Also available on Switch, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, iOS, and Windows I'm a big fan of TellTale's games. I absolutely adored The Wolf Among Us and all three seasons of The Walking Dead, and I've still got Game of Thrones sitting on my shelf for whenever I get around to starting it. They take storytelling to a level rarely seen in gaming today, and while some may criticize their games for being too light on actual gameplay, the player agency the choices give and the quality of the character development and storytelling that their games provide are remarkable. For those (somehow) not in the know, TellTale's series consist of episodic stories told in five episodes. Being impatient as shit, I always buy the season pass discs and keep them shelved for a while so that when I do play through the series, I can (hopefully) play through the whole series at once instead of being left on cliffhangers until the next episode is released because there are some major cliffhangers in these games. Even if it's not a definite cliffhanger moment, they build up the conflict in the story so well that you just have to know what happens next. Anywho, you play as the titular caped crusader in a non-canon story of Batman's early days in Gotham before Gordon was police commissioner, before the GCPD worked with Batman instead of shooting at him, and before Batman's archnemesis Joker was appeared. The story revolves around widespread attacks by a group called the Children of Arkham, the secrets of the Wayne family and Mayor Hill administration, and the mayoral campaign of Harvey Dent. I won't spoil any major story points, but it's a brilliantly written story not only of a villain threatening the people of Gotham but a tragedy about the fall and redemption of a hero. My only major complaint with the game is the frame rate. It's not a high action game, so some people probably aren't bothered by the frame rate, but it drove me up the wall. I don't know how other consoles, PC, or mobile platforms compare, but PlayStation 4 had some pretty major frame rate issues. At times, it was a smooth, unbroken 30 fps; other times it would stutter along like a low end PC trying to play a game on max graphics. It didn't totally kill my experience, but it definitely broke my immersion in places and was an enormous annoyance. Aaaand there's also the occasional entertaining but wtf graphical issue as seen below. All things considered, TellTale's Batman continues the studio's stellar record of superb storytelling and world building. It's got the bizarre performance issues that often accompany TellTale's games (at least on PS4), but they're not so severe as to render the game unplayable. If you don't care for Batman or the DC universe in general, you probably won't enjoy this game much, but if you're a huge Batman/DC fan or (like me) generally apathetic but love a good story, this should definitely be on your shelf and/or hard drive. My Rating - B |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
March 2024
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