Children of the Owls
Batman is in a jam, and now in typical Batman-related fashion, he’s forged more enemies as a direct result of his own actions. What’s a Bat to do? Punch and think his way out, of course.
Batman: A Telltale Games Series: New World Order (iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC [reviewed], PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360)
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Released: October 25, 2016
MSRP: $4.99 (Each Episode)
Everything has been leading up to the confrontation featuring what seems to be the main collective of villains in this series — the Children of Arkham. This is Telltale’s take on the Court of Owls, a shadowy secret society lurking underneath the city of Gotham, but this time they’re harboring a grudge directly with the Wayne family, and Penguin is on board. It helps create an obvious and direct link to Bruce, which you get to play out accordingly.
And it works too, even if the web of intrigue and justification isn’t really there like it is in the Scott Snyder-penned recent comic arcs. I also had an issue with the first real choice of New World Order between two people — one person we had spent hours getting to know, and the other appears as a footnote to basically move the story along. As I’ve said a few times in coverage of the first two episodes, it’s all spread a little thin.
Telltale’s takes on classic characters have been interesting, even the skinny ruffian “old friend of Bruce” rendition of Penguin. For one, it’s nice to see a Two-Face that doesn’t feature Harvey Dent immediately going insane after his disfigurement (even in Long Halloween, a marquee Two-Face story, he retreats to the sewers for a month after stabbing his doctors following the incident in comical fashion).
One thing I would have liked to see more though is some “early Batman” development. This is still early yet in his career, but we don’t get any real Frank Miller Year One moments where he’s screwing up — he’s a bonafide badass, almost like DC gave Telltale a directive to do so. Speaking of Miller, we also don’t get any indication that Bruce is unhinged or mentally unstable, which were some of my favorite storylines featuring Batman. Instead, we just get slammed with the same “disturbed” tint involving his emotional baggage with his parents’ deaths. The fact that he leans so heavily on Alfred is something the games (including the Arkham series) nail though.
But the narrative picks up the slack, and despite a slow start, it builds into a nice crescendo and naturally, a cliffhanger. Batman: A Telltale Games Series: New World Order keeps up the status quo, with slightly enhanced screentime for Bats. That’s not a bad thing though, so if you’ve been enjoying yourself so far or fancy yourself a Batman person, three out of five good episodes so far is a safe bet.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
