I often find myself into a bit of a bind when I review a game that's well done in terms of design but also has major technical issues. How do you separate the plot and design ideas in the first episode of BATMAN - The Telltale Series [] from the engine's obvious shortcomings that make the game almost unplayable on all but the latest iOS devices? I've been playing the game on my iPhone 7 and even though I got some relatively long load times here and there, overall the experience was relatively fine (minus some typos, blurry text in the Codex, and graphical glitches). However, when I tried playing it on my iPad Air, I couldn't enjoy the game because the minutes-long load times really messed with the flow of the story (it's like watching a movie with long commercial breaks).
So, even though I played the game without any serious issues, I can't ignore that the majority of iOS players will have a pretty bad time trying to play the game, and that's a great shame because the episode itself is an interesting take on the Batman myth and also brings some new tweaks to the Telltale formula. While you should keep the technical issues in mind, from here onwards I'll be talking about the game without mentioning the load times because otherwise, this review would be pretty repetitious. Now, on to the rest of the review. And, of course, spoilers ahead.
Episode 1: Realms of Shadows
When I heard that Telltale was going to do a Batman game, I wasn't sure what to expect; the Dark Knight's story has taken quite a few turns here and there and has plenty of villains to choose from. What I was expecting was a focus on Batman's nightly escapades accompanied by plenty of quick-time events. Yet what Telltale delivered in the first episode, Realm of Shadows, is an interesting take on the Batman mythos with a focus not on what Batman does when the night falls but, rather, what Bruce Wayne has to deal with as he tries to navigate the corruption of Gotham City, a corruption that seems to have spread its tentacles from the organized crime all the way to the Mayor and everyone else in between.
What I enjoyed is that we don't get a mopey, brooding Bruce wallowing in the emptiness caused by his parents' demise (sorry Batman vs Superman fans) but a relatively lively Bruce who appears to have a strong sense of what Batman's role is; he's the instrument Wayne is using to bring order back to Gotham. There's a pretty good balance between the two sides of the character, and that makes playing as Bruce intriguing. While playing as Bruce, I didn't find myself impatiently waiting until I can get that suit back on again; instead, I enjoyed digging more into this character and the people he interacts with. Telltale fleshes out Bruce pretty well, which is necessary otherwise most players would have wanted to be playing as Batman rather than a "normal" guy. By giving us an interesting, believable Bruce, Telltale managed to create a sense of separation between the two sides of the character in the early parts of the story that worked to the benefit of the story as a whole.
That sense of separation is essential because it makes what happens next much more impactful. While the two worlds are initially kept quite distinct, Catwoman's existence and her knowledge that Bruce is Batman ruptures that tidy separation and becomes the first sign that Batman's world is seeping into Bruce's and vice versa. I felt that the handling of Catwoman's character was overall pretty good and even though it's a character we've seen a million times, she still works well here as a constant reminder to Bruce that the suit doesn't erase the identity of the one wearing it.
While Catwoman's presence is like the pebble that starts off a tiny crack on a window, the news Bruce gets by the end of the episode cause that crack to rapidly expand and shatter Bruce's sense of self and, as a consequence Batman's sense of mission and purpose. A quick step back first. At the start of the episode, Batman foils a robbery at the offices of the very corrupt mayor. Bruce is also in the process of helping Harvey Dent become the next mayor, even though Dent isn't exactly squeaky clean since he's not above asking infamous mobster Carmine Falcone for help. While you can have Bruce play friendly with the mobster (or not), Bruce is still a relatively good guy, incorruptible in his sewer of a city because he has built his life on the clear cut good/bad dichotomy engendered by what he witnessed when his parents when gunned down.
Which is why when Telltale delivers the twist of the episode by having Falcone show Batman that the Waynes were neck deep into Gotham's corruption, Bruce's moral compass crumbles and he finds himself wondering who Bruce really is and, as a consequence, who Batman is. I enjoyed the twist in the often-told origin story that Telltale went with because it opens up different narrative avenues for the rest of the series from what we usually see in Batman stories. With the press and the police pressuring from all sides, trying to find out whether the Wayne's are to blame for Gotham's mess, your choices as Bruce become much more consequential. Add to that the tension between Bruce and Alfred, who appears to know much more than he's said already and has been probably lying to Bruce, and you can see how Telltale cleverly takes two of the most stable things in Bruce Wayne's life - his parents and Alfred - and twists them around into sources of doubt and conflict. A clever move that really made the episode tick for me.
