It's extremely hard to appease Batman fans, and i am admitting right from the beginning which i count myself amongst the most hardcore of these. It's almost tradition now for every new version of The Dark Knight to suffer some backlash-especially from people who're as obsessed with Batman because he is by using fighting crime. Fans of Bill Finger and Bob Kane's original gun-wielding, rooftop leaping lunatic in the late '30s and early '40s hated Adam West's camp-filled romps within the '60s. Those fans in turn disliked when the comics created a noir vibe and turned back towards a number of Finger/Kane's roots within the '70s with Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams' take on the smoothness. Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, and Tim Burton's film form of the Caped Crusader within the 80s all had their haters, too. So, when it finally came time for me to experience Batman: The Telltale Series, I had been both excited and worried about exactly what the latest undertake Batman might bring to us, realizing it could be extremely difficult for me-even though Let me think of myself like a more open-minded fan-to come away satisfied.
Batman: The Telltale Series is better described as a transitional adventure between “Year One” and “Year Two”. What this equates to in Batman's history for all those not really acquainted with comic parlance is the fact that he's taken his lumps in that newbie of crime fighting, and merely now's beginning to come into their own as “The Batman.” It's also once the supervillains start to appear; classic foes like Catwoman, Penguin, Two-Face, and the Joker all make their presences gone through by the end of the game, along with the traditional mobsters that Batman had to endure in his early days. The majority of the game's narrative, however, centers on Bruce Wayne having to clear his family name following a new bad guy reveals that Thomas Wayne (Bruce's father) wasn't the philanthropist that Gotham necessarily saw him as.
Being a Telltale game, the narrative does many of the heavy lifting in terms of one's enjoyment from the product-or lack thereof. And right from the start, it was a choice that started to turn my estimation sour. With writers running out of ideas since Batman is wrapping up his eighth decade of print, the thought of questioning his origins and casting doubt on the sanctity of his purpose continues to be done countless times recently from the comics. The easiest way to do this is to attack Bruce's parents, and I have always taken problem with this.
One of Batman's greatest appeals is his mission; his obsession is one that we as fans mirror back onto him. He makes a vow on his parents' graves to wage a neverending war on all criminals as a child, and the fact he follows through onto it and lets it dictate his life is twisted and unhealthy, however in a strange way also very pure. It is a child lashing out against a cruel and unjust world for that love and security that was ripped away from him in a random act of violence. When you remove this, you simply have a maniac inside a mask. Yes, that's what Batman really is at his core, however, you greatly lessen his appeal whenever you strip away certainly one of his founding dimensions, and undo a lot of the great work those came before had organized. To put it simply, if something isn't broke, stop trying to fix it.
And I realize the appeal of wanting to do it. Attacking Bruce's family also attacks his money source-Batman's true greatest superpower. His inherited wealth has always been Bruce's deus ex machina, allowing him to get away from more situations than I could count regardless of era. It's like putting Superman within red sun; it's a classic comic book gimmick to consider our hero from his safe place. Sometimes it works, and often it doesn't. But when your powers are extremely closely associated with your origin like Batman's are, it's more likely to inflate in your face.
One thing Telltale did perform a fantastic job of, though, was trying to pay homage to numerous great Batman media over the years. The font within the title graphic evokes memories of Batman: The Animated Series, and also the superb voice acting from this cast is on par with the legendary voices from that groundbreaking series. Although still within the parameters of Telltale's signature cel-shaded art-style, Two-Face's design is largely according to that seen in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, and Penguin's feels more akin to what we have been given on FOX's Gotham. And, several gameplay elements like Detective Mode-more with that inside a bit-borrow from Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games. One other element that Telltale touched on in the Batman: Arkham series takes a previously-established comic book canon character and seeking to pass through them off like a new villain. The worst from it, though, is this character was never a Batman villain to start with.
