One of gaming’s most anticipated games of the year is finally here, well part of it is at least. I’m talking about “Dispatch,” a superhero comedy story-based game from “Adhoc Studio.” It tells the story of Robert Robertson (yes, that is his name), also known as Mecha-Man. Due to unfortunate circumstances, the Mecha-Man suit is destroyed, and without superpowers of his own – it looks as though Robert will have to retire from heroing.
But that’s when another hero comes along and offers Robert a chance to keep saving lives and helping the public. He’s given the opportunity to join the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN), and work as a dispatcher, sending a team of superheroes out to locations in the city. In return for helping to train and mentor this batch of young heroes, the SDN tells Robert that it will repair his suit – helping him to become Mecha-Man once again.
“Dispatch” is being released episodically over the next three weeks, with two new episodes being released every Wednesday. The first two episodes, titled “Pivot” and “Onboard,” released on October 22nd. This is very similar to the old Telltale games from the 2010’s, which makes a lot of sense considering “Adhoc Studio” is made of former Telltale employees.
Playing through the first two episodes, “Dispatch” has a lot of positive things going for it. It’s well-written, and the dialogue between characters feels both real and is often times very humorous. The characters make this story, and their are plenty to choose from including; Robert, the dry-humored Phenomaman, the flamboyant Flambae, and the erratic Invisigirl (formerly known as Invisib*tch). Their interactions which both each other, and the player character, are rather enjoyable.
It is also worth noting that the voice acting for “Dispatch” is a serious strong point, with industry veterans from Critical Role like Travis Willingham and Laura Bailey, to established on-screen actors like Aaron Paul and Jeffrey Wright, to popular YouTubers like Alanah Pearce. The performances help to bring the characters to life, which in turn helps to immerse the player in the world of the game.
Other positives include good artwork and the gameplay itself. Gameplay can be organized into two separate categories; the story aspects, and the dispatch aspects. The story aspects are again similar to the old Telltale games, where players will be given choices for dialogue or quick-time events that leave lasting impacts on the story, or influence how certain characters feel about you as the story progresses. The dispatch aspects of the game include the player sitting in the dispatch chair and sending members of their hero team to take care of problems in the city. Different characters have different strengths, and different situations require different skills. How they perform in these situations can impact their experience, and allows for the player to level them up to improve them. There’s also a hacking mini-game that the player can do to help alleviate situations, or help their heroes in a jam.
I found the gameplay to be fun, from both aspects, but I do have some concerns. As someone who was a big fan of the previous Telltale games (Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us), I love the idea of being able to influence the story in big ways by utilizing different decisions. I think some of these choices will have impacts in future episodes, but for the direct impact in episodes 1 and 2, it didn’t really feel like the choices made changed the story. It feels often like Option A and Option B were always going to lead to a certain dialogue option from characters. This isn’t necessarily a problem, because the story is still good, but it does leave the player wanting more. With the dispatch aspects of the game, the gameplay is fun, but it really feels like a guessing game for sending heroes to situations until after the first playthrough. This is despite there being a tutorial in episode one, which talks about strengths and weaknesses of the different heroes, but doesn’t give much insight into which situations might require each of the strengths.
However, both of these things could be improved upon as the game continues to release more episodes and the story continues to develop. I do think it’s worth noting that while the gameplay is fun, it is rather short. I spent maybe two hours total playing through the first two episodes the first time. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it was a fun experience, but it did leave me wanting more and wishing the episodes were longer. I would much rather preferred the episodes being around two hours long each, and expanding upon the story or giving players longer in the dispatch chair. But this is a complaint that will almost certainly be fixed once all the episodes release and players can play all eight episodes consecutively.
Overall, I think “Dispatch” is worth playing and lives up to the hype – so far. If you enjoy story-based games, which comedic undertones, “Dispatch” may just be the game for you. It’s enjoyable, it’s funny, and it packs a powerful punch in its first two episodes. As of this moment, “Dispatch” has earned a GameSprytes 9/10 rating.
GameSprytes 
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