Narratively, the episode worked for me overall. I liked the twists, I enjoyed the flawed - or possibly flawed - characters, and I liked that Telltale seems to be giving players a bit more time to respond than in other series, which lets me ponder some of my responses a bit more. I do wish the writers were a bit more cautious with the wording of some of the responses because there were times when one of my choices read quite sarcastic, but when I would pick it, my character would say it in a straight face. I know it's difficult to ensure that tone carries clearly in the responses, but I do think responses could have been more transparent in terms of tone.
Telltale also added a detective mechanic that I found appropriate for a Batman game and a nice change from the usual tasks of picking responses and doing quick time events. When I had to investigate a warehouse, I got to go around examining clues and then linking them in pairs to recreate the events. It's a mechanic similar to the game The Trace [], and I found it entertaining and hope to see more of it. And Batman also has a fun mechanic when it comes to taking down enemies, one that feels like a turn-based version of the PC Batman games. I enjoyed picking different ways to take down the enemies at Falcone's headquarters and, again, it was a nice break from the narrative-heavy gameplay of the rest of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed the first episode of BATMAN: The Telltale Series both for its narrative twists and its new mechanics. I did encounter some issues with a few of my choices getting delivered in a very different tone from what I thought they would be, but other than that I thought it was solid in narrative terms and with strong voice performances. Now, in terms of all the technical issues and graphical glitches (like Selina's legs disappearing at some points), I can't help but feel that Telltale needs a new, more optimized engine because it's risking turning many players away from its mobile products. These issues aren't new and have been plaguing many Telltale series, and I feel they're getting worse.
Nevertheless, those who can play it will enjoy this interesting take on the Batman mythos and the difficult choices that come with being Bruce and Batman. You can play the character as a knight in shining armor or as a vigilante barely skirting the limits of the law. Either way, I think you'll enjoy Episode 1, Realms of Shadows; if you can actually play it that is.
Rating: 3.5/5
So, even though I played the game without any serious issues, I can't ignore that the majority of iOS players will have a pretty bad time trying to play the game, and that's a great shame because the episode itself is an interesting take on the Batman myth and also brings some new tweaks to the Telltale formula. While you should keep the technical issues in mind, from here onwards I'll be talking about the game without mentioning the load times because otherwise, this review would be pretty repetitious. Now, on to the rest of the review. And, of course, spoilers ahead.
Episode 1: Realms of Shadows
When I heard that Telltale was going to do a Batman game, I wasn't sure what to expect; the Dark Knight's story has taken quite a few turns here and there and has plenty of villains to choose from. What I was expecting was a focus on Batman's nightly escapades accompanied by plenty of quick-time events. Yet what Telltale delivered in the first episode, Realm of Shadows, is an interesting take on the Batman mythos with a focus not on what Batman does when the night falls but, rather, what Bruce Wayne has to deal with as he tries to navigate the corruption of Gotham City, a corruption that seems to have spread its tentacles from the organized crime all the way to the Mayor and everyone else in between.
What I enjoyed is that we don't get a mopey, brooding Bruce wallowing in the emptiness caused by his parents' demise (sorry Batman vs Superman fans) but a relatively lively Bruce who appears to have a strong sense of what Batman's role is; he's the instrument Wayne is using to bring order back to Gotham. There's a pretty good balance between the two sides of the character, and that makes playing as Bruce intriguing. While playing as Bruce, I didn't find myself impatiently waiting until I can get that suit back on again; instead, I enjoyed digging more into this character and the people he interacts with. Telltale fleshes out Bruce pretty well, which is necessary otherwise most players would have wanted to be playing as Batman rather than a "normal" guy. By giving us an interesting, believable Bruce, Telltale managed to create a sense of separation between the two sides of the character in the early parts of the story that worked to the benefit of the story as a whole.
