(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.

Also SPOILERS.)

Batman a Telltale Series a review

Episode 1: Realm of Shadows

And so, we’re here yet again. Another Telltale game has been released and long with it a very popular IP. This time? The Dark Knight himself, Batman. In the streets of Gotham, Bruce Wayne continues to fight crime as Batman. But when trouble arises with Harvey Dent, Batman takes center stage and attempts to correct things.

After the disappointment that was Game of Thrones, the over too quick model of Michonne and the continual milking of the Mincraft license that this Minecraft: Story Mode, I’ve been wondering if Telltale had lost a lot of the old charm that made it so great in the first place. Then again, Tales of the Borderlands managed to be one of my favorite games of 2015, so fingers crossed.

So, let’s review Batman: A Telltale Series.

In Gotham City, Bruce Wayne masquerades as Batman, a vigilante who stops crime dressed like a bat. As rich playboy Bruce Wayne, he helps fundraise an election for his friend, District Attorney Harvey Dent. However, when the mob boss Carmine Falcone comes to Bruce’s door making threats as well as a shipment of hazardous materials going missing, it’s up to Bruce to balance his personal life and his alter ego to stop this crime before it destroys Gotham. But how far will Bruce go?

It’s all there; the timed dialogue choices, the quick time events and a poll showing which choices you picked as opposed to others. Unfortunately, it’s that same familiarity that keeps this particular episode from lifting off. Even with new additions such as Batman having a little meter that fills up whenever he does a succession of Quick Time Events successfully allowing to use a flashy supermove at the end as well as using the directional pad and button press in unison, still can’t shake the feeling of déjà vu.

It at times feels like Batman is too familiar a franchise and too perfect a fit for the Telltale model. Some of the ‘dramatic’ choices involve whether or not Batman should break someone’s arm or brutalize a criminal or just leave him hanging on the edge. Which would be controversial… had this franchise not marketed around this angle for almost 30 or more years. I mean, I just got through watching Batman v Superman and Batman doesn’t so much hesitate to kill criminals in that version; I’m supposed to be ‘shocked’ that he’s been doing that again?

I might like the Bruce storyline a bit better. At least the dilemmas there feel a little more authentic as Bruce has to walk a precarious tight rope between doing what’s best for his friends and what’s best for his reputation. Though again, it seems to have odd choices that don’t really make sense.

For example, later in the episode Bruce comes across some incriminating evidence about Mob Boss Falcone. He can either give this information to Jim Gordon or Vicki Vale. To which I ask “Why the hell would I give this to Vicki Vale for? What’s she going to do that Jim Gordon, an established police officer, cannot?”.

Even the requisite Hubs feel claustrophobic and linear. True, while other Telltale hubs allowed very little room for exploration, they would at least have some bonuses for exploring the surroundings. For example, in Tales from the Borderlands, the game allowed you to collect money throughout the series in order to unlock different costumes or a secret bonus.

There is a nifty feature in which Bruce investigates crime scenes using his Bat-vision, holograms in his helmet, to ‘link clues’ together so he can recreate a crime scene. It’s interesting at first, but since the hubs are so small to begin, there’s not much mystery to uncover.

Even stranger still, Telltale goes to great lengths to go back into Bruce’s backstory and delve into his motivations. Which is odd, considering Batman is one of the most famous superheroes in the present day and it’s hard not to go out and ask someone who Batman is. I mean, it’s been less than a month since the Killing Joke and we’re still going back to Bruce’s dead parents.

At times, I don’t know who the audience for this is for. The narrative handholding and exposition dumps seem to suggest this is for newcomers of the series, but the amount of gore, violence, sex and profanity are clearly aimed at an older audience (The game is rated M by the ESRB). So, it seems to be tailored for that small demographic that’s not entirely familiar with Batman but is okay with mature content. And I ask who’s old enough to play this game that hasn’t heard of Batman by now?

As for the voice acting, it’s… standard. A lot of familiar voices come in including Erin Yvette as Vicki Vale, Richard McGonagle as Carmine Falcone, Travis Willingham as Harvey Dent, Laura Bailey as Catwoman and of course, Troy Baker as Batman himself.

Unfortunately, out of all the cast, it’s Troy Baker who seems to be the weak link this time around.

Bias up front: I’ve been a huge Troy Baker fan/apologist these past few years. While he doesn’t have a lot of range, he does make up for it with enthusiastic performances that always kept me entertained. However, it’s his voice and lack of range that becomes a problem. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by Kevin Conroy’s rendition of Batman, but there isn’t much difference between Troy Baker as Bruce’s normal voice and Bruce’s Bat voice, even when he does have a voice warbler on. And it feels as though Troy has the Bruce persona down more easily but when it comes to Batman, he’s just doing his Pain from Naruto: Shippuden voice again. I don’t know what went wrong but there you go.

This time a new multiplayer element, called crowd play, has been introduced. If you have a group of friends with smartphones, you can invite them to watch while someone plays the game and they can similarly ‘vote’ through two modes. One mode allows them to give pat ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ approvals depending on what the voter chose while another allows a majority to pick the decisions and influence the story. Since I have no friends, I suspect I will not be using this mode as much as Telltale would like me to. (The game itself even suggests using streaming services such as Twitch aren’t recommended due to latency issues).

Batman: The Telltale Series feels like familiar ground, at least for now. While I’m interested in the various new ‘twists’ that are prevalent throughout the work, part of me can’t help but dread the realization this will only cater to the even faithful Batman legacy and just play it safe.

That’s a shame considering the risks Telltale took in the past.