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Batman: The Enemy Within: Episode 2 - The Pact
Score: 91%
Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Media: Download/1
Players: 1; 2 - 12 (Crowd Play)
Genre: Adventure

Previously on Batman: The Enemy Within:
Batman: The Enemy Within: Episode 2 - The Pact deals with the aftermath of Batman's encounter with Riddler and his plan to take out all of Waller's agents in one fell swoop. In his race against Riddler, Batman not only found himself going up against one of the biggest enemies Gotham had ever seen, but along the way, he also lost a friend and ally. Now, with Riddler dead, apparently at the hand of one of his own crew, Batman has to figure out a way to learn more about The Pact, who it is comprised of, and exactly what they want. Interestingly enough, it's Bruce Wayne who will have most of the screen time this episode as it is the billionaire playboy that not only has the right connections, but even the right excuses to go digging where Batman cannot.

Harley and John:
Batman: The Enemy Within: Episode 2 - The Pact has Bruce Wayne calling on John Doe, the pale-faced, green-haired man Bruce met at Arkham, to learn more about John's friends that are clearly the same people Riddler was working with. With John's help, he meets Harleen Quinzel, a former psychiatrist who has her own problems, and she decides to test Bruce in a way that will make it hard to both protect the people Bruce has to interact with, and keep his public image from being dirtied more than it already is. What's really interesting though, is we get the first tidbits of Telltale's version of John (as the not-quite Joker) and Harley's relationship.

Telltale's Batman doesn't have a problem shaking up the standard character roles, especially in last season's reveal of Thomas Wayne's dark past. Here, the developers change things up yet again with John and Harley's relationship. Typically, Harley is seduced and turned by Joker's cleverness and insanity so that she becomes the clown-themed villainess modeled after Joker and she finds herself falling for, swooning over, and at Joker's beck-and-call. While more recent stories have her breaking out on her own and getting away from the abusive relationship, I've never seen this particular twist on the couple's story.

In The Enemy Within, Harley is fully realized in her villain role, complete with clown motif, and it is John Doe who is infatuated with her and doing whatever he can to impress his love. Meanwhile it's obvious to Bruce and everyone else that Harley mainly wants to play games with his affection and use it to manipulate John. She makes several comments about John still trying to find himself and figure out exactly who and what he is supposed to be. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out as John becomes more and more Joker-like and just how their relationship will play out as this season continues to unfold.

Once Bruce finishes with Harley's quest, he gets an invite to help The Pact work on their next big job, but Harley and John aren't the only ones Bruce will have to convince if he wants to learn exactly what the group of villains is up to and stop them.


Know Your Enemy:
Batman: The Enemy Within: Episode 2 - The Pact spends a lot of time in the evil group's hideout as Bruce tries to learn what their plan is. Bruce is introduced to Bane and Mr. Freeze and since The Pact is apparently run by democratic vote, if Bruce is going to learn more, he is going to have to become friendly with one or both of these villains in order to get the majority vote Bruce needs to ride along in the team's next heist.

In talking with the others in The Pact's lair, Bruce will learn more about Bane and Freeze and what it takes to get on their good side, but Bruce will have to be careful. Freeze might just see through Bruce's words as an attempt to manipulate him, while Bane's brutal views on loyalty could have Bruce crossing lines that Batman should not go near. How you interact with Freeze and Bane will influence just how much The Pact actually trusts Bruce Wayne, and that trust will be important considering just how the job turns out and the choices you have to make during the heist.


Next Time on Batman: The Enemy Within:
While Batman: The Enemy Within: Episode 2 - The Pact doesn't present much in the way of hard choices, there are a few places where relationships and feelings towards Bruce Wayne/Batman are altered. There are times when you choose to call on Waller or Gordon, or to side with one of them in an argument. Who you choose will affect one relationship positively, while the other one turns a bit sour. There is another point where you end up confronting someone and have to choose how much to tell them, and that, too, should influence their behavior towards Bruce and Batman as the story unfolds, but exactly how strongly these events will change those characters' behavior is unknown, and with three episodes left, there is a lot of room for The Enemy Within to grow and change. Couple these relationships with The Pact's final scene and it's obvious that in Episode 3 - Fractured Mask, the guano is about to hit the fan.

-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

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