7.9 hours played
Written 30 days ago
I remember watching gameplays of TellTale games on YouTube as a kid, so I always wanted to try one out for myself. I've always been a big fan of Batman and this was a story that I hadn't already seen gameplay of, so it was the obvious choice. Unfortunately, it was a let-down. TellTale games are story driven and the story is somewhat serviceable. The dialogue scenes range from compelling to awful, with most being right down the middle, and this retelling of the story that's been told who-knows-how-many times over the last 80 years of Batman has some genuinely interesting additions to, and twists on, that ever-growing lore. Sadly, those are the only positive things I have to say. The gameplay is tedious. Press W to walk forward; press E to progress--half of this game is cut scenes, and 25% is "interactive" cut scenes. In the remaining 25%, there is a balanced variety of awkward, boring combat sequences, brain-dead crime-scene investigations, and dialogues. Did I mention that all of this is extremely tedious? I enjoyed choosing dialogue options, but I never felt like my choices actually impacted the narrative. This was really the only fun part of the game, but starting each episode by telling me that, "This game series adapts to the choices you make. The story is tailored by how you play," felt like an insult to my intelligence by the final episode. Overall, the gameplay is tedious, your choices are inconsequential, and the story is nowhere near strong enough to compensate and carry the full load. Please do not play this game.
SPOILERS
Here's the part of the review where I gripe about the things I didn't like.
1. I did not like this version of the Penguin and I was not given the option to really brutalize him like I was hoping.
2. Lady Arkham is the lamest villain for a Batman story that I could ever image--just terrible. (And why did she have the OP staff and Iron-Man boots?)
3. I hated every single time Bruce referred to Alfred as "Al".
4. The animation is not good. I know TellTale has a signature art style, but the animation was very distracting. I almost fell out of my chair laughing when Bruce and Selina finally hooked-up.
5. Too many set-ups without pay-offs. The ending somehow felt rushed while the story itself felt meandering and full of BS just to move the plot forward. (Why did we get such big character introductions for Falcone, Hill, and Cobblepot when none of them mattered?)
6. Joker. He doesn't really feature in this game, so it's not a big deal, but the voice acting was not working for me. He did not fit into the universe, the vocal performance never felt like it was part of the character rather than some asshole in a recording booth doing a terrible Heath Ledger impression, and it was just hard to get through--tedious, one might say.
I didn't have as many issues with the story as some of these other negative reviews, but as mentioned before, having a meh story with gameplay that feels like a chore is a recipe for a really lousy game.