Before, I've had my fill withBatman. Don't get me wrong: I love the 90's animated series, regard Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy with high regard, and I'm an avid fan of Rocksteady's Arkham games.
But with all the media saturation surrounding him; the collective movies, TV shows, games, and comics, I found myself burned out on the franchise.
Fortunately, Telltale has managed to overcomemy fatigue of Batman andget me invested in this new take. Unfortunately, the bugs and optimization do a lot to quell my enthusiasm.
Story and gameplay
Comic fans will be delighted to hear that Telltale's interpretation of the Batman series is fresh and original.
The game puts more of an emphasis on Bruce Wayne and the clout that his family has in Gotham than being a masked vigilante.
The idea of trying to solve problems as a rich philanthropist instead of a costumed freak is something other Batman adaptions have explored, but neverquite to this depth.
Putting on Bruce's shoesand having to make tough ethical decisions that affect relationships and the Wayne family's legacy is a great idea that I'm looking forward to continuing seeing.
Without wishing to spoil, many of the choices I had to make as Bruce Wayne left me with a sense of remorseand the revelations I came across caughteven a DC veteran like me off guard. The cliffhanger at the end is especially effective.
The Audio
Audio-wise, this game is the first rate. Superb voice acting brings these characters to life, and Jared Emerson Johnson's score ranks alongDanny Elfman and Hans Zimmer's compositions for The Caped Crusader.
Thetechnical shortcomings
However, all the good this game does gets undone by the game's technical shortcomings.
The game looks decent, but withadequate textures andenvironments featuringan excessive use ofstill images, it's not exactly a graphics powerhouse.
So, It amazes me how a game with such average visuals struggles to run ata consistent 60 fps on PCs.
The framerate isall over the place, and chugs, particularly in the game's action, set pieces.
Ialso came across a bug that locked me to the computer screen in the Batcave.
Telltale's games have been known for their performance issues, but this installment goes beyond them.
No multiple Saves.
Anothergripe I have with this game is the lack of multiple save files. As with other Telltale games, my first instinct after finishing the episode was to create another file to make different choices in. For some bizarre reason, Telltale has excluded this feature.
Yay or Nay?
Issues aside, I give the first episode a marginal recommendation to console players. However, PC playerswould do best bywaiting until these issues are fixed before purchasing the full season.
