Dispatch

Robert Robertson III is the third person in his family to take on the persona of "Mecha Man," using a powerful mech suit to fight crime. During one particularly tricky battle, he suffers a crippling defeat to the evil Shroud. His suit is put out of commission, and he is instead recruited to work for the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) as a dispatcher, using his knowledge of superhero tactics to help the dysfunctional guys and gals of Z-Team work better together. But Robert is also working hard to repair his mech suit and bring Shroud to justice, once and for all.

Twenty-two years ago, veterans of the LucasArts adventure game team regrouped to found Telltale Games, a company dedicated to furthering the adventure game genre, a genre rooted in good writing and storytelling. Thanks to the massive success of their 2012 Walking Dead game, Telltale went on to enjoy a prolonged period of success. Unfortunately, the company ended up over-exploiting their style of gameplay with increasingly limited innovation, and the company almost completely fell apart as disillusioned developers left. One such group of devs founded AdHoc Studio to carry on the Telltale style of gameplay, but also being bolder in how they would approach the genre.

Their first game, Dispatch, has been a deserved, high-profile success. The premise is simple: an ex-hero becomes a dispatcher, basically a 911 (or 999, in the UK) call receiver who determines what help to send. There's a lot of different, competing priorities, forcing the player to make hard choices when they can't solve every single problem simultaneously. This premise also gives the game an interesting structure we haven't quite seen before: a key gameplay loop as well as the interactive storytelling the team had perfected back in the Telltale days.

The game is divided into eight episodes, with each episode usually spanning a day and a night. Each episode has lengthy, high-quality, professionally-animated sequences that look as good as any modern 2D cartoon, as well as gameplay sequences using a map of the area showing where crimes are taking place and what heroes are available to deal with them. The gameplay sequences are relatively basic, but do increase in complexity as the game goes on, with Robert having to not only send heroes to trouble spots but sometimes has to more directly intervene to provide assistance through hacking surveillance networks or disabling the bad guys' tech. As the game goes on, the roster of heroes changes (sometimes due to Robert's actions, such as deciding which under-performing heroes to fire or which potentially useful ones to recruit), and their suite of skills and synergies with other heroes accordingly.

This core gameplay loop is interesting, but perhaps a little under-developed. It feels like you could flesh out these mechanics and make a more in-depth and interesting game entirely out of this stuff, but they wanted to retain their traditional adventure format as well. This requires taking part in conversations, choosing replies which may or may not make characters feel well-disposed towards you, navigating possible romances and trying to make the best calls to bring the team together, rather than driving them apart.

The episodic structure gives the game a pacy feel, with each episode presented as an episode of a TV series, roughly an hour long (a bit more for the finale), with a different story and character focus in each episode whilst also furthering the overall story arc. Plot and backstory revelations follow at a steady beat, with some fun twists to the story and characters. The writing is humorous without being too contrived, and the humour falling on the slightly darker edge of the spectrum is refreshing. There's some smart writing choices, and the old Telltale problem of the game not fully responding too all of your choices granularly is there but not as big an issue. There are several major choices you can make resulting in different endings, different rosters of heroes and even different missions appearing as the game goes along. Voice acting is excellent throughout, as I think is now widely-known, and at a bit under nine hours, the game has a decent length without outstaying its welcome, but is short enough to welcome replays to see other story outcomes.

This is an adventure game where the story is the main focus, rather than the city crime-solving gameplay, and sometimes the latter has a tendency to end just as it's getting interesting, which can grate a little. The game could also perhaps flesh out the team a bit more. As it stands, it feels like three or four of the characters get a ton of development, two or three more get a moderate amount and the rest can feel a little under-used.

But it's hard to criticise Dispatch (****) too much. The game is fun, funny, well-written, well-acted and has a lot of heart, even if it's not a game you're going to be sinking hundreds of hours into. The game is available now on just about every platform going.

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Telltale Games closing down, second GAME OF THRONES video game series (and others) cancelled

In surprising news, Telltale Games, the studio behind the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Wolf Among Us adventure game series (among others), is closing for good.

