Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games, 2K Games
Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, PC, Mac
Tested on: Xbox One
Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 3 – Review
Nearly a month ago we had a closer look at one of the latest Telltale games which revolved around Batman, the beloved Dark Knight. As these games are being released in an episodic format, we now arrive at the third episode, which means we’re pretty much halfway through the entire story this title will have to offer. Things were getting out of hand last time with Bruce Wayne’s parents’ dark past being revealed and the Penguin taking extreme measures against the current high society of Gotham, which resulted in both the deaths of Falcone and Hill. Now it seems that Bruce Wayne is thoroughly being put on the radar.
This third episode pretty much continues after the attack was made on the debate, leaving Harvey horribly scarred and the current mayor, Hill, six feet under. While this alone is enough reason for panic, Bruce has some bigger fish to fry, as it seems that the dark rumors surrounding his parents’ past were all true, thus he is getting linked to their fraudulent behavior as well, having his own reputation dragged through the mud. Due to this, everyone with a certain amount of power is slowly distancing themselves from Bruce, even his company, thus rendering him without any big assets and influence. When Oswald Cobblepot is being presented as the new CEO of Wayne Enterprises, things become rather tricky.
Truth be told, it’s hard to describe the plot of this third segment of the game, as some of the story options will depend on the choices you have made in the previous chapters, and other events depend on the choices you will make during this current playthrough of this chapter. Be prepared to dabble around a lot with Catwoman, see Harvey take up his mantle as mayor and see how the Children of Arkham start their master plan of taking over the city. Sadly, for some reason, the game did not keep track of some of the choices we made in the previous chapters, making it feel as if we made certain choices for nothing, rendering our vision of the story useless.
Graphically not much has changed, and even in this chapter very apparent bugs are still present, such as popping, frame drops and segments that are poorly rendered. The cel shaded style hides a lot of these errors, but there should have been a few fixes concerning these problems by now. We hope these will get fixed in the next two chapters, as they tend to knock you back to your senses from time to time, making it hard to properly emerge in the story. The sound quality remains pretty much the same, making sure you’re treated to very qualitative voice acting.
Just like the two first chapters, the gameplay is all about making choices, which will influence the story in the direction you want. Thus you’ll always have to pay attention, choose the option you find that suits your playstyle and your personal opinion, and see how the story evolves. Other segments will allow you to run around, find clues, and link them to one another in order to deduct what has transpired before you entered the location. Of course brawling is still a part of this chapter, thus once again it’s a matter of plowing through Quick Time Events in order to survive another day. Overall nothing new has been added to the gameplay section of this title, thus you’ll easily be able to tag along with what is happening on screen. Some controls still feel a bit clunky, but after the first two chapters, you’ll notice that you will have got the hang of most of the mechanics, making it easier to properly execute certain commands.
Conclusion
Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 3 is a fun continuation of the story, but it’s also clear that this fragment plays itself out in the middle of the story, as there is slightly less evolution. Nonetheless, you’ll be making many interesting choices, while certain questions are slowly being answered, and new characters are being born. Certainly worth continuing your journey as the Dark Knight.
Batman: The Telltale Series – Episode 3 – Review,
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