Sons of Anarchy: The Prospect

Sons of Anarchy: The Prospect wants to be a Telltale game. It's got a similar look, all slightly cartoonified grit and misery, and its tappy controls follow a similar system.

But there's something missing from this first episode. It's a slightly odd jumble of set pieces that doesn't really get going until the end, dribbling exposition down like rain from a broken gutter.

And it's all a bit wonky as well. Nothing in the game quite feels solid, and the ideas that it does have feel a bit flat. It's on the short side as well.

If you're a fan of the show there might be something here you can latch on, but if you're a newcomer it's all pretty darn silly.

The game tells the story of Clint Lancet, a young man with a chequered past and a father on a dialysis machine. You're supposed to be going to college, but you've spent your education fund on rent.

You brother is a prospect for the Lincoln chapter of Sons of Anarchy, and about twenty minutes into proceedings he borrows a gun off you. And then things hit the fan.

There are a series of QTE mini-games in between the pick-your-sentence dialogues. There's a fight with a disgruntled landlord, and a painfully odd section that sees you giving a back rub to a woman who's been sent to you as a gift for fixing a bike.

Everyone's f-ing and blinding all over the shop, and the game even drops the c-bomb a few times. Because swearing makes you look grown up and cool.

Then there's a slightly confusing motorbike riding section that you control with a single finger. You even get to ride across a railway bridge and dart out of the way of a train.

Sons of Anarchy: The Prospect isn't a bad game, but it is a pretty shonky one. Everything looks a swift poke away from collapse, and the story beats just don't pull you into the narrative.

There are some okay ideas here, but there's also some odd ones. At one point your character suffers a massive, probably fatal electric shock, and wakes up an hour later just fine. Then there's the creepy massage and a section where you spook a deer on your dirt bike.

Add to that a control system that doesn't let you invert your swipes, and an engine that chugs almost constantly, and you're left with an experience that's pretty tough to recommend.