Will_Ball gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Will_Ball gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
When I first heard about Telltale taking on the Batman mythos, I thought it was a weird match, but I was intrigued to see what would become of it. Over a year later, I would be giving it a go on the Nintendo Switch.

Batman: TTS is labeled an adventure game, but I would not call it that. I would end up calling it an interactive graphic novel. There are very little adventure game portions to this game. When you do run into a traditional adventure game area of the game, there is so much hand-holding, that not much thought is needed to figure out the puzzles.

What drives this game is quick time events (QTE). Batman: TTS uses these to a fault. Sometimes they can end up with you losing the game and other times they are used to change the narrative of the game.

Along with the QTEs, the game is also driven by the branching story. This is very much a Choose Your Own Adventure Batman. The decisions you make during the dialogue portions of the game will change the outcome of the story down the road.

So how is the story? The story is very good. This is a grounded Batman universe, not a cartoon one. Telltale takes some big chances with the Batman mythos here, and I feel they did a great job. That being said, I could see the changes they made with the mythos not gelling with some Batman fans.

I am not going to spoil any of the story here, but if you are a Batman fan, I would recommend checking this out. If you are not a fan of Batman, I would tell you to skip this game.

This game is getting a Rad, because I am a Batman fan. If I were not, it would be a Meh.

Azurephile   Super Member wrote on 08/26/2018 at 05:36am

I think I've decided that Batman is my favorite comic book hero, even though I think I like Marvel more than DC. I've only played one TellTale game and that was Jurassic Park. I was disappointed, because it wasn't what I expected it to be. At the time, I didn't know anything about TT games. "Interactive graphic novel" is a perfect description, even though I haven't played this one. That's what I didn't like about the JP TT game. I imagine being a fan of Batman, I would too also enjoy the story. Thanks for the review!

Will_Ball   Game Mod   Super Member   Post Author wrote on 08/26/2018 at 02:49pm

You’re welcome Greg! Batman is also my favorite comic book hero while Marvel is my favorite universe, so we are in the same boat.

I have only played some of the earlier Telltale adventure games and those were more traditional adventure games. Sounds like they might have moved more towards this “interactive graphic novel” approach over the years. I am not sure how I feel about this. Part of me feels that this will drive gamers away, but part of me thinks it might make the games more accessible to people that don’t traditionally play video games. What are your thoughts?

Azurephile   Super Member wrote on 08/26/2018 at 06:32pm

That's funny we're in the same boat.

It seems that these games are more for story telling rather than the kind of story telling we're used to with other games. I can agree this "might make the games more accessible to people that don’t traditionally play video games." It's an interesting concept, but I'm not sure that it really appeals to those of us who are used to playing video games. Although the story of JP was interesting, the game was a disappointment to me because I was expecting a traditional game.

It would be interesting to see what others here think about these kind of games.

AdamPFarnsworth wrote on 08/27/2018 at 02:00pm

I've not played a Telltale game at all, but I'm intrigued by them. It does seem like one needs to expect a Choose Your Own Adventure style (I personally shudder when I hear "quick time event," but CYOA is the same thing, but rebranded in my mind lol) to enjoy them, but, as an interactive story, and not a "video game," this seems like it would be pretty entertaining.

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