When I first played the Dispatch demo, which was launched during the Steam Next Fest, it immediately grabbed my attention. The demo included likable characters voiced by prominent internet personalities, voice actors, and television stars. Not only that, it also featured a plot shrouded in mystery while feeling lighthearted.
Fortunately, after the full release, it is clear that AdHoc’s maiden voyage as a brand-new studio feels pretty solid, as Dispatch Episode 1 & 2 does a stellar job of setting the foundations for what to expect in the upcoming weeks. Frankly, Dispatch was a great break from the popular Nintendo JRPG Pokémon Legends Z-A.
It has a charismatic cast, some crisp FMVs, and the same decision-making you’d see from the Telltale-developed video games, which makes sense since AdHoc Studio consists of the original Wolf Among Us and Tales From Borderlands team. When you consider that, the DNA of those past games is clearly evident in Dispatch.
Since Dispatch is being released in an episodic format, our review will primarily focus on Episodes 1 & 2. With that said, what can you expect from the first week of the game? Let’s take a look.
Robert Robertson the 3rd Becomes a Dispatcher
The game primarily follows Robert Robertson, a California-based third-generation superhero who goes by the name Mecha Man. When a particular plan in nabbing a supervillain named Shroud goes awry, Mecha Man decides to step down from the limelight as he loses his suit in the aftermath of the tussle with the supervillain gang.
Fate had other plans for him, as Robert later gets recruited by a superhero named Blond Blazer to work as a dispatcher for their superheroes. This leads us to a story about an ex-hero trying to get back to the life he is more familiar with. Episodes 1 and 2 clearly focus on setting the foundations for Robert’s story, introducing us to the characters we’ll frequently see in the upcoming weeks.
The story itself is the strongest portion of the game in the first two episodes. Some people might say, “Wow, a story in an interactive medium is good? Shocker!” Sometimes, games falter when it comes to finding a balance between a good storyline and lovable characters. Sometimes the story is good, the cast isn’t, and vice versa.
In the case of Dispatch, both the story and the characters maintain a fine balance, where both complement each other. Without the characters, Dispatch’s well-paced story won’t exist. Similarly, without the lore foundations and the stakes, these characters won’t work. Dispatch Episodes 1 and 2 understand that and do a great job adhering to it.
Charming Characters Breathing Life into the Story
Dispatch Episodes 1 & 2 feature a star-studded cast of popular internet personalities and some of the well-known voice actors in the video-game scene. These two parts aren’t a shocker when you consider that AdHoc partnered with Critical Role for this game. For the uninitiated, Critical Role is a well-known web series in which some of the popular voice actors play Dungeons and Dragons. And a lot of Critical Role’s mainstays voice some of the important side characters in this game.
The main guy, Robert Robertson the 3rd, is voiced by Aaron Paul. You might know him from that one not-so critically acclaimed Need for Speed movie. Oh, and he also acted in Breaking Bad. Aaron brings Robert to life, giving him a dry, cynical humor, which I kind of can’t stop comparing sometimes to Peter Parker’s humor.
Similarly, every voice actor in this game knows their role and brings each character assigned to them alive. When you have a cast of voice actors who are adept at their art form and assign them their work, they’ll do a great job. Even newcomers like Alanah Pearce, Jackscepticeye, and Moistcritikal are phenomenal in voicing their respective characters.
And a special mention to the voice acting of Jeffrey Wright, who, by far, voices one of my favorite characters in Dispatch episodes 1 & 2 – Chase. A foul-mouthed, cynical yet funny individual, who used to be a superhero before he became a victim of accelerated aging every time he ran at high speeds.
The cast of Dispatch mimics the feel of old Telltale games, but somehow, makes themselves and the game so starkly different that you’d sit down and make those comparisons with the old Telltale cast, but still appreciate and love each of these characters.
Your Choices Shape The Outcomes
Primarily, the first two episodes of Dispatch include pre-recorded FMVs playing each scene and story to the players, and at a point, the player makes key decisions. Depending on your decision, the future outcomes in the later episodes will change.
Unlike games by Telltale, where you had some player involvement, Dispatch, however, barely has any. You won’t be interacting with the world in any possible way, and stick to making decisions and the dispatching portion.
The first episode primarily has you play some QTEs during a fight, which has no real failure states if you miss pressing the buttons. It is included in a fight. So, even if you miss pressing a button, it makes sense. It is a weird inclusion, where if you turn off the system, the fight feels uncanny to watch. But when you turn it on, playing it feels like a chore.
Outside of the QTE, you briefly play through the Dispatching game, which is a tutorial on how to do the thing. These are the only actual gameplay in the first episodes.
In the second episode, you are formally introduced to the dispatching. Unfortunately, if you’ve played the demo, that is pretty much the only gameplay that gets featured in the second episode. There’s not a lot you get to do in this episode, except make some major choices between Robert and the cast.
The actual dispatching system is fun. You attend dispatch calls for SDF, where each call comes with a requirement. Sometimes, it might be a group of goons taken care of. Other times, it can be addressing the public. Fortunately, your roster also includes heroes that are great at some jobs. So, depending on the priority, you send each of these heroes and let them do the job.
After each successful job, your hero sometimes gets a skill point, which you can use to improve their overall stat. In practice, juggling through call priority and choosing the right hero for the job is fun. Unfortunately, the actual dispatching you do in the first two episodes is minuscule.
Which brings me to the issue I think I’ll have in the upcoming weeks – the barebones gameplay. Dispatch gets marketed as a choose-your-adventure game with a well-established storyline. That is fine, and it is so well done that most of the game’s shortcomings can be ignored.
But when you market your game as a superhero dispatch game, and that is for 40 minutes in the first two episodes, it does raise some concerns. Hopefully, players get to do more than make choices and watch the story unfold in the upcoming weeks.
The gameplay portion of Dispatch is lacking, which again gets overshadowed by the cast and the story. Still, if you are expecting gameplay out of the game, temper your expectations. If they don’t have a whole lot of dispatching by the end of the season, the devs can hopefully add a separate infinite dispatching mini-game.
Overall, I don’t really hate the overall gameplay available in Dispatch episodes 1 & 2. To me, the characters and the story decision-making make up for the general lack of gameplay. It goes without saying, however, that in the future, I hope we get a more in-engine interaction with the world; something like what Telltale Games used to do.
Closing Words
Dispatch episodes 1 & 2 clearly want to set down the agenda – that it is a great series where you get to make the decisions and outcomes of the story. It also eases the players into the world and the adventures by introducing a cast of characters in which you’ll find someone you’ll like. It also establishes a world and a story that isn’t dull within the first five minutes.
Where it makes up for the story, characters, and decision-making, it falters in the gameplay, or the general lack of it. Hopefully, the upcoming episodes rectify some of these problems. As of now, Dispatch episodes 1 & 2 are great introductory episodes, and clearly deserve their well-earned attention. Fans of narrative-driven games will love what Dispatch has to offer, and if you loved the old Telltale Games, you might find something to love here.
THIS REVIEW WAS MADE POSSIBLE THANKS TO A CODE PROVIDED BY AdHoc Studio (via ICO Partners)
