Thomas Roach reviews Batman: The Telltale Series Episode Five – ‘City Of Light’…
After four episodes, City of Light had a lot to live up to in wrapping up the series. At the end of the last episode you were given a choice whether or not to take down either Two-Face or the Penguin. Depending on what path you chose in the previous episode you will experience episode five differently. The start of the episode varies depending on these choices but it all heads towards the same ending like the all the other Telltale games. Being the final episode of what I consider I great series, I had very high expectations.
The story of the game remains a high point of the series. Episode 5 doesn’t have the strongest narrative of the seriesbut it serves the story arc of the entire game overall in a satisfying way. Whilst the game delivers an ending which was more undewelming that I had hoped for, it does set up some points that would be addressed in a future game which is exciting. Lady Arkham as a villain was okay though didn’t appeal to me as a villain as much as Penguin or Two-Face did in the game.
Other than some technical issues that I will talk about in a minute, the action sequences from this episode are the best of the series and are probably the best action sequences in any Telltale game to date. All action sequences are played through quick time events which I know some gamers find quite dull. However, the way in which they are executed it feels like looking at the pages of a comic book which gives the game an authenticity into creating a new version of an iconic character.
The episode does suffer from a few dull moments. The detective mode whilst intriguing in the first few episodes now feels repetitive and unnecessary. There doesn’t seem to be any challenge in connecting the clues during these parts of the game and even if you do struggle you will work them out quickly simply by trial and error. Whilst the plot overall remains intriguing, the game does have some minor pacing issues.
Many people who have played or reviewed the previous episodes have commented about technical issues that I did not seem to have. However during my playthrough of episode five I encountered a great deal of them. The frame rate during the first few combat sequences dropped significantly and was painfully noticeable. This was less of a problem in the later sequences though it was still present. During a later combat sequence one of the character models disappeared during the cutscene which left only the characters eyes and mouth floating eerily in the air. This did look really ridiculous but I had not encountered these or similar technical issues during my playthrough of the previous episodes.
The final episode of the series improved on the previous chapter though is not the stand out episode I had been hoping for. The series as a whole has been wrapped up nicely and pretty much all of the narrative points and concluded the story in an appropriate fashion. The final moments of the game do set up some very interesting things that could be seen in a second game which has me excited for the future of this series. Overall the five episodes have delivered a great experience that any Batman fan will be able to enjoy. Despite not having as much replayability as other Batman games, Batman – The Telltale Series has given us a new version of The Dark Knight which I hope to see be developed further and for many more years to come.
Pros
+ Intense story
+ Best action sequences from all episodes
Cons
– Some dull moments
– Some technical issues
Rating: 7.5/10
Batman: The Telltale Series – City of Light was reviewed on PlayStation 4.
Thomas Roach
Originally published December 16, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
