Batman has and will always be my favorite superhero. So when I found out that Telltale Games was making a video game based in the world of the DC Comics hero I was more than excited. Telltale is best known for their action/choice based games that have covered franchises ranging from Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Borderlands, and more. They are very similar to the choose your own adventure books from some of our childhoods and the choices you make in the game affect how the story progresses. In my experience, the Telltale series are at the top of my list when it comes to these types of games and I couldn’t wait to see how they approached Batman.
The idea was to make a living, breathing comic book and they succeeded. The cell-shaded graphics are perfect for this game, delivering a not overly realistic world while doing the environments justice. Unlike many Batman games before, at least this episode called ‘Realm of Shadows’ , centers more around the world of Bruce Wayne. Yes you do get to suit up a few times as Batman but this is just as much a story about his alter-ego. When you do get to become Batman there are elements that surprised and delighted me. As someone who has run the gambit of Batman games this is very appreciated, I’d tell you about them but I’ll let you find out for yourself. As far as gameplay goes, make sure you have your hands on the controller or keyboard at all times because decisions can come pretty rapidly and even I found myself not hitting the correct buttons once in awhile. 
The fighting mechanics aren’t overly complicated, and you’re not expected to drop a bunch of combos, so this is a game that fans at all levels of gaming experience can enjoy. Jared Emerson Johnson returns once again to provide the dynamic soundtrack for this game. It is a stellar companion and truly sets the mood for the dark brooding world that Batman exists in.
As for the story, I don’t want to go too much into spoiler-ville, but this takes place early on in the career of Batman. Before a lot of his Rogues Gallery is introduced into his world, even before Jim Gordon is Commissioner of the GCPD. I find it really interesting to be able to influence the way that Bruce (and sometimes Batman) builds the relationships with these classic characters. The premise of the game so far is that Harvey Dent is running for Mayor and Bruce Wayne is one of his supporters. Wayne wants to follow in his parents footsteps by making sure that the people of Gotham are able to live safely and prosperously in the city that his parents help to build. The narrative is also very much about generational legacy and you’ll find out that this doesn’t only relate to the Wayne family. I don’t want say too much more because I highly recommend that you give this game a shot and experience it on your own. Plus, who’s to say how YOUR decisions will affect things?
Batman: The Telltale Series is available this week on PC, Playstation, XBox, and Mac. Eventually it will be available for mobile devices but not until September. I recommend playing this on console, I played on PS4, as I don’t think that a small screen would do it justice. It is also recommended that you play any episode of a Telltale game in one sitting as they are on average about two hours, but of course that’s up to you and your schedule. I finished it in two seatings and enjoyed it just as much. I am super eager to get my hands on Episode Two (due out most likely sometime in September) but the nice thing about these games is the replay value and seeing what happens when you make different choices. New to the Telltale series this time around is a feature called “Crowd Play”. It allows players to invite people to follow along with their game and to help them (vote) make decisions and give feedback on their mobile devices. I didn’t have the chance to try this feature out but I will when I give the game another run-through. If you would like some more information on how this feature works visit telltale.com/crowdplay/support. As a Batman and a video game fan, my first experience with this title is unforgettable and I absolutely loved it! Already, it will go down as one of my favorite comic book video games of all time.
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