

And here we are, then, four episodes into Tales from the Borderlands, and... It's good. I mean, really, I kind of wish it wasn't -- those smug Telltale bastards >: -- but it is, and now we'll have to live with it.

Is it for everyone? Probably not. The humour is silly, and might be somewhat grinding for some, but I quite enjoy it myself. The "shoot-out" scene in episode four might be the best "action" scene I've seen in any game. Is it silly? Sure, but it's silly done well.

Good, too, is Telltale's focus on using strong female characters, a trend which of course should have taken off earlier, but which also the company has been fiddling with for longer than most. Neither female nor gay characters come off as gaming stereotypes, something the metropolitan Mojo-er can appreciate.

Of course, as with Telltale's games over the past few years, there are no real puzzles here. Once in a while, some sort of throwback to how adventure games used to work pops up, but really, Telltale du jour is all about interactions.

What makes these first four episodes of Tales from the Borderlands a little bit different, is that your choices actually do have consequences for how the game pans out. You get a bit more than just different attitudes from the characters you interact with -- the game takes actual different routes.

In the end, of course, I expect the game will conclude in one way only, with maybe some minor details being different. That will, hopefully, be just fine, as the journey up to the last episode has been one of silly amusement.

(Oh, and those intro credits? Always inspired.)

A review by the Remster, who can't come up with an amusing byline.