This game was released yesterday in PC. I got say that I was disappointed by the low Framarate (this isn't a problem in consoles) and in many reviews of the game, you will find the same complaints. My love for Batman and the plot of this game made the whole thing enjoyable despite having at times 10 FPS. I will state here my first thoughts in some of the aspects of the game.
Gameplay:
Choices and decisions: If you know what the Telltale's games are you know what to expect. This are more story oriented games so the focus will be put into the choices that you made and the dialogue you choose to say. You are going to make plenty of complicated choices in the game and this choices are going to defined what Batman are you choosing to be. This is interesting as a fan of the character because in this kind of games, I make all of the choices, I would do if I was in that character's place but in this the character isn't a person we know nothing about, It's a well known character that I love. At first I always choose the option, that my ideal Batman would do instead of what I would. I began to drop this habit as soon as I started to notice how different this world was to the one that I am accostumed in Batman comics because everytime I interacted with a character, I used the knowledge I gain through the comics instead of the things that the game tells me and because of that I made some decisions that were the wrong ones because while the characters are similar, they have some different details. In most cases you have 3 dialogue options and during my first playthrough I managed to classify them in groups: 1. this first group belong to the things that you would never expect any Batman to say, this would be the most OoC options (saying for example: that you only dress as Batman for the thrill) 2. this group belongs to a more emotional Batman, imagine the Batman in Arkham Orgins, the kind of Batman that is brutal, angry and wants criminals to suffer, that wants to use brutal force in an interrogation and wants to break every bones in a criminals body. 3. this last group belongs to a Batman that is in control, imagine Batman from Arkham Asylum in this case, this is a Batman that will use force only when necessesary and that is rare to find him on a fit of rage, instead of just using brutal force in a interrogation, he prefers mind games and using his terrorific persona to gain the information without using too much force. In this episode you play way more as Bruce Wayne than Batman, and what I say before also applies here, the clasification varies, when you are Bruce you can choose to be, the billionaire playboy, an stoic loner that wants to do good for the city or be completely OoC.
Detective work: In this episode there is only one Crime scene, this crime scenes are far more interestering than the ones in the Arkham games, you will have to make a connections between different clues and they have good mysteries that you will have to resolve, all in all you do feel more like the world's greatest Detective in this game and at least this crime scene gave you plenty of things to do. The detective work in general is important because it furthers the plot of the game.
Action: Don't expect something like the Arkham games on this, it's not the focus of the game. Every scene of combat is played through quick action events (imput certain combinations of buttons at certain time or aim at something at certain time), It feels like touching some buttons while you see a cutscene going on the screen. But at least the cutscene is very good, and the fights in this game are detailed, fast paced and very Batman like, and it makes touching some buttons being thrilling at least. There is also a cool sequence when you make a plan of attack and then you see Batman perform it on screen. So yeah despite not being the focus of the game it's interesting
Story: I don't want to say spoilers so I would say this: It's a new Batman story, don't try to relate this one to other Batman stories because It won't work. They took some liberties with some of the characters and their motivations (mainly with Oswald Cobblepot) but all in all they sort of act like you except them to act but since this Batman is first meeting them (this is a young Batman), it's harder to predict what would they do with the things that Batman says or does. The story will depend on the choices you make so be careful when you make them. I basically ruined two of the most important relationship that Batman has in 2 hours. (Batman and Catwoman, Batman and Gordon)
Design: With the cel shade that Telltale studios uses in their games, Batman looks amazing. He has a less bulky and stylish Bat suit than the one in Batman: Arkham Orgins, and with the white eyes, It looks astonishing (search some images on the internet). The voice actor (Troy Baker) does a decent Batman voice, It's not amazing but you won't find it distracting. While Batman looks amazing, Bruce Wayne not so much. He is too skiny and he seems to be too short for my taste. The problem with all of this, is that during most of the game, you are with Harvey Dent and he looks ridiculous. Harvey looks like Bane. He is a head taller than Bruce and he is built like a body builder, you could fit 3 Bruces in the size of 1 Harvey. And he acts as a really confident guy but Bruce always seems to act like a shy, loner on the scenes, as if he was an akward person (and Harvey is the friend that is popular in school and with the girls). You can choose dialogue options that the playboy billionaire would make but he would never convience anybody that he is one. The problem with this, is that the voice acting reinforces this notion, he seems to be doubting what he says and you never buy that he enjoys being there on the party, because he doesn't even try to act as if he was enjoying it. In the serious scenes the voice acting for Bruce is fine and you can buy what he says, I just don't like that the public persona seems so fake (I know it is fake but It shouldn't look that way). The rest of the designs are good, Selina in particular looks really well and her voice sounds atractive as it should feel. Cobblepot is so different than what we are used to see that his design is very different.
All in all it was a great experience (that could have been awesome if it weren't for the frame rate) and I am eagerly expecting the next chapters.
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