Batman: The Enemy Within - PlayStation 4

Very happy with my order thankyou.

'Batman: The Telltale Game Series: The Enemy Within' is the latest in the long line of episodic adventure games from the same publisher responsible for other greats such as 'The Walking Dead', 'Game of Thrones', 'A Wolf Amongst Us' and 'Back to the Future', and the second game in a planned series of games from the publisher based on DC's Batman comic book series.Not related to any existing Batman stories or media, the game is an entirely fresh perspective on the character that is set relatively soon after Bruce Wayne has first set himself up as Gothams Dark Knight and Caped Crusader. After the events of the first game, you have now become a trusted ally of the GCPD - and their recently promoted Commissioner James Gordon - a relationship which has seen crime rates in Gotham City plummet thanks to your cooperation.However Gotham is now under attack from an old enemy from its past - the Riddler - considered by many to be the original costumed criminal, and returning after having been long thought deceased to hold Gotham under his sway with his fiendishly difficult and deadly riddles, and an agenda that is yet to be revealed.The Riddlers return to Gotham has in turn attracted the attention of Amanda Waller, head of the mysterious and clandestine off-the-books government organisation 'The Agency'.Finally, a pale faced, green haired, seemingly keen to help former inmate of Arkham Asylum known only as 'John Doe', who befriended the then imprisoned Bruce Wayne in the previous installment, returns to cash in a favor owed by the Gotham City billionaire...As with previous installments from Telltale, the game is played from a third-person perspective, using a variety of cinematic camera angles for dramatic effect and also comes divided into several TV and/or comic book-like episodes, which all contributes to a style that emulates those mediums extremely well.Playing almost like a traditional style 'point and click' adventure. You control your characters movement with one control stick, whilst moving a target reticule with the other control stick. Moving the target reticule over a point of interest will provide you with a number of options or interactions - such as to pick up an item, look inside something, analyse something, speak to another character etc - and these actions can be confirmed via one of the four buttons.The games action sequences and combat are played out utilising a series of quick-time events requiring the gamer to hit the correct buttons, sequences, or swipe the direction stick in a manner very similar to that used in Telltales other adventure games, however in Batman these sequences are by far the most exciting, challenging, detailed, visually spectacular and dynamic they have ever been, with the content and result of fights changing and raging back and forth in line with your ability as a player to hit those combinations correctly and in time.Additional features introduced in order to emulate the experience of being the Dark Knight as closely as possible, include crime scene analysis requiring you to examine a scene from various angles and levels using your detective skills and advanced technology to inspect clues such as corpses, items, and forensic residues left behind to determine what has transpired and why.Also featured are tactical combat options whereby Batman, when faced by confrontation with enemies, can form a plan of attack, taking into consideration the multiple options, weapons and skills at his disposal - deploying smoke bombs, batarangs, environmental hazards, or simple brute force - and the numbers, weapons and proficiancies of the enemies he faces.A further layer of authenticity is added by the option to explore the bat-cave, using the bat-computer to scan the news feeds and gauge the mood of the city and how it is relating to the Batmans actions, view bio's of all of the key individuals and locations you have encountered during your adventures, and also peruse a personal museum of artifacts taken from past allies and enemies.Of course, as with all of the other games from Telltale, the real key to playing is decision making, with a branching storyline that changes and adapts depending upon what you choose to do at key junctures. Those decisions may involve actions - such as making choices in combat like which way to turn, or which assailant to attack, but more commonly however they occur in dialogue with other characters you meet during your adventure.If you have played the previous volume of the game, you have the option of beginning this latest adventure with all of your previous choices still in place, which may change what kind of city Gotham is at the onset, and what kinds of relationship you have with it. Alternatively you can adopt default choices when you begin.Decisions are TOUGH. Rarely is a conversation choice ever straight forward or obvious, and rarely is it ever possible to appease all parties involved when you make a decision or predict how that conversation choice will effect the story in future episodes. Often it is not even possible to make a 'winning' decision, as you are left to choose from what is essentially a series of bad options of varying degrees. You also have to consider the types of people you are required to relate to and how your actions will influence them. Different people require different approaches and all will remember the decisions you make for better or worse. Its all brilliantly done and helps create a game in which you will agonise over almost every choice you make.Graphics and sound are excellent, with characters, locations and backgrounds created in a style remeniscent of a comic book, yet still retaining an impressive similarity to the characters as most fans will perceive them, although some characters - such as the Riddler have been heavily redesigned for a fresh perspective. Animations are slick, and I didnt experience any of the lagging that was apparant in some previous games from the publisher. Whilst the voice talent is not provided by mainstays such as Kevin Conroy, it is still very good overall.As far as complaints are concerned, the only problem I encountered is one scene where pausing the game caused a crash, although this problem hasn't been repeated since.The one thing that you need to be aware of is that - as with all of Telltales previous games of this sort - this is not a version of the full game but is in fact no more than a disc containing the first episode and a season pass that will allow you to download the subsequent episodes as they are released in the months ahead (at the time of writing the first two episodes are available for download).This is clearly stated in the item description on Amazon as well as on the box for the game, and existing fans of Telltale games should be well used to this by now, however I am absolutely sure that it will be a mere matter of time until we have our first irate one star review from an angry customer who failed to read it!If you are a fan of this particular genre of game or have enjoyed Telltales previous efforts however then I am confident that you will love it.