Telltale was founded in 2004 by ex-staff from LucasArts, the formidable studio that in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s had created some of the greatest video games ever made, from Monkey Island 2 through TIE Fighter to Grim Fandango. The studio's goal was to bring back the adventure game (a narrative-focused game where puzzle-solving and conversation is key to completing the game, rather than combat and explosions) from the abyss, overcoming issues with long development times by breaking their games into episodic "seasons" with each 2-4 hour "episode" released a few weeks or a couple of months apart. Their early games were patchy, with Sam and Max Save the World (2006) and Tales of Monkey Island (2009) - both direct sequels to LucasArts games - being moderately successful but games such as Back to the Future (2010) and Jurassic Park (2011) having a much more mixed reaction.

The studio's fortunes had a massive boost with the release of the first season of The Walking Dead in 2012. A massive critical and commercial success, selling over 28 million copies of the five episodes, The Walking Dead was praised for its focus on characterisation and storytelling over violence, especially given its zombie apocalypse setting. Telltale underwent a major expansion and its next game, The Wolf Among Us, was even more critically praised, although it did not sell as well.

However, internal dissent at the studio soon saw much of the creative team behind The Walking Dead leave and set up a rival adventure game studio, Campo Santo. Their debut game, Firewatch (2016), was an even bigger critical success than The Walking Dead and their sales were extremely strong.

Telltale released what can only be called a glut of games over the next few years: The Walking Dead - Season 2 (2013), Tales from the Borderlands (2014), Game of Thrones: The Adventure Game (2014), two seasons of Minecraft: Story Mode (2015), two seasons of Batman (2016) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2017). Although some of these had a strong critical reception, sales were somewhat disappointing for all of these games bar the Minecraft adventure titles. In early 2017 four of the studio's design leads quit simultaneously, creating a leadership vacuum that was never filled.

The studio's commitment to releasing a lot of product also alienated gamers. First, the sheer quantity of material released saw many gamers giving up trying to follow it all. In addition, the studio insisted on using the same, increasingly decrepit game engine for all of their titles. The engine was looking a bit creaky already when The Walking Dead was released, but the strong writing and voice acting overcame the problem. However, with the transition to the X-Box One/PlayStation 4 generation, the fact that the games weren't looking any better than on the X-Box 360 or PlayStation 3 irritated a lot of fans.

The release schedule also caused enormous problems in the studio. Most video game studios develop games over a period of 2-4 years, entering a period known as "crunch" in the final 3-6 months leading up to release where a lot of overtime is necessary to get the game out of the door. With most studios, the release of the game allows for a rest-and-regrouping period of at least a few weeks before work has to begin on the next title in earnest. Telltale's release schedule meant this was not possible and the studio existed in a state of "permanent crunch", with no downtime for developers to regroup before making the next game, leading to a spate of departures.

Telltale's closure means that several announced titles have been cancelled. These include second seasons of The Wolf Among Us and Game of Thrones and an ambitious Stranger Things tie-in and co-production with Netflix. What is unclear is the status of The Walking Dead: The Final Season. The first episode was released a few weeks ago, a second episode is due next week and several more beyond that. A wrapping-up crew are still working at Telltale for the next couple of months, but it is unclear if they plan to finish the season or not.

The closure of a video game studio with the resulting hundreds of job losses is always sad news, especially one that had done much to resurrect a beloved, half-vanished genre. However, the company's toxic work environment and the pressure to keep delivering quantity of content over quality appears to have helped run it into the ground. The good news is that many other companies are already snapping up Telltale developers via a Twitter campaign, and with Valve (and their formidable financial resources) recently buying Campo Santo, one wonders if they could have plans for expansion there.

GAME OF THRONES: IRON FROM ICE gets a release date

The first episode in Telltale's Game of Thrones adventure series, Iron From Ice, now has a release date.

The episode will drop on 2 December - that's next Tuesday - for PC, Mac and American PS4s. X-Box 360, XB1 and other PS4 markets will follow on 3 December. The iOS release will be on 4 December, whilst PS3 owners have to wait until 9 December for unknown reasons. Android will follow up later in the month.

The game series will consist of six episodes in total. The release dates for the remaining episodes is unknown, but it's been rumoured that the game series should wind up in time for Season 5 of Game of Thrones starting on TV, likely in the first week or so of April. That would make for a pretty tight turn-around for Telltale, who sometimes go 2-3 months between episodes on their other games, but possible if they've pre-planned this series a bit more thoroughly than some of their others.

Telltale detail their new GAME OF THRONES adventure game

Telltale Games have released the first hard info on their upcoming Game of Thrones adventure game series.

