BATMAN - The Telltale Series - Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham Reviews
An enjoyable experience with a disappointing final act. There's still plenty of potential left, if Season 2 ever comes along.
Overall I'd say the game remains stable. There's not much point to doing ranking for individual aspects, but in comparison to Episodes 1-3, the story takes a small hit this time. However, replayability gets a nice boost for sure and a couple small tweaks introduce just enough variation to the mix to give gameplay a small upward adjustment.
Aside from the few technical issues we mentioned, the game was top notch as always. It seemed longer than other episodes. We have yet to play episode 5, but a friend and fellow gamer told us that episode 5 is one hour long. The episodes were said to be 20 minutes long. Episode 3 was easily half an hour. So be prepared to have a good amount of time set aside come episode 5.
Guardian of Gotham is a fantastic penultimate episode that potentially opens the doors to become one of Telltale’s most rewarding and fulfilling season’s yet.
While it may mark a slight bump in the road, Episode 4 nonetheless still offers plenty of great action and suspense that builds on what has been offered so far, and with only episode to go I’m still looking forward (more than ever) to see where the path leads in the finale to Bruce and Batman’s story.
Fans of all things Batman: if you have not yet checked out Batman: The Telltale Series, now is the perfect time to do; it gets better with every episode. Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham shows a Bruce Wayne fighting a war for Gotham on two fronts: the war in his mind and the physical war against the Children of Arkham. Thankfully, Bruce can always rely on his wits to get him out of a jam, because, thanks to newly-aggressive enemies, he can no longer put his full trust behind his tech and gadgets. With less of an opportunity to wear the cape and cowl of The Dark Knight, Bruce is perhaps the most vulnerable he has ever been in this episode. Telltale has humanized Bruce Wayne/Batman, making him seem like less of a super hero and more of an Average Joe, which isn’t a bad thing, as it makes him far more relatable.
"As the story of Telltale’s Batman series draws toward a close, Guardian of Gotham displays the problems inherent with some of the series’ structural techniques. It’s far too easy to act in a way and make some choices that will spread your investment all over the place, which doesn’t happen if you pick a clear path with clear goals and stick to it. This isn’t something that’s easily done over the span of five months. Nevertheless, some lazy writing aside in regards to some trivial matters, the episode is enjoyable, has a lot of colorful characters and builds up the finale in a way that could prove interesting, as you confront one of two antagonists. It remains to see how well it succeeds next time."
This episode felt as if it was actually shorter than the previous three episodes, but it probably had more to do with there being less exposition to take care of since we’re only an episode away from the end. I look forward to playing City of Lights to see how it all ends, and I hope that a second season is in the cards because I’ve had a lot of fun with what Telltale Games is doing with the Batman license.
A good but not great episode, Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham is not quite as strong as the last couple, but it sets up the stage for a climactic finish and does suffer from some of the usual problems that other penultimate episodes in Telltale Games' titles experience.
While the problems of previous episodes in regards to the slow story and the lack of influence on it based on the choices made remain, Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham is considerably more enjoyable. As is often the case with Batman, the villains end up stealing the spotlight here, and seeing both Cobblepot and Two-Face truly come into their own is superb. Then the finale delivers a decent cliff-hanger, and a branching option to set up the final episode. Maybe Telltale can pull this back after all!
Batman: The Telltale Series' fourth episode successfully avoids the pitfalls Telltale's penultimate episodes usually have, Guardian of Gotham is another great entry in to what may end up as Telltale's finest hour.
With a terrifying new Joker, high stakes, and some genuinely touching moments, Guardians of Gotham serves as a fantastic prelude to the upcoming finale.
Telltale’s Batman tale continues to impress and overcome its minor technical glitches to deliver one hell of a dark knight mystery.
Completely self-supporting; and that’s okay.
The writing team is doing a decent job with the direction and script of 'Batman: The Telltale Series', but the severely strained engine rears its ugly head at every opportunity. Telltale's formula and tech both are very familiar by now and have their flaws, which we've been able to overlook for the sake of an otherwise enjoyable story. The lag has nearly reached a critical mass, however.
Something is off in the fourth episode of Telltale's Batman series, which is the first episode that didn't ensnare me with its unique take on the Batman mythos. With that being said it is still worth playing if you've already invested yourself into the series.
Batman – The Telltale Series Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham definitely has a lot of good going for it, being a part of one of the best series Telltale Games has crafted to date. But it is definitely the weakest episode up to now for this otherwise stellar game.
Framerate hiccups, a few glitches and seemingly missing audio still rear their ugly head occasionally but certainly aren’t game breaking.
This is the best episode so far for this Telltale series. The story never stops advancing, action is present, investigations are not too long and it really puts the pieces in place for an explosive finale. Can't wait to see how everything will wrap up!
All things considered, I do think this is one of Telltale's better episodes, even if the illusion of choice quickly fades away with failed QTEs and a story we're no longer in control of.