Telltale is back with the third episode in their episodic Batman series, ‘New World Order’. As the game progresses, we delve deeper into not only Bruce’s story, but the story of the Waynes, the people surrounding Bruce and even the story of Gotham itself. Gotham now knows that the Wayne’s had a rather large hand in the rise of organized crime in Gotham. This brings major change and sacrifice to Bruce Wayne and Batman is still intent on finding out just who the mysterious ‘Children of Arkham’ are.
One thing I really enjoyed about the game is the story. I can always rely on Telltale for a good story and they did not disappoint with their take on Bruce Wayne and Batman. The story is compelling, full of suspense, the perfect amount of humor and the characters are written brilliantly. As I’ve said previously, Telltale’s take on Bruce Wayne is something we’ve never seen before and it’s great.
The one thing that can ruin great writing is the voice acting, but the cast of Telltale’s Batman gives us no need to worry as they all deliver some great performances. The standouts are obviously Laura Bailey as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Travis Willingham as Harvey Dent/Two Face, Troy Baker as Bruce Wayne/Batman, and Jason Spisak as Oswald Cobblepot/Penguin.
The last two episodes have had some great action scenes as well, episode 2 featured a great bar fight scene that lasted a good while and really put to use the classic Telltale button prompt combat system. The new Evidence mechanic is really fun, but I sort of wish it was a bit harder. It seems too easy to just match two things and have it be correct.
However, this game doesn’t look great. There are so many glitches, BLATANT glitches, it’s almost insulting. During cinematics whenever the scene changes there’s a nice, I want to say almost 1 second, freeze frame. It’s really noticeable and it’s incredibly annoying. It’s always fun when textures just don’t load, and oh you thought I couldn’t see that guy clip through a car in the background? I saw it.
There’s some pretty noticeable issues in the writing in these episodes as well. One of the bigger ones was when Batman was having a conversation with Montoya. She says to Batman, “Thanks, that means alot coming from you.”, showing she holds Batman in some high regard, but not 30 seconds later she spits out the line, “I don’t need a lecture, especially not from YOU, Batman.” What the hell happened? Oh, bad writing, that’s what happened.
Honestly, I’m pretty disappointed with Telltale. It really seems like they’ve given up. They start using this new engine, usually that is cause for celebration but it’s like they can’t handle it. Glitches are only getting worse and the game just looks awful. If Telltale continues down this road without stopping and trying to better themselves and evolve as a developer I can’t see them lasting that much longer. The only thing enjoyable about this game is the story. This means the only incentive to buying the game is the small amount of gameplay, achievements, and gamerscore (if you’re one of those people). I say this because I wholeheartedly believe I can get the same experience by watching a playthrough on YouTube.
I’m still looking forward to the last few episodes, the story is literally that good. But I beg Telltale to get their stuff together because they have made some of the best games I’ve ever played, the only games I’ve cried over, and the one of the only games that have made me laugh so hard it hurt. I used to hold Telltale in such a high regard when it came to video games, but now they’ve kind of just faded into the masses. With Walking Dead season 3 starting next month, I really hope they pick themselves up, brush themselves off, and Make Telltale Great Again.
Batman Episode 3 'New World Order'
Pros
- Great Story
- Amazing Voice Cast
- New Evidence Mechanic
Cons
- Poor Graphics
- Too Many Glitches
- Spotty Writing
