Game of Thrones Art Book Bundle

I would say that this game is made for a very specific audience. For one thing, it was created by a rather small studio. It's not Bethesda or BioWare, so don't be expect something in the leagues of Skyrim or Dragon Age. However, it is still a game you should definitely try if 1) you love the ASOIAF series (or the show), and 2) love RPGs. If you're not a huge fan of either, you are likely to be very disappointed. Being a die-hard fan of anything ASOIAF and awesome RPGs, I knew I had to get this, regardless of the reviews.

GRAPHICS - the graphics are more like for the PS2 or XBox. It's definitely nothing to write home about. It's a little dark and blocky, but change your television/game settings for a more enjoyable experience. Okay, so the graphics are not so good. Don't play this for the stellar graphics.

DIALOGUE - the dialogue actually isn't that bad. You get the real acting voices of Cersei, Varys, and Jeor Mormont, which is pretty awesome. It's definitely dialogue-intensive like a lot of RPGs, but that shouldn't bother you if you're playing an RPG. You also get to make decisions based on your own dialogue that make lasting impressions in the game. I think a big complaint here is the lack of witty humor in a dark setting like a lot of RPGs have (Dragon Age, Skyrim, KOTOR, etc.)

BUGS - this is my main issue with the game. The bugs are bad. My game froze up twice at the beginning and had to re-create my character. I was about ready to hurl the game out the window after that. No one likes to spend $60 on a game and then have it freeze up. This game doesn't autosave all of the time like some of the newer games, so make sure you save a lot.

GAMEPLAY - the battle system is similar to Dragon Age, but a lot more button mashing. It's not terrible. I like that they have a perks/flaws system, where you have to balance the two. Want an awesome perk? Well, you have to pay for it.

PLOT - things are a little murky here. There are some things that characters (like Cersei) do that are really out-of-character and seem like plot holes. I've heard from professional reviews that the ending is really great, so once I finish it I'll make an update here (I'm like 60% through). Is it non-linear? No, not really. You definitely won't be traveling to Saltpans and taking a ship to Braavos (wouldn't that be nice?).

I would like to add that regardless of storyline perfection (how can it be perfect, anyway? - it's not canon), the developers of this game are TRUE fans. They have been working on this game since before the inception of the television show and know their stuff. If you get the art book with it and read it, you'll know what I mean. They are ASOIAF-smart. The reason that this game is not absolutely 100% awesome is because of budget constraints/small studio, not because they were some kind of hack developers that wanted to make a quick buck off of a Game of Thrones game as quick as possible. Trust me, these people know their stuff.

Overall, I recommend this game for those who are ASOIAF-crazed, love RPGs, and aren't expecting a Skyrim clone turned into Westeros. You won't find that here. But you'll still have a fun time exploring Westeros.

This game pays tribute to the story telling style of Martin's books by switching perspective every chapter. The only issue for the game is that this creates a very linear and limited story line. You can not leave the cities you are at or do many side quests since you will have to end at a set point to pick up with the new perspective.

The battle system is extremely limited and boring. You simply select an enemy and select an attack. Your character will just hack away after a special attack is performed until the enemy is dead. More often than not your character will then just stand around until you command him to the next person which becomes tedious. The battle system makes the game feel like a grind.

There are too many cut scenes in this game. It feels like Max Payne 2 where you simply walk from one cut scene to the next with absolutely nothing in between. I understand they are trying to tell a story but doing it in this manner makes the game more like an animated movie with awkward breaks in the narration.

There are some very interesting RPG aspects that are introduced in this game. The main one is the strengths and weaknesses options. You can chose a strength like +5 attack but then must also choose a weakness like -10% INT to balance yourself out. This is neat however I did not mess with it since I did not know how I would like to play the game.

Overall this game is a neat tangent to the first book of a ASOIAF but it is truly a grind to play. I would wait until this game is <$20 since it really is not worth more.

The art book is more like a meet the developers book where it talks about all of the developers and their roles. So don't get your hopes up for some awesome mass effect esque art book. You will be disappointed.

When I purchased this game I knew not to get my hopes up. I bought it simply because I'm a huge fan of the Song of Ice and Fire series. After about an hour into the game I felt it was pretty much what I expected it to be, just an average tactical western rpg with mediocre graphics and slow dialogue (slow as in many of the characters literally speak slowly). With that said the more I played the game the more it grew unto me.

The graphics may not be that great but the art direction is pretty good. Locations like Castle Black and the Riverspring Godswood truly feel like Westeros locales. Many of the character models were done pretty good too but there are a number of characters that feel like they didn't have the same level of effort put into them when the game was being made.

The voice acting could go either way. As I mentioned earlier some of the dialogue seems really slow, but I will say that a few of the actors/actresses from the TV series did the voice-overs for their respective characters in the game and the voice actors for Mors and Alester did a perfect job portraying their characters. There's also an easter egg in the game where one of the NPCs is based off the author of the series George R. R. Martin.

The gameplay isn't much different from other tactical western rpgs out there. You can't pause the action completely as in games like Dragon Age: Origins, but combat can be slowed down drastically to allow you to plot out and execute attacks and other actions. You gain experience and level up like in pretty much all western rpgs. Most of the loot that can be found throughout the game is pretty generic, but there are a few pretty cool pieces of armor and weapons that can be obtained.

The story is where this game shines. You can definitely tell it was written by true fans of the series. I don't want to go into details and spoil the story so I'll just say that the "game of thrones" is definitely being played throughout the game. If you're a fan of both the Song of Ice and Fire series and western role-playing games in general I would recommend this game for story alone if not for anything else.