"Batman: The Telltale Series" Sounds About Telltale

 


    I have played many a game developed by the legendary Telltale Studios. I mean some of the first reviews I did for this blog were about The Walking Dead, the series that put Telltale games on the maps, showcasing their ability to put compelling stories, with characters people actually cared about, and choices that felt like they mattered. This reputation, however deserved it might be, has sadly not stuck around, and nowadays if you ask people what their opinion on Telltale Games is they'll probably say that the choices don't really matter, everything feels much more shoddy, and the story seems to have more holes in them the longer it goes on. 

    That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this game, as a big fan of DC comics, and someone who's getting back into comic books this game was a welcome addition to my library, but some aspects of it do leave you scratching your head. Most specifically, the villain of this series, Lady Arkham, Vicki Vale, yes that Vicki Vale, of the Gotham Gazette. Why they decided to make Vicki Vale the main antagonist of this series I will never know, and honestly, I felt like the big reveal didn't have that much of an emotional impact. If it was some random nameless person I doubt I would have reacted much differently to how absurd the entire situation was. Part of the story hinges on the downfall of Bruce Wayne, both financially and in the public eye, and one of the ways in which happens is that Vicki stabs Bruce Wayne with a drug, and he attacks Oswald Cobblepot in broad daylight. Except, the public should already know this drug was used to make a police officer kill Falcone, and someone stabbing a high profile figure would have been caught on camera so it really makes no sense.

    That is not to say all of the new changes to the Batman mythos were unwelcome here, and I'm honestly really glad that this series decided to introduce Harvey Dent as a close confidante of Bruce Wayne. I kind of hate how through it all even if you try your best Dent still ends up in Arkham or Prison, but it's nice to at the very least alter his history, and that you tried your best to stop his predetermined fate from occurring as long as possible. The same cannot be said for Oswald Cobblepot, who is almost kind of comically evil in this series, like he alters records, is a drug dealer, and literally goes by "The Penguin" but everyone lets him take over Waynetech really easily. Honestly you have to suspend a significant amount of disbelief for this series to work, and for the most part I think I did.

    I do have to note that in comparison to other Telltale Games I played, I feel like this series felt shorter than they typically are. I don't know if it's because they divided each episode with six chapters, and you received a notification each time you completed one, or if it's because this season of the game was actually shorter, but I'd hesitate to buy this game full price. Especially considering that they kind of skimp out on certain parts, like Gotham feels hilariously empty in terms of people actually there, including press conferences, and sometimes they'll re-use reactions so you'll just see half of Bruce who's clearly sitting in the air doing the same reaction from like 3 scenes ago.

Final Score: 55/100

    If you're not a big Batman fan like I am I suspect it will be much harder for you to go through this entire season of the game without stopping and asking yourself why it all sounds so stupid. Especially the whole Vicki Vale plot. For someone who was supposed to be the big bad her fight was extremely anticlimactic and she leaves more plot holes than she does fill them. How does she have such advanced technology? Why did she shave her head? (No seriously she randomly shaves it when her revolution starts it's not even like she went insane). It's not bad enough that I won't be playing it's sequel, and in fact I'm looking forward to it, but for how short it is and how baffling the plot can be at times, I would definitely only buy this game on sale.

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