It’s hard to believe the world of Dispatch has only been with us since October and that its taken me this long to write about it! The fact I’ve played the game through about five or six times already might explain it, however!
I absolutely adore this game, it feels original, fun, and I’m fully invested in this world. So, what is it?
Firstly, it is a video game but at the same time it’s not that in the more traditional sense. It’s very much story based, a sort of choose your own adventure mechanic that has been presented in individual episodes building the overall story arc, that were released over 4 weeks to form the first season. It very much felt like a TV series, and it really did become a ticking off the days until the new episodes sort of deal!
Now that the first season is complete, and I’ve had time to reflect, I honestly just want to keep playing it again and again, so I can choose different options, and see the many different outcomes.
So what is so special about this game? The most relevant bonus has to be Aaron Paul voicing the main character, whos name is Robert Robertson the third. As you may come to expect, with Paul being involved, Robert is a lovely slice of complicated. We are introduced to Robert as he’s interrogating a man, and its clear Robert has ‘a few things on his mind’. One of the first decisions you are presented with is whether Robert drops a man from a balcony or not… you then learn that Robert is actually a superhero called Mecha Man – wearing a suit of iron man type armour, that enables Robert to keep LA safe.
However soon into the story we see the suit is destroyed, the big bad, a villian called ‘Shroud’ defeats our hero who now faces an uncertain future without the suit, and wihout his super powers the suit gave him. There’s more to all this, see he is Robert Robertson the third, and the two Roberts before him, his grandfather and his father were the first two Mecha Mans – and both died in the suit, with his father’s death being connected to Shroud. So to be suitless, but alive, gives Robert a mini-crisis of confidence. He is now a normie.
And this is where the game really comes to life. Robert is soon ‘recruited’ to join The Superhero Dispatch Network, SDN for short. They vow to fix his suit, and in return Robert takes up the position of a dispatcher, a desk job taking charge of the Z-Team under the Pheonix Program. As the prefix suggests, this team are the lowest of the low, and in fact are a group of ex-super villians trying to make up for thier past crimes (the pheonix program) and its now Robert’s (and yours) task to guide this group to greatness, or a least try.
The gameplay is simple, you react to on screen conversation/action prompts during the story parts and then it turns into more decision based when you do a shift as the ‘dispatcher’ and this involves accepting jobs and chosing the best ‘hero or horoes’ to respond to that job – now you can’t take this for granted, the choices you make, the heroes you choose makes a difference and will count towards your own story progression and ultimately the end game. So choose wisely and well, pay attention to those skills and relationships because everyone gets to the end, but which ending will you get and is it the one you want?
Where Dispatch really shines is the characters, each and every character has flaws, has their own story that as the game plays out you become attached to in the best way. You will maybe not be so keen on some, instantly fall for others but over time you quickly embrace them all, faults and all! You need to learn their strengths, understand their very different superpowers.
There’s FLAMBAE who can literally become fire, he’s full of sass and doesn’t like Robert from the off but steals one of the best moments of the game when he does karaoke! Then you have SONAR, a half bat, half man hybrid, plus a Harvard graduate with a drug problem, an interesting mix! You then have INVISAGAL, a troubled young women who can turn invisable, crushes on Robert and loves to eavesdrop. There’s PUNCHUP, who has all the strength but aims low due to his height, and GOLEM, a magical mud based creature who just needs to learn some discipline. There’s famous singer PRISM, she has talent, style and attitude, plus a blinding laser power that literally renders people sightless if caught in the cross fire. MALEVOLA is a stunning Australian half demon, an icon of many cults who can simply portal anywhere shes needed. Finally there’s COUPE, an ex-assassin for the mob who may have some anger issues going on, she’s not one of mess with.
As well as the Z-Team you also have an array of supporting characters, BLONDE BLAZER, WATERBOY, PHENOMAMAN, CHASE and ROYD to name a few, it feels a disservice calling them supporting because trust me, these characters are just as amazing and play an important part in the overall story.
I also can’t forget BEEF, Roberts little pudding of a doggo who is just adorable – protect him at all costs!!
I honestly could go on and on about these characters and key story parts that I love to revisit, but the true joy is playing the game and discovering all their quirks, humour and moments for yourself. This game grabs you, and a true snap of originality that sometimes you forget the ‘game’ and miss an action in the story (thankfully if you do time out, there’s a default response lol).
The success of this game can not be ignore – already nominated for a number of awards, and will certainly be winning a host of them in the coming year. Even if you are not a gamer, if you have a PC, definately give this game a go – the controls are simple, and there’s even two options of how you play, if you prefer to keep things easy! I guarantee no matter how you play, you will enjoy the ride.
And I must touch once again on the amazing work Aaron Paul displays here, his voice work is a skill he needs to be more recognised for. He brings a depth to Robert that draws you into his story, with equal amounts of sarc and humour that makes the character so endearing. The fact ‘Dispatch’ already has over 3 million players, plus over 3,000 fanfics posted on AO3 is testament enough that this game, and all it’s characters have really captured the imaginations of many many fans!
I can’t wait for the next installment, but considering Aaron Paul said it took 2 years to record all of his voice script for this first one, I fear we may have to show patience and expect a bit of a wait – but I’ll be here for it when it’s ready! 🙂