The first episode will be called Iron From Ice and will launch before the end of this year. There will be six episodes in total. Release dates have not been confirmed, but the game will take place simultaneously alongside the events of Season 4, beginning near the end of Season 3 and concluding around the time Season 5 starts. This may indicate a plan to have all six episodes out and done by the time Season 5 starts airing in late March or early April 2015.

The game will revolve around House Forrester, a relatively minor house based in the North. The Forresters are vassals of House Glover of Deepwood Motte, themselves vassals of the Starks. Their seat is Ironrath, located in the ironwood. This is a small part of the wolfswood, noted for its extremely tough trees which make for excellent houses and ships. The Forrester words are also "Iron From Ice".

The Forresters are briefly mentioned in A Dance with Dragons. However, as the Telltale game is based on the TV canon rather than the novels, none of this information should be taken as being official for the books.

In terms of gameplay, the game will use five different POV characters, either members of the Forrester family or their servants. These characters will be located in both Westeros and Essos, and the locations they visit will range from Ironrath to the Wall and King's Landing. The storyline would appear to revolve around both the Forresters' involvement in the War of the Five Kings (presumably in which they support Robb Stark) and their rivalry with House Whitehill.

The game series will be available on PC, X-Box 360, X-Box One, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4.

Telltale is planning multiple GAME OF THRONES games

Following the news about Telltale making an official Game of Thrones title over the weekend, HBO has confirmed that this deal is multi-year and will encompass several 'seasons' of gaming, in the same way that Telltale's Walking Dead game is imminently returning with a new 'season' of episodes.

The multi-year, multi-title partnership between Telltale and HBO Global Licensing is targeted to premiere digitally in 2014 with an episodic game series for home consoles, PC/Mac, and mobile devices. Specific platform details are yet to be announced.

The first part of the game is expected to be released in mid-to-late 2014.

GAME OF THRONES adventure game confirmed, FALLOUT 4 marketing exposed as a hoax

Following previous rumours, Telltale Games have confirmed that they will be releasing a Game of Thrones episodic adventure game in 2014.

Telltale, formed out of the collapse of LucasArts's adventure game division in the early 2000s, are the critically-acclaimed creators of Tales of Monkey Island, The Walking Dead (the best piece of media set in that universe to date) and their current ongoing release, The Wolf Among Us, as well as three well-received Sam and Max games. Their other games, of varying quality, include titles set in the Law and Order, CSI, Wallace and Gromit, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future franchises. Telltale have also announced another new game, Tales from the Borderlands, set in the Borderlands video game universe.

This is promising news. With both The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, Telltale have gained a reputation for well-written stories with exciting twists and unusually good characterisation. These are all things that will apply well to the Game of Thrones setting. No word on story or character yet, although Telltale usually prefer to use new characters in a setting where there is ongoing material. They are hoping to use some of the TV voice cast, so some locations and characters may overlap, but I suspect this will be mostly a new story.

"There are sex scenes on the show?" - Kevin Bruner, Telltale Games

According to Telltale there will be some sword-swinging and action, but this will not make up a lot of the gameplay. They were coyer on whether the show's sex scenes would make the translation to gaming.

Unfortunately, the promising ARG for Fallout 4 has been exposed as a hoax. Whilst Bethesda are still widely believed to be working on the game, it does not look like any formal announcement is imminent. Bethesda have faced some criticism from fans for not exposing the story as a hoax when it first appeared a month ago.

Telltale working on a GAME OF THRONES game (rumour)

Telltale Games, the well-respected adventure game studio behind the critically-acclaimed Tales of Monkey Island, The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, is developing a Game of Thrones title according to several industry reports.

"In the game of Game of Thrones, you win or you reload."

Telltale recently confirmed that they had secured a major and exciting licence. Previously they had spoken of the great potential offered by the Game of Thrones licence for storytelling, and it was a property they were interested in working on:

"I think we’d like to do that. It has a lot of what we need in a franchise, for sure. The intrigue, the threat, that looming threat that can be called in on you at any time. Or someone you love, similarly. It’s a dangerous world, basically, and a haywire, chaotic world with a lot of group dynamics. That’s super interesting."

Based on information from Westeros.org, it appears that such a game would be based on the HBO TV series rather than the Song of Ice and Fire novels. We await official word on the rumours from Telltale, HBO and George R.R. Martin. Based on the superb quality of their Walking Dead game (easily the best slice of the franchise released in any medium to date), I hope this news is true.

