BATMAN - The Telltale Series - Episode 5: City of Light Reviews
The finale is an inconsistent episode, but its highs are memorable
Aside from those few stumbles, “City of Light” overall succeeds as an action-packed finale to Batman: The Telltale Series and Telltale’s vision of the Batman universe. Though I’ve known all (or at least most) of these characters for the better part of decades, the fact that Telltale’s finale made me want to continue seeing more of Bruce Wayne/Batman, Catwoman, Harvey Dent, and its numerous familiar faces speaks well on Telltale’s careful mix of the old and new when it comes to Batman. As the episode concludes with a reveal of what may come in a potential second season, the days of crimefighting for Bruce Wayne and Batman are clearly far from over, and based on what Telltale has offered with wrapping up Batman: The Telltale Series, I’ll be waiting for more.
While I didn't have any trouble seeing this season through per se -- as the amazing action choreography helped -- City of Light did run out of gas once most of the major players bowed out. But truth be told, Telltale has created a strong universe to keep expanding on, and as long as it can keep supplanting well-known characters in the future, I can see an excuse to keep making this series more than any of its other projects to date.
An underwhelming finale to what has been a consistently disappointing season of Batman adventures, with weak storytelling and bland visuals.
With divergent paths to choose through the final two episodes, my eventual encounter with Dent was one that focussed on that original friendship and common ground between Bruce and Harvey. It was one the brought forth some of the compassion in Bruce Wayne’s character and, because of that, felt satisfying, even with moments of awkward and repetitive dialogue.
This review will contain spoilers for all previous episodes and the current episode of Batman The Telltale Series. Here are our previous reviews for episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, and episode 4.City of Light isn’t a disappointing ending by itself, but it’s a ham-fisted conclusion to an unfulfilling take on an overplayed hero. Batman in the traditional sense just isn’t interesting anymore. He’s expected. And the unexpected is also expected, to the point that we’re looking for those things that will be different. We’re looking for the younger Cobblepots, the surprise villains, and the Wayne family twists. We’re expecting everything that any new Batman can throw at us, whether it’s the same or a twist. If there is a season two, there need to be some serious refinements to the structure and approach to make it work, and if Telltale doesn’t do something about their failing engine, it won’t matter what type of Batman story they try to tell next. Engine trouble may just end up leaving them stranded.
Batman: The Telltale Series Episode 5 is a fantastic conclusion to this great series. The episode is a perfect amalgamation of everything that has worked so well in the series so far. It is also a massive improvement over its predecessors in a number of ways, and it takes the story began four episodes ago and ends it in a very satisfactory way. This is all on top of fixing most of the technical problems that have plagued the series over these last few episodes, delivering a finale that cements this as one of Telltale's best series to date.
Judged against its peers, this version of the Dark Knight is only average; DC's best hero has seen far better stories but he's seen far worse, too.
It’s been a fun and intense journey guiding Bruce and Bats over the course of Telltale’s first season of Batman.
Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 5: City of Light ends the first season with an attempt to create a noisy blockbuster, but the most part of it looks like an Indian movies parody, where characters do strange things, trying to hide the bad acting and plot behind bright flashes of drawn explosions. And even usually saving a story Joker resembles a drunk cosplayer who has fallen asleep alone on the floor at a closed game show, clutter by schoolchildren. Of course, the nonlinearity could pull the story out, but having tried both variants of events development, it never happened, which is particularly sad due to the weak script and characters.
Review in Russian | Read full review
City of Light may shine on occasion, but it too often slips into the darkness of bad writing, plot development, and characterization. A season finale that finally kills the hope of redemption for what has been a thoroughly disappointing Batman outing.
Not a great ending for a game that we've been enjoying. It is a shame.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Batman: The Telltale Series was a great first glimpse into Telltale’s darker and more sinister version of this classic universe. Discussing the finale’s ins and outs in any significant detail would take away from the experience that awaits you at the end of this adventure.
Sometimes inconsistent, other times explosive, Telltale has managed to create a Batman who is more than just the sum of his fists and gadgets. A Batman for the 21st century, whose personal pain not only motivates him but also guides as this final episode of this series reaches a satisfying conclusion.
Batman's final Telltale outing — well, for this season, anyway — is a mostly-satisfying conclusion to a fascinating, dark and unusual take on Gotham. It doesn't quite fulfill all the narrative promise of its intriguing themes, but it does wrap things up in an effective enough way.
With Batman: The Telltale Series finally done, City of Light provides an interesting final episode with some great fight scenes and final story moments. Sadly it also has the absolute worse technical issues I've seen in a Telltale episode that do a really good job not letting City of Light end on the high note it should.
An enjoyable experience with a disappointing final act. There's still plenty of potential left, if Season 2 ever comes along.
Thankfully, the flaws here were minor. Batman: The Telltale Series ended on a high note
City of Light is an underwhelming epilogue that fails to impress. Most of the time it's enjoyable to play, but it lacks an actual ending for the series.
Review in Italian | Read full review