Dispatch Review in Progress

A superhero workplace comedy where choices matter, AdHoc Studio enters the scene with the first two episodes of Dispatch.

Do the first two episodes of Dispatch nail the superhero landing? Find out with our review in progress…

Dispatch Review in Progress

Dispatch puts the spotlight Mecha Man, aka Robert Robertson.

Yes, the game makes fun of that name.

Starting with Robert interrogating a goon, Dispatch puts players on the hunt for the Villain Shroud.

As it turns out, Shroud killed Robert’s dad – it only makes sense he wants a bit of revenge. Gathering the intel he needs, Robert hops into his Mech and becomes Mecha Man.

To be crystal clear, this isn’t some lame-ass Iron Man armor; Mecha Man is made of space marine power armor.

It’s big, it’s bulky, and its intimidating.

Once players find Shroud, they find out it was a trap, with him completely destroying your Mech.

Forced to retire, players will run into fellow superhero Blonde Blazer.

As it turns out, she has a job offer for you, with one’s Mech repaired upon completion – and one’s hero status restored.

The job is simple: dispatch heroes to problem areas and have them deal with it.

While a simple job on paper, players quickly discover the previous dispatcher only lasted two days on the job – and the one before that also quit abruptly.

As luck would have it, players are assigned to the Z team: A group of former Villains that swapped over to the Hero side. While it presents itself as a rehabilitation program for the baddies, they still have nasty attitudes.

Hazing, trolling, harassment – one will succumb to the entire gambit before the first couple Dispatch episodes are done.

Dispatch’s gameplay shines when it comes to one’s job. After sitting down, a map of the city pops up alongside all of one’s hero’s stats and abilities.

Some jobs take speed, while others take charisma – and so on and so forth.

Dispatch will have players putting the right hero on the right job to maximize points. Success nets EXP and one can then level these heroes up to make them stronger and more reliable.

However, if they fail, they get hurt – and two failures gets them off the clock.

When it came time to assemble our Dispatch team, we recruited a big scientist bat, a carnival strongman, a fire guy (but of course), a demon, an invisible girl, a golem, a hip hop artist, and a former merc turned knife enthusiast.

Despite the constant ribbing, most surprisingly got the job done – even with the aforementioned attitude.

We thought things were under control, until after the first shift Invisigirl went rogue. She then proceeded to disobey orders, harm a civilian, and let the bad guy get away.

On that note, Dispatch’s voice acting is at the top of its class.

One would expect stellar voice acting work with both star power and Critical Role backing it, but Dispatch’s excellent delivery truly brings things home.

While story can prove to be hit-and-miss outside the Robert Robertson stuff, Dispatch makes you really feel the heart and soul in each of its characters.

As an added perk, Dispatch lets players turn off its quick time events – we took advantage of this after the first episode.

We expected our first Dispatch day to be an easy one, but we found ourselves called into the boss’ office. As it turns out, despite a good shift, there isn’t enough fear on the team.

If these former Villains feel like they can do whatever they want, then they will do whatever they want.

A change has to be made if this program is going to work – but that’s a problem for Dispatch’s next episode.

As of this review, Dispatch presents the dilemma all episodic games pose: We’re all too eager to play more, but have to patiently wait for the other episodes to release. While we thoroughly enjoy Dispatch’s gameplay and story, its cliffhangers will have you desperately begging for the rest of its content.

The post Dispatch Review in Progress appeared first on GamersHeroes.