Dispatch, A Review

Dispatch was originally conceived as an interactive series, back in the day when such things were breaking through on Netflix. After the coronavirus, those plans fell through, and Dispatch ultimately became the game we can play today on PC and PS5 platforms. 

However, Dispatch is more watched than played, as it actually hasn't strayed very far from its initial idea of being a TV series. We thus have the story divided into eight episodes, and the interactivity is truly minimal. This doesn't mean that Dispatch isn't fun, but I emphasize that you should know right away that you won't get that fun from the gameplay.

If you’re in a mood for something pretty terrible to play, or just have a fun read, check out our Painkiller (reboot) review!

A World of Heroes and Villains: The Universe of Dispatched

The story is set in an original universe, more precisely in a Los Angeles where superheroes and supervillains exist. People with superpowers, mutants, cyborgs, aliens, demons, and that sort of crowd. The main character is a superhero, but he isn't in the group mentioned above because he doesn't have any special powers. Robert Robertson is Mecha Man, a guy who pilots a wicked mech suit that has been passed down for three generations in his family from father to son. 

That is, Robert was Mecha Man because right at the beginning of the game he loses that suit in an attempt to put a stop to his father's killer. But that's not the end of his story, as he soon gets the opportunity to become a dispatcher at a superhero center. There, Robert forms new friendships and affections, but is also forced to collaborate with the Z-Team, a group of former criminals whom he, as a mentor, is supposed to guide onto the righteous, heroic path.

The central part of the gameplay in Dispatch puts you, therefore, in the role of a dispatcher. You have eight characters at your disposal whom you send into the field when emergencies break out. The heroes have ratings from 1 to 10 in the categories of strength, endurance, speed, charisma, and intellect, and depending on these ratings you have to guess which heroes would be best for which situation. Successfully resolving situations gives the characters XP, which leads to improvements in their ratings, while mission failure can temporarily incapacitate a character.

The main part of the gameplay in Dispatch puts you in the role of a dispatcher and you have eight characters at your disposal whom you send into the field when emergencies break out.

How Gameplay Works in Dispatched

All these missions take place on a static screen, and you only occasionally jump in to help in two ways. Sometimes you choose how your field agents will resolve a case, and in other situations, you have a hacking mini-game that isn't particularly complex but knows how to raise the tension by forcing you to think quickly under a countdown. This dispatcher part of the game gradually becomes more challenging as the plot progresses, but it will never punish you with a failure or a game over screen.

None of the mechanics of the dispatcher gameplay are boring or tedious. In fact, the whole thing can be quite dynamic. Sometimes the characters go silent and ignore your commands, occasionally you have to time and weigh when to respond to which call, then you send characters to training, and so on. However, this entire segment in no way carries over to the rest of the game or its story. Perhaps in one or two cases it matters how successful you are at your job, but most of the time this whole job is there just so something is happening, and the story will continue one way or another whether you do anything or not.

This is generally the case with the gameplay in Dispatch. You have QTE mechanics that serve practically no purpose and can even be completely turned off. Decision-making always boils down to choosing between two or three offered things, never more than that. And since you have no direct control over the main character, shaping the story boils down to pressing one of three buttons. Because of all this, Dispatch doesn't offer much in terms of gameplay.

Why the Narrative Takes Center Stage

There aren't really any optional puzzles, side exploration, or item collection. Which is a shame because the world of this game seems interesting and you want to explore it in more detail. On the other hand, at least the dynamism of the plot favors the game's pace. Just like in some kind of series, scenes follow one another, and something is always happening here. 

There is none of that classic video game moment where everyone stands around waiting for you to do something. I mean, this approach has both good and bad things – it's up to you to figure out how important interactivity is to you, i.e., how willing you are to accept that in Dispatch you don't have control like in other games.

With Dispatch, the story is the center of attention, and so the good news is that this part of the game is fantastic. The superhero theme is, thanks to Marvel, quite worn out today, but Dispatch is not another discussion on a variation of the message "With great power comes great responsibility." Instead, the game deals with themes of community and trust within the group, while on the other hand also dealing with personal stories and the individual problems of the characters. All of this is told in an appealing way, without dry sermons and clichés.

A Well-Measured and Character-Driven Comedy

I think there are no pointless or unnecessary characters in this story. You get to know some a bit more, some a bit less, but all enough to get a clear impression of their characters. Intimate bonding with individual characters is also possible, and this is one of the drivers of the story, a driver which, surprisingly, wasn't used often in similar games by Telltale Games. 

All characters are well-written, have interesting conflicts, and humorous ways of expression. From the clumsy Waterboy, whose power is regurgitating water, to the extraterrestrial Phenomaman who is depressed because of a breakup, all characters grow on you very quickly.

I would say the humor in Dispatch is well-measured: it's not forced or overly childish, but probably not all jokes will work for everyone. Maybe a good portion of the things won't be funny to you, especially if you don't catch some of the pop culture references. But I think it's positive that the game doesn't try to be funny at all costs.

Voice Acting and Music in Dispatched

Regarding the branching of the story, the player's decisions accumulate and lead to several possible endings. These story endings aren't drastically different from each other, but the game maintains the illusion throughout that you are making important decisions. Of course, everything is directed and linear in the Telltale manner, but you only see this after a second playthrough, by which time you've already spent about 15 hours in the game.

 In any case, there is definitely motivation to play the whole thing through at least twice, although you won't miss anything even if you watch the alternative endings as recordings on YouTube. There are a few minor plot holes, but they are easy to ignore if you don't nitpick.

Presentation-wise, Dispatch is at a top level. The voice acting is excellent, which is not surprising given the cast includes names like Aaron Paul and Jeffrey Wright. The music is something between that for superhero cartoons and that for modern sitcom series, and even if the genre doesn't suit you, you'll probably agree that it's well-suited. 

The animation is top-notch, but we can't really put it in the context of video games since here we have no control over the character during the narrative. We can only praise that there are no visible loading pauses between scenes; everything flows smoothly – as if you're really watching a television series.

In Conclusion

And that, in the end, is it. It's hard for Dispatch to escape that comparison with a TV series. I don't consider it a cardinal sin that the game is of such a format, but I also don't see it as some evolution of what we had before with Telltale games. We lost significant interactivity here and gained only a faster story pace without fillers. 

The freedom to shape the story is still largely just a skillful illusion, but the whole thing is saved by a well-written plot with interesting characters and well-judged humor. More could have been done through this format, e.g., better connecting the results in the gameplay with the story's development. However, I don't want to fault this game too much for that. We had to start somewhere, and now at least we have the foundations for greater expectations from the inevitable second season.

Game Rating & Reason:7.5/10

I would rate Dispatch a 7.5/10 because it features a fantastic, well-told story with excellent characters and presentation, but it is significantly held back by its minimal, often inconsequential, and repetitive gameplay that offers very little player agency.

Age Recommendation:13+

I would recommend this game for kids aged 13 and up due to its complex character-driven narrative, themes of mentorship and redemption, and some mild humor and peril that are better suited for a teenage audience rather than younger children.

Gemini AI Summary

Dispatch is a narrative-focused, minimally interactive game, much like an interactive TV series, set in an original superhero universe, featuring a fantastic story, excellent characters, and top-tier presentation, but it is hampered by simplistic and largely inconsequential gameplay that offers little player agency.