Batman The Telltale Series Episode 3 New World Order
The pieces set up in the first two episodes of Telltale’s Batman series are now in full motion, The Children of Arkham are wrecking havoc on Gotham, Harvey Dent is having a nervous breakdown, Bruce and Selina hook up and Oswald Cobblepot has replaced Bruce Wayne as the head of Wayne Enterprises.
The revelations brought forth by The Children of Arkham at the end of Episode 2, that Bruce’s parents were criminals, has led the board of Wayne Enterprises to push Bruce out. Oswald Cobblepot has managed to wipe his criminal record clean and since Cobblepot’s family name and fortune suffered because of the Waynes, the board of Wayne Enterprises saw fit to put The Penguin in charge as an act of restitution.
As for Harvey Dent, he was badly disfigured in the last episode and we find him slipping into madness. I never liked the Two-Face character very much but this portrayal is particularly menacing with a football player’s frame and Travis Willingham’s quiet grumblings that increase as the two sides of Dent begin fighting for control. Catwoman saves Batman after a clash with the Children of Arkham and Bruce spends the night with Selina. When Harvey shows up the next morning and finds Bruce their, it’s just another straw that’s going to break the camel’s back.
Overall, the pace of the story has picked up as well as the action. The quicktime events haven’t changed, but now the consequences are more dire. In the first episode, Batman wasn’t going to get offed by some lowly henchmen, but now the smallest slip up can spell doom for Caped Crusader. The episode ends on another cliffhanger as Lady Arkham’s identity is revealed to us. I think this is the best of the series so far and I love what Telltale is doing with both the old and new characters, the confidence in their ability to weave interesting narratives makes these games so fun to play.