This leads us to the main villain from the story, a brand new character dubbed Lady Arkham, which I will attempt to refer to as vaguely as possible to avoid giving away her true identity. Despite my distaste for that Thomas Wayne bashing, the first two instances of Batman: The Telltale Series were actually quite compelling. When Lady Arkham reveals her true self in episode three, the series takes a marked turn for that worse. I don't know if it originates from Batman's license holders at Warner Brothers, or if there's only a general fear of introducing new villains in to the Batman universe outside of the comics, however the disappointment in the revelation of Lady Arkham was even worse than when we all realized inside the first 15-minutes of playing Arkham Knight that our foe was Jason Todd. At least, at that point, he was a villain within the comics.
Lady Arkham's true identity was always a detailed ally of Batman/Bruce Wayne, and twisting her like this felt enjoy it only agreed to be cheap shock value for us hardcore fans who never suspected her because of our familiarity with the smoothness. If Telltale had created a completely new character with Lady Arkham, keeping her network seemingly as powerful as Batman's so that as long-standing as Bruce Wayne's-but minus the preconceived notions from her true identity's long history in Bat-media-I think she and her Kids of Arkham could've been a welcome accessory for the Rogues Gallery (in the same manner Talon and the Court of Owls would be a few years ago, and Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins was in the '70s). As is, she feels like a throwaway character used simply to establish Telltale's new universe whilst not wasting the classic villains, thus weakening the entire story arc as a whole.
The series also requires a turn for the worse around the technical aspect starting around her reveal. Telltale's game engine continues to show wear and tear, and achieves this markedly as this series progresses. The first couple of episodes are mainly glitch-free, but when we reach episode five, the choppy cutscenes, dropped audio lines, and general lag after decisions are made make finishing the game almost a chore. I understand that Telltale takes pride in its products coming out on every playable device imaginable. Sooner or later, however, the studio needs to take some of the licensing money and invest back into tech that's optimized for contemporary consoles, and prevent giving us this lowest common denominator garbage.
From a gameplay perspective, the bulk of the sport remains around Telltale's iconic choose-your-own-adventure multiple-choice scenes that change character interactions and dialogue depending on the decisions you make. Some additions we haven't seen before in a Telltale game, plus some which are even only at Batman: The Telltale Series, were included here, though.
Detective mode, the special lenses that paint the planet in a blue hue and allows Batman to recreate crime scenes, bakes an appearance here. Similar to the Batman: Arkham games, examining clues will help Batman evaluate which exactly happened around a criminal offense scene, and piecing things together properly will help him decide how to proceed next on the case. Telltale also smartly allows you to link clues together by doing this to really make it feel more like you're actually solving the puzzle yourself. You also use Detective mode before certain ambushes, allowing Batman to organize out how he really wants to clear a room before beginning the quicktime button-mashing fest that can help him to defeat thugs unscathed. It is simply different enough in the Arkham games, but it still feels very much like you're Batman while using it, and would be a pleasant surprise.
Unlike a lot of other Batman projects, this game also does a great job of balancing life as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Whereas the Bruce Wayne parts of most movies, Television shows, as well as comics can lean towards the mundane, the sequences here were just like intense and action packed as those where you're dressed as Batman. Sometimes, they were even more difficult, because you don't want to give away your secret identity. I loved the thought of there being branching paths, and you may even choose to confront certain individuals as either Batman or Bruce Wayne, which leads to the dialogue obviously changing drastically. I only wish there were greater number of these choices as well as more Detective mode sequences, by using it feeling like there was only maybe one per episode of either of these.
Batman: The Telltale Series had lots of potential. There were some clever ideas, plus some nice tribute Easter eggs to Bat-media of the past. Unfortunately, they aren't enough to overcome aging, glitch-ridden technology plus some weak narrative decisions inside a narrative-centric experience. Therefore, it's now here we are at me to try to have some Bat-Telltale repellant and see if I can't understand this game off of my bat-addled brain.
