Batman: The Enemy Within

Episode 3: The Fractured Mask - Review

Reviewed on Xbox One

The Batman universe that studio Telltale has created is one of the most compelling and interesting takes on the subject material. They stumbled pretty hard this season with episode 2, but I am happy to say that The Fractured Mask is the best entry in the entire series thus far. It fixed all the wrongs of episode 2 and turned a fumble into a touchdown.

In episode 2 you spent almost the entirety of the episode as Bruce Wayne. While it was very intriguing to spend so much time with Batman's alter ego, I felt the episode suffered a great deal without a more prominent showing from “The Dark Knight”. The Fractured Mask finds the perfect balance between the two, with you switching multiple times throughout the story. Jon (not yet the Joker) Doe and Harley Quinn get plenty of screen time and we get an even better look at how Telltale flipped that dynamic on its' head. This version of Harley and Joker is by far my favorite. Harley is the abuser to a more innocent and impressionable version of the Joker. He's no saint, but he's certainly not the monster that most have come to expect. I really can't wait to see where Telltale is going with this particular story thread. The other villains, such as Bane and Mr. Freeze, take more of a backseat approach this episode, but I believe that it was for the best.

The writers of this season really did a fantastic job this time at presenting you with choices that seem like they could have major consequences and cause ripple effects on the remaining episodes or maybe even the entire series going forward, if Telltale decides to continue this journey further. The choices involving Catwoman, who stole the show with every scene she was in, really had me fretting over what could happen down the line. I still can't tell where Telltale is going with the overall plot, which is a good thing. I hate predictable stories. This tale is full of interesting plot threads and Telltale definitely has me wanting more of this ASAP. Just like with episodes 1 & 2, the game's performance is top notch and the pacing this go around is perfect. I only have one major gripe about The Fractured Mask and that is the ending. It was very abrupt and didn't feel natural. It was like someone just pressed the stop button in the middle of a movie. Ultimately, The Fractured Mask is Telltale's strongest entry into their Batman series so far. I enjoyed it a great deal. Bring on episode 4.