That sense of separation is essential because it makes what happens next much more impactful. While the two worlds are initially kept quite distinct, Catwoman's existence and her knowledge that Bruce is Batman ruptures that tidy separation and becomes the first sign that Batman's world is seeping into Bruce's and vice versa. I felt that the handling of Catwoman's character was overall pretty good and even though it's a character we've seen a million times, she still works well here as a constant reminder to Bruce that the suit doesn't erase the identity of the one wearing it.
While Catwoman's presence is like the pebble that starts off a tiny crack on a window, the news Bruce gets by the end of the episode cause that crack to rapidly expand and shatter Bruce's sense of self and, as a consequence Batman's sense of mission and purpose. A quick step back first. At the start of the episode, Batman foils a robbery at the offices of the very corrupt mayor. Bruce is also in the process of helping Harvey Dent become the next mayor, even though Dent isn't exactly squeaky clean since he's not above asking infamous mobster Carmine Falcone for help. While you can have Bruce play friendly with the mobster (or not), Bruce is still a relatively good guy, incorruptible in his sewer of a city because he has built his life on the clear cut good/bad dichotomy engendered by what he witnessed when his parents when gunned down.
Which is why when Telltale delivers the twist of the episode by having Falcone show Batman that the Waynes were neck deep into Gotham's corruption, Bruce's moral compass crumbles and he finds himself wondering who Bruce really is and, as a consequence, who Batman is. I enjoyed the twist in the often-told origin story that Telltale went with because it opens up different narrative avenues for the rest of the series from what we usually see in Batman stories. With the press and the police pressuring from all sides, trying to find out whether the Wayne's are to blame for Gotham's mess, your choices as Bruce become much more consequential. Add to that the tension between Bruce and Alfred, who appears to know much more than he's said already and has been probably lying to Bruce, and you can see how Telltale cleverly takes two of the most stable things in Bruce Wayne's life - his parents and Alfred - and twists them around into sources of doubt and conflict. A clever move that really made the episode tick for me.
Narratively, the episode worked for me overall. I liked the twists, I enjoyed the flawed - or possibly flawed - characters, and I liked that Telltale seems to be giving players a bit more time to respond than in other series, which lets me ponder some of my responses a bit more. I do wish the writers were a bit more cautious with the wording of some of the responses because there were times when one of my choices read quite sarcastic, but when I would pick it, my character would say it in a straight face. I know it's difficult to ensure that tone carries clearly in the responses, but I do think responses could have been more transparent in terms of tone.
Telltale also added a detective mechanic that I found appropriate for a Batman game and a nice change from the usual tasks of picking responses and doing quick time events. When I had to investigate a warehouse, I got to go around examining clues and then linking them in pairs to recreate the events. It's a mechanic similar to the game The Trace [], and I found it entertaining and hope to see more of it. And Batman also has a fun mechanic when it comes to taking down enemies, one that feels like a turn-based version of the PC Batman games. I enjoyed picking different ways to take down the enemies at Falcone's headquarters and, again, it was a nice break from the narrative-heavy gameplay of the rest of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed the first episode of BATMAN: The Telltale Series both for its narrative twists and its new mechanics. I did encounter some issues with a few of my choices getting delivered in a very different tone from what I thought they would be, but other than that I thought it was solid in narrative terms and with strong voice performances. Now, in terms of all the technical issues and graphical glitches (like Selina's legs disappearing at some points), I can't help but feel that Telltale needs a new, more optimized engine because it's risking turning many players away from its mobile products. These issues aren't new and have been plaguing many Telltale series, and I feel they're getting worse.
Nevertheless, those who can play it will enjoy this interesting take on the Batman mythos and the difficult choices that come with being Bruce and Batman. You can play the character as a knight in shining armor or as a vigilante barely skirting the limits of the law. Either way, I think you'll enjoy Episode 1, Realms of Shadows; if you can actually play it that is.
Rating: 3.5/5