The Walking Dead: Season 1 (adventure game)

The dead have risen and the world has been thrown into ruin. A band of survivors gathers together to try to escape the chaos, but find that their greatest enemy may not be the walking dead, but themselves.

Much has been written about Telltale's computer game adaptation of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic series, usually involving such words as 'amazing', 'intense', 'emotional' and 'cried like a three-year-old'. They are not far off. With The Walking Dead, Telltale have achieved what may be the finest computer game adaptation of a pre-existing franchise in gaming's history, something that supports the original story whilst also standing completely on its own two feet.

The Walking Dead takes place in the same world as the comics (but not the TV series, which is an alternate reality) and is canon to them. The developers - working alongside Kirkman - take advantage of this to show off the backstory of comic characters Hershel and Glen, but for the most part the focus is firmly on the original characters created for the game. Chief amongst these is the player-controlled protagonist, Lee Everett. Lee is a criminal who was on his way to prison when the zombie apocalypse broke out, and some of the game's tension comes from whether he is honest or not about his background to his new-found friends.

The core relationship of the game is between Lee and eight-year-old Clementine, a young girl he rescues from a zombie attack on a house. A long-term goal of the game is to reunite Clementine with her parents (if they are still alive) in Savannah, Georgia, but as the game continues Lee becomes convinced that the chances of her parents still being alive are very slim and takes on a father-figure role himself. The relationship is well-portrayed by the writers and actors, with the apparent oddness of an unrelated non-parent (who is also a convicted felon) caring for a young girl he just met being addressed. The characterisation is extremely strong, though to so more of it may risk spoilers (a problem for any review of the game).

The game has echoes of events from other incarnations of The Walking Dead, such as whether it's a good idea to teach young children how to use firearms against zombies or not, but Telltale puts their fresh spin on each idea as it comes up. Particularly well-handled is the way that the same major worldbuilding bits of information from the graphic novels are discovered by this group of characters, but in a rather different manner to the comics. For example, the knowledge that everyone will become a zombie when they die (regardless of whether they are bitten or not) - a major revelation in the comics and TV series - comes up almost immediately in the game, whilst a more minor piece of info about the zombies that the comic series threw in almost immediately takes a long time to come up in the game, and is much more decisive (and horrible).

The Walking Dead's storyline is impressive, with the zombies acting as a catalyst for how the characters interact with one another and deal with the pressure of a crumbling civilisation. The game hits many of the same beats as the TV series and the comics, but in a much more immersive way due to the way your decisions have lasting consequences, and some events can be changed. The dialogue is well-written, with each of the five episodes having its own self-contained plot and thematic arc as well as contributing to the overall storyline of the game. Given the lack of time (even at 15 hours, there a lot of characters to get through), Telltale achieve an impressive amount of depth for each character in the game as well. In terms of writing, structure and pacing, The Walking Dead is excellent.

Where the game comes off the rails a bit is the gameplay. Simply put, you spend the majority of your time watching The Walking Dead, rather than playing it, and most of your controls are based around choosing dialogue options. The sections where you get to take control of Lee, talk to other characters at leisure, explore areas and solve puzzles are the most fun in the game, but also the rarest (roughly boiling down to one or two such sections per episode). There's also a significant number of irritating Quick Time Events as well. It's a tribute to the writing skills of the team behind the game that these issues are not the total game-killers they'd be in other titles, but it does make The Walking Dead less of a game and more of an interactive comic (though still a very good interactive comic).

More problematic is the fact that the game is sold as one where your choices matter, but the truth of that is up for debate. At one stage you choose to save one character or another and this leads to some different character scenes and dialogue for a while, but ultimately has no long-term ramifications. The major beats of the plot and most character deaths also happen regardless of your dialogue and choices, with what you do more impacting on other characters' reactions to you and what they do rather than anything substantive in the storyline. Oddly this doesn't seem to matter: moreso than in most games, it's the journey that matters much more than the resolution.

The Walking Dead (****½) is an intense, well-written and extremely atmospheric adventure game, but one where you do not have as much control over what is going on as what is promised or written. How much of an issue this is will be up to the player, but I found it easily ignored in favour of the smart writing and the fascinating character relationships. The Walking Dead: Season 1 is available now on PC, X-Box 360 (UK, USA), PlayStation 3 (UK, USA) and iPad/iPhone. A second 'season' will be released later in 2013.