This week saw the release of the penultimate episode of Telltale’s Batman series, and after playing it, I can tell you that they are really preparing for the finale. During this 2 hours segment, big revelations are done, the story advances a lot and its outcome is, for me, unpredictable, which is perfect for a narrative-heavy game like this one. We really have the weight of the tagline that is presented to us at the beginning of each episode: This game series adapts to the choices you make. The story is tailored by how you play.
Without going into major story spoilers, I can say right now that Batman/Bruce Wayne is in big problems now. The drug that is infecting people and make them go berserk is getting stronger and stronger. Harvey Dent seems be loosing it more and more, and it makes Selina Kyle want to leave Gotham City. The Children or Arkham reach upon major components of the city is revealed and has major impact on Batman’s activities. One last important aspect finally introduced in the game: we have a look at Arkham Asylum activities, with nods to famous Batman villains now incarcerated in the facility, like Victor Zsasz and our favorite white-faced green-haired clown !
In terms of gameplay, I’m very happy to report that almost all components of the previous episodes are present in this 4th one: heavy dialog options, quick-time-events action sequences, investigations by looking for clues and linking them together, and a scene where you are given the option to go as Batman or Bruce Wayne, which I’m sure have totally different implications. I’m also very happy to report that for me, on my PlayStation 4, it has been the smoothest episode so far, with the less technical problems. I’ve had no crashes, almost no frame-rate drops and only a 1-2 seconds moment where an animation-voice synchronization problem occurred. It made that experience so much more enjoyable.
Again, the production quality is top notch. Every environment are beautiful and very representative of their original material. I especially enjoyed the moments at Arkham Asylum, and even comparing it to how it was depicted in the Rocksteady/WB games was very interesting. The 2 visions are different, but are very respectful of what they picture. I have to give this time a special acknowledgment to Antony Ingruber, the voice actor behind Joker. According to its IMDB page, he is a newcomer in terms of video games presence, but his depiction is awesome, very inspired by what we’ve heard of Mark Hamill in his version. I really loved what he did.
In summary, this was for me the best episode yet. The pieces of puzzle are in place to have a memorable conclusion and I can’t wait to see how it will wrap up ! Thanks Telltale for taking such a good care of the franchise.
(The game was reviewed playing the PlayStation 4 version of the game.)
