ReviewGame review – Batman: The Telltale Series’ story-centric gaming takes deeper look at Batman
Telltale’s Batman is at its best when it takes a critical look at Bruce Wayne’s sense of vigilante justice
Batman: The Telltale Series: Episode 1: Realm of Shadows
Telltale Games
Ever since I played Back to the Future: The Game back in 2011, I’ve been hopelessly addicted to the simplified point-and-click gameplay style pioneered by Telltale Games.
As much as I enjoy old-school, illogical brain teasers such as The Secret of Monkey Island, I’m never smart enough to finish them. Telltale Games solved that problem by substituting deep plots and believable dialogue for impossible puzzles, and went on to adapt classic properties such as Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.
In other words, they’re the perfect studio to give a deeper take on Batman – a property as compelling as it is overexposed.
This first episode of Batman: The Telltale Series (available for download on every console, phone and computing device) kicks off in typical Batman fashion, with the caped crusader putting down a beating on some Gotham City baddies. This isn’t an action game, though, so all the player has to do is hit the appropriate combination of buttons as they appear on screen – God of War style. Telltale did a marvellous job of adapting their slow, thoughtful style to action-oriented licences in last year’s Tales of the Borderlands, and the action sequences in Batman are even slicker.