I was confused when Telltale announced their Batman game, but also a bit hopeful. The confusion came from them sticking to the same formula over and over in their games, but that’s only natural. It took some fine-tuning but they found what works for them. I was also hoping that in a way they’d push that formula further. There’s something new, a ‘multiplayer’ element that I haven’t tried yet.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here, the game follows that formula to a tee and it doesn’t look like that will change. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the game or anything, I liked this episode and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series, but I wanted more than the usual.
“Gotham needs a hero.”
The game throws you in the middle of the action. Some perps are breaking into Gotham’s city hall and we start putting a stop to them. We do it through the usual Quick Time Events, which have grown a bit more complex (some require pressing two buttons at the same time) but the only issue I have with these QTE is that they’re too lenient. If you fail lots of times you might see a Game Over screen but there were times where I was either a bit slow or pressed the wrong button and nothing really changed.
This scene gets interrupted ocasionally by another one where Alfred is patching Bruce up. It breaks the flow of the action a bit but is interesting anyway. Telltale said that we’d be spending time both as Batman and Bruce Wayne and they’re making good on that promise.
I always felt that Bruce Wayne was neglected in games. If Bruce Wayne made some kind of appearance before it was a mere anecdote because the games were focused on Batman kicking ass, but this is not the case. Bruce Wayne is an important part of the game and it feels like the choices we make as him will be as important as the ones we make as Batman. All in all, he’s trying to change Gotham for the better in both identities.
“Together we will change Gotham.”
The story feels interesting. It’s not an origin story exactly but Bruce hasn’t been Batman for long. It looks like Telltale paid more attention to stories like Year One and The Long Halloween and that shows. It makes sense to set the story in this early period, Telltale can play with the canon however they want.
After the action sequence from the start we play as Bruce hosting a fundraiser for Harvey Dent’s campaign for mayor, and that fundraiser gets interrupted both by Vicki Vale and Carmine Falcone and we can choose how we approach both situations. We can also help Harvey choose a slogan too (I’m disappointed that “I believe in Harvey Dent” wasn’t an option).
I felt that the choice aspect was more relevant than ever here. Our Bruce Wayne can be a charming millionaire or a brooding jerk. And the same applies to Batman, we can just use intimidation or brute force on certain situations. And we also get to play detective by examining a crime scene and linking evidence to reveal what happened, which is quite cool.
“-Batman isn’t hiding from anybody. -I was talking about Bruce”
Telltale has improved their engine and that shows. They wanted to give this game more of a comic book feel. However, this first episode was a bit buggy. I experienced some audio and performance issues but there’s already a patch out. I guess that’s one of the downsides of buying episodic games on their release.
Well, that and waiting. Although Telltale has ambitious plans for this series. The series will be five episodes long, and they want to have everything out by the end of December. I’m curious to see if they actually manage to pull this off. The Walking Dead: Michonne was released monthly so it might happen again.
All in all, despite my minor annoyances with the game (I like my episodes with more interactivity) I liked this episode. It was an interesting start to this series and seeing familiar faces like Catwoman, James Gordon, Harvey Dent or Alfred was cool.
I’m looking forward to seeing where this story will take both Bruce Wayne and Batman. There’s a lot of potential there, and lots of questions. And it’s something to pass time while I wait (in vain?) for another season of The Wolf Among Us.
Angry Spaniard, adoptive Irishman. Writer, reader, tea drinker and video game player/designer.
