Batman The Telltale Series

From afar, Gotham’s night sky paints a scene of tranquility, offering all onlookers a stunning view of a city with many secrets to tell. The monolithic Wayne Tower lords over it as a spectacle of wealth and power; it, too, holds many secrets. This is the first shot in Telltale’s Batman, an episodic series that focuses on Bruce Wayne and the people of Gotham just as much as it does Batman and his crazy toys.

The shot of the city transitions to a platoon of masked men, each armed with assault rifles, entering Gotham City Hall. They’re organized, but sloppy, triggering an alarm within seconds of stepping into the building. They’re trying to break into an office, and even brought a chain-saw to cut through its heavily fortified door.

A shot outside of one of City Hall’s windows shows a billboard that reads, “Harvey Dent for mayor.” Dent’s image casts a large smile – the smile of just one man. Batman descends onto the billboard and attaches his grappling hook to City Hall. He ziplines over to the building, crashes through a window, and takes down one of the robbers all in one fluid motion. It’s a nice introduction to the Caped Crusader, voiced by Troy Baker.

His noisy entrance alerts the other guards, but he’s still capable of taking down a few of them by sneaking through the sea of office cubicles. All of the action is handled through quick-time events, such as analog-stick swipes and timed button presses.

Batman dispatches the robbers with ease, knocking the last one through the desired office door. We don’t get a good look at what the robbers are after, but we believe it’s a device on the table – a device we see Catwoman steal seconds later. Batman gives chase and a battle ensues on the rooftop. Gotham City’s police and Commissioner Gordon complicate matters, leading to a dramatic and acrobatic escape down the outside of City Hall.

The cinematography for this sequence is excellent, giving us exciting and scenic views of the action, something we haven’t seen much from Telltale in other game series.

The demo then shifts gears to an extravagant party at Wayne Manor. Bruce is holding a fundraising banquet for Dent, and is the biggest backer of his campaign. Harvey towers over Wayne, almost looking like an ex-football linebacker. Alfred, Bruce’s butler, brings distressing news: Carmine Falcone has arrived at the party.

Wayne asks Dent why he would invite a criminal like Falcone to the party. At this point, player choice comes into play, and it would appear the player is given a degree of freedom in shaping Wayne’s allegiances in Gotham. Falcone wants Wayne’s support, and it would appear he can give it based on the conversation options on offer.

Our demoer played a heroic and virtuous version of Wayne, which led to a heated confrontation and Falcone threatening death.

In total, I saw 30 minutes of the first episode of Batman. The wealth of quick-time events was a turnoff, and the banquet was a bit of a slog in the early stages, but the moral jockeying of Wayne was interesting. Should it allow darker choices, it could produce a much different Batman story than we’ve seen before.

Batman the Telltale Series is an episodic interactive adventure game based on the popular superhero by DC Comics. Playing as a young Bruce Wayne, only a few years after taking up the cowl of the masked vigilante Batman, you'll navigate the seedy streets of Gotham City. Instead of adapting an existing story arc from the comics or films, Batman the Telltale Series tells an original tale of the world's greatest detective. Players can affect the story as they make decisions along the way, shaping the narrative and personality of Bruce. Along with fast-paced scenes of action, Batman the Telltale Series offers an engaging and cinematic caper that is fun for fans old and new.

Main Game Features

• 5 narrative-driven episodes
• Branching narrative based on your decisions
• Based on the iconic DC comic series

Story

The story of Batman the Telltale Series is split into five episodes, each with approximately six story chapters to play. At the start of episode one, a break-in at Gotham City Hall prompts the appearance of the dangerous and powerful crime-fighter, Batman. After running into a quick-witted thief named Catwoman, Batman returns home to Wayne Manor, returning to his true identity as the affluent billionaire Bruce Wayne. With his friend and district attorney Harvey Dent running for city mayor, Bruce begins to struggle with the balance of his personal life and his nighttime vigilantism. Things only get worse when accusations of connections to local crime boss Carmine Falcone force Bruce's darkest secrets into the spotlight. Even under the watchful eye of the Gotham City police, Bruce continues his efforts as Batman, uncovering a city-wide conspiracy that threatens his legacy and life.

Overall, the story of Batman the Telltale Series has some boring moments, but it's a generally well-written and interesting script with lots of surprising moments. After a slow-paced beginning, the plot expands, bringing in both original characters and some classic villains. When compared to most Batman cartoons and movies, Batman the Telltale Series is also much more violent, with some significant moments of blood and gore. This adds a lot to the grim atmosphere of Gotham, especially when Batman investigates crime scenes.

Gameplay

Like most other games developed by Telltale Games, Batman the Telltale series offers mostly passive gameplay, playing out like an interactive cutscene. While there are sequences of free roam and exploration, most of the game is spent making dialogue decisions and completing quick-time events. Similar to The Wolf Among Us, the game has some really cool fight scenes, where you must successfully press the right buttons to evade and attack enemies. These sequences add a lot of excitement to the game, balancing out the long scenes of conversation.

There are also sections where you must investigate areas, usually crime scenes, looking for clues by using Batman's arsenal of high-tech gadgets. Like the fight scenes, the investigation scenes do a good job representing the best aspects of the Batman character. Throughout the game, you will have to make decisions that can change how the story plays out, such as deciding whether to approach situations as Bruce or Batman. Ultimately, these choices don't make a huge difference in the outcome of the story, but they still allow you to play as the kind of Batman you want to be.

Conclusion

For the most part, Batman the Telltale Series does a good job taking one of the most popular superheroes in the world and providing a riveting original story. While a big portion of the experience can feel passive at times, players who have enjoyed Telltale's previous interactive dramas will enjoy the added sequences of action.

Pros

• Satisfying action and fight scenes
• Great comic style graphics
• Cool character cameos

Cons

• Frame-rate drops
• Performance stuttering
• Some boring plot points