How far will the Children of Arkham go?
Episode 2 of the Batman series from Telltale really upped the ante, introducing Penguin’s master-plan but also unveiling a group called the Children of Arkham with a masked nemesis at the helm, while also giving birth to the Two-Face storyline that seemed inevitable. Episode 3 picks up shortly after with Harvey Dent recovering in hospital from his attack from Penguin.
The Children of Arkham continue to attack the city and the GCPD are so over-run that Jim Gordon calls a truce with Batman for the night to work together. Batman rescues one of Gordon’s officers from them and heads to Harvey after they target him, but finds that Harvey has killed the one after him, allegedly in self-defence. Are we really buying that?
The Wayne name is dirt after the truth about Bruce’s father was unmasked in Episode 2, so much so that Wayne Enterprises ask him to not only stand down as CEO, but to hand the position over to none other than Oswald Cobblepot, who is faking a rich English accent and has somehow managed to hide his criminal record from everyone. Bruce is frustrated, but you can choose to either accept it or give him a lovely punch…which I opted for…Smug bastard deserved it in my book.
Vicki Vale somehow manages to get an interview with the masked leader of the Children of Arkham, which obviously prompts Batman to find out where they met…the location leads to a train that is fitted to distribute the hallucinating drug that made Officer Montoya kill Falcone in Episode 2. Batman does manage to foil the attack, but has to be saved by Catwoman and after he and Selina can get pretty close, too close if you want to…which has repercussions in the morning when Harvey knocks on the door…
Naturally, the Two-Face storyline is progressing as planned. Harvey’s already losing the battle with the other personality, but it’s the twist at the end that changes everything during the press conference where Bruce steps down as CEO. A quick glimpse of the “Next time on…” teases at the after effects of the twist and hopefully it won’t be too long before it arrives either…
It’s definitely the most intense episode yet, seeing Harvey’s descent into madness is superb, while watching Penguin faking an accent and being overall smug about stealing everything from Bruce is frustratingly brilliant. With 2 episodes still to go in the first season, it’s going to take a lot for Batman to overcome Two-Face, Penguin and the Children of Arkham, as well as their leader…plus who knows if anyone else from Batman’s Rogue Gallery will show up before the season is done and dusted?
I did notice a few framerate drops during some choices, but nothing that I haven’t seen before and nothing that seemed to impact the story or gameplay. Voice-acting is superb as usual and the visuals are still holding up nicely.
The Verdict
Episode 3 pushes the series further with some pretty big revelations and choices, will you romance Catwoman? Will you punch Penguin? Will you step down gracefully as CEO? These and other choices are yours to make. Telltale have done a great job in giving choice, while still maintaining the classic Batman story arcs, especially with Two-Face who looks amazingly creepy and I feel still has a much larger role to play as the season pushes towards it’s climax. The penultimate episode is up next and will no doubt set the stage for it and I for one, cannot wait.