Welcome to the start of a new feature that will be taking a look at the various tie-ins to video games that exist out there in the great wide world.

Does Infinity Blade: Awakening, a digital novella written by acclaimed fantasy author Brandon Sanderson and tying into the game series of the same name, stand as a worthy descendant of its iOS forbearer or does it deserve nothing more than to be locked away in the Vault of Tears for all time and forgotten about?

It is no secret that tie-in products have something of a negative reputation these days among gamers and it is not hard to understand why. After all, every year gamers are treated to example after example of the quick and dirty mediocre video game adaptation of some movie, TV show, comic book, etc. The sometimes seemingly endless regurgitating of these titles onto shelves with little care towards quality is due to the assurance of sales success brought about by the more causal and/or ignorant video game shopper. Nor do things tend to fair much when movies, comic books, novels, etc. based upon video games are released thanks to the intention of turning the situation around and taking advantage of a potential gaming audience who just want to experience more adventures of their favorite digital characters regardless of the chosen medium. Such products, as with their gaming counterparts, often tend to be every bit as failed of a creation as one would expect from people or groups who either want nothing more than to make a buck, regardless of the actual strength of the final product in question, or are not given the time, resources, information, etc. needed to create a quality item.

The truth surrounding the monstrous servants of the Deathless is just one of the mysteries Awakening explores.

Yet just as how not every video game tie-in is automatically a terrible game (see: Ducktales for NES, Spider-Man 2 for PS2, and the Batman: Arkham series to just name a few), so too is not every tie-in to a video game automatically not worth experiencing. Sometimes these products cannot only be faithful continuation of the original game(s) in question; they can even be as strong, if not stronger, of a product as the game they are based off of is. This brings us, at long last, to the point of this new feature: reviewing some of these very products and separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were, in quest of tie-ins to video games that are worth the time and money needed to experience them. With that in mind, lets take a look at Infinity Blade: Awakening. Oh and keep in mind spoilers for the first game, but not the second, do follow.