BATMAN - Episode One Review

Telltale, the kings of episodic gaming, have a habit of taking beloved franchises and giving out high quality games. Emotionally charged and heavily story driven, fans know they’re in for a treat when Telltale picks their favoured franchise to make a game out of. After the battering DC Comics has taken from the critics in recent years for their movie universe they could do with some good press; giving it the Telltale treatment should do them the world of good!

We are introduced to the game through its combat system. Trying to stop a group of thugs that have broken into the mayor's office, Batman must quicktime his way to kicking ass and saving the day. Telltale isn’t known for their combat systems and that shows here, you don’t so much as fight the bad guys as you watch a very pretty cel shaded cut scene, waiting for the screen to flash up with a button to press. If you press correctly you will see a beautifully choreographed scene of Batman dodging/attacking the bad guy. If, however, you don’t push it in time or get it wrong you get a bleep noise and either Batman will still dodge/hit the bad guy or the Bat will get hit himself. Either way if you get too many wrong it’ll be game over and you’ll have to start from the beginning.

The battle system might seem to be lacking, but that’s not what Telltale are going for with Batman: Episode One. No, Telltale are much more about telling a gripping story, and for this outing the developers have gone back to an early point in the Batman’s crime fighting career. Not so far back to make it an origin story, just far enough back that Batman’s rogue gallery is empty, Harvey Dent is an attorney general trying to become mayor, Catwoman is a new acquaintance and crime bosses rule the streets, not deranged villains. The main plot has you playing as Bruce Wayne, not just The Batman, to solve murders, get Harvey Dent elected mayor, battle with Gotham’s crime kingpin, Carmine Falcone, while trying to keep his identity secret and clear the Wayne family name of any wrongdoing.

As with many Telltale games Batman feels like a choose your own adventure book. During story cutscenes you’re given the option to react and give your opinion on the situation through dialogue options. These can lead you to pissing off powerful enemies or charming your way to getting yourself important information. Whatever you choose the characters in the game will remember what you’ve said to them, how you’ve treated them, but to what end isn’t known. The true consequence of our actions won't be fully realised till all the episodes have been released and we’ve played through the game multiple times and seen the scope of what the game has to offer. Not only making Batman a must for at least one replay, but also puts you firmly in the driving seat of Bruce/Batman. Do you want Bruce to be a brooding billionaire, stuck on the death of his parents, or a party boy, flirting with women and splashing his cash and influence? Do you want Batman to tow the line between law abiding and lawless? Or do you want him to go over that edge and sample the less moral side of vigilante crime fighting?

Alongside the rich dialogue options and intriguing plot, Batman also does what no other game has done before: show off Batman’s detective skills. While there is a detective mode in the Arkham series, this is merely a case of looking for the highlighted area and use a tool/open it. Batman Episode One actually has you using your brain. Multiple parts will have you surveying a crime scene, looking for evidence, connecting the pieces together and drawing a vivid image of what happened, who done it and where to go to get the justice that Gotham deserves! Detective Batman doesn’t give you much difficulty, the clues you need to pick up are obviously mapped out to you, all you need to do is connect the dots, like make the connection that the gunshot victim and the gunshot hole in the wall are connected. Not exactly Sherlock Holmes level, but it’s a pretty fun part of the game and reminds us that Batman’s not just a ninja, but is also one of the smartest super heroes out there, one who plans for every occasion and is always prepared.

Telltale’s Batman: Episode One isn’t heavy on combat, if you want that look to the Arkham games, Batman is all about investigating and using the skills of both Bruce Wayne and Batman to save Gotham from itself. The game's biggest problem is it’s less than stellar PC port. I played the Steam version and was treated to crashes, freezes, frame skips, low frame rates and lost saves. While there are many websites online telling us how to get the game to work at an acceptable level no one should have to go searching and then meddling with their computer to get the game working. I would highly recommend any fan of the game to delve into Telltale’s story, just best do it on console.