Batman – The Telltale Series Ep. 4 Review

As the series draws closer to its finale, what will Bruce Wayne do now that he's in Arkham? How will he deal with the consequences of the last episodes?

Batman - The Telltale Series Ep. 4 Review

introduction

SPOILER ALERT!

Well here we are again with more questions, and more WTF moments yet to come. At the end of the last episode, Bruce was infected with the toxin that caused that officer to kill Carmine Falcone in episode 2.  If you don't want to know what happened in episode 3 skip this section and go to Narrative now. Back in episode 3s adventure, Vickie Vale was found to be the leader of the Children of Arkham. She stabbed Bruce with a pen in his hand and he lunged at Oswald Cobblepot. He beat Oswald to a pulp-fueled by the toxin and hidden anger that Oswald now is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Thomas Wayne was ousted as an evil doctor sending people to Arkham Asylum. So Bruce was forced to step down by his board of directors. After all that, what else could happen? Lots of things.

Before I get into Episode 4, I would like to chronicle other smaller subplots that led to where we are. Selina Kyle as Catwoman was helped by Batman. He was badly injured. She took him to her apartment and he spent the night. They also made love. The next morning, Harvey Dent the new mayor came by and was angry to see Bruce there in his underwear. Dent believes that they are against him. Regardless of the choices you make, he tries to fight you. Some easy quick time moves and he leaves talking to himself. Sometimes his voice is Harvey and sometimes the voice is eviler and it's his scarred side talking. He has then stopped wearing his half mask to hide his scarred face. As Mayor, he has hired a task force to stop the Children of Arkham. During a press conference on television, he asks Batman to stop and let his soldiers handle things.

Batman The Telltale Series is available on Steam, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation 4

Narrative

Before I go into the story, I must say a few things. This is the best episode yet. I think they are all amazing. You truly use all of Batman's skills. You use detective skills and his physical strength. You also have plenty of gadgets to assist you. I will go back and play again. The decisions get harder and you do feel like Batman. Seeing how your decisions affect the story is a great addition.

This episode starts slow. Due to you sleeping with Selina, Mayor Harvey Dent had you be committed to Arkham Asylum. It was part in fact of you beating up Oswald Cobblepot at the press conference at the end of episode 3. So you begin in Arkham Asylum.

Bruce and Joker
This will be a very short review being that these games are much of the same. The thing that keeps me coming back is the story. Anyone can make a Batman game. Rocksteady spoiled us with the Arkham series. Now we expect an amazing game based on our beloved hero every time.

As I stated this is the best yet. I haven't played episode 5 yet, but I was told it is an hour long and is worth the wait. I don't want to give too much away. But I can say in the rundown at the end that tell you how your decisions stack up to the other players, twice I was in the minority. However, it was a slim margin of difference. The decisions are harder than episode 3 and some are nearly split 50-50.

The one thing I have to stress is quick time button prompts. I died, a lot. If you thought the game was unforgiving before with button prompt timing, you ain't seen nothing yet. Sometimes it doesn't matter, the move gets pulled off anyway. Now you will die if you don't pull the movie off. If you're a master at the button prompts you'll love the end. It's a button prompt festival.

Alfred defends Wayne Manor
Above and below are screens from the end of the episode. If Alfred has a rifle, you know it's serious. And anytime Two-Face is involved you know it's criminal. Mayor or not he is going to be a full criminal at some point, everyone knows that.

Harvey Twoface at Wayner Manor

Gameplay

The gameplay is much of the same as the other entries. However, the game seems to be less forgiving with the amount of time given to perform in quick time events. You also need to be quick with responses during dialogs. You need to be fast and correct with the buttons. Luckily there are checkpoints in the chapter. So if you die, and u will die, you'll start from that scene or a checkpoint. Even if you shut the game off before you finish the chapter, you'll absolutely start from a checkpoint. One new feature is two button finishing moves. They come up very often in this chapter.

Using an Xbox 360 controller, that's what I see

Graphics

The graphics didn't change. The graphics are exactly the same. Comic book style of character models and environments. In some scenes, it is like watching a comic book come alive. The developers at Telltale Games knew exactly what fans would like and had a firm understanding of the source material. Little things like Selina telling Bruce they'd be some pair and saying the dynamic duo was well placed. For those readers who aren't familiar, Batman & Robin were sometimes called the dynamic duo.

Technical Issues

Now I'm running a two-year-old computer, but this issue didn't happen until updates were downloaded. The game freezes when I attempt to full screen it. Also at certain random times, the game freezes up for a second then plays at full speed. I've noticed it when mouths don't sync up with words. Like I said my computer is two years old but episodes 1 and 2 were fine. This issue didn't start until episode 3.

Final thoughts

Aside from the few technical issues I mentioned, the game was top notch as always. It seemed longer than other episodes. I have yet to play episode 5, but a friend and fellow gamer told me that episode 5 is one hour long. The episodes were said to be 20 minutes long. Episode 3 was easily half an hour. So be prepared to have a good amount of time set aside come episode 5.

PROS CONS
– Top notch graphics – Button prompt time is short
– Story keeps player interest – Puzzles are too easy
– Easy controls – Not hitting buttons, but action still happens
9.5
Amazing

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