Game of Thrones - Reviews @ Games.on.net, Hardware Heaven, Strategy Informer

Here's a trio of Game of Thrones reviews as the game rolls out internationally. The mixed form continues.

Games.on.net doesn't have a score but despite the interesting story, the lack of polish is an issue:

The lack of polish in the looks department could be forgiven if the actual gameplay was compelling, but the combat system - the thing that takes up the majority of the player's time outside of the long-winded conversations - is both dull and mechanical. At its core the combat engine is similar to that of Dragon Age II, combining real time and turn based combat, with characters hacking away with normal attacks until you choose to you a special ability. Unfortunately, no matter what class you choose, from Hedge Knight to Water Dancer, combat always ends up the same. Characters may have a dozen skills to choose from but combat always resolves in the same way, stun enemies trying to use abilities, try and knock them down, take advantage of the knock down. Rinse and repeat. There is no spark or variation in fights. What's more, the animations are as mechanical as can be, sapping any residual excitement from the fights.

Hardware Heaven goes for a modest 70% - once again, one of their criticisms is probably a plus for our audience:

The storyline is strong, and one of the best aspects of the game. However the combat system isn't intuitive and takes some getting used to. The time lapse technique is interesting, however it would have been better used a tad more sparingly as we found we had to use it almost constantly to keep our character alive.

Despite the 6.5/10 score at Strategy Informer, this sounds great:

Even better, GOTTG is one of the few games that properly attempts to incorporate player choices into the narrative, and have the consequences play out later on. Furthermore unlike every game but this and the two Witcher titles your choices don’t fall into simple “paragon and renegade” decisions, and the consequences are never obvious. For example, spare the life of a seemingly innocent girl and she might warn the dozen guards outside the room, but kill her and you lose a life-saving hostage later. While these choices never quite reach the level of Witcher 2 in scope they do add a lot to your involvement with the story. Frankly I applaud any developer that attempts to follow CD Projekt’s polished footsteps, and it’s nice to have another Witcher-like game out there.