Dispatch Review: With Great Power Comes Great Paperwork
Dispatch · AdHoc Studio
▶ SCORE9.0/10
MMichael
Must Play
▶ TL;DRDispatch is a superhero workplace comedy that nails what matters most: characters you'll genuinely care about and writing sharp enough to carry the entire experience. You play as Robert Robertson, a disgraced hero forced to manage a team of reformed villains from behind a desk. The dispatching gameplay is simple but satisfying, the voice cast (Aaron Paul, Laura Bailey, Jeffrey Wright) delivers stellar performances, and the art style is gorgeous. Some choices feel railroaded and the toilet humour doesn't always land, but when the emotional beats hit, they hit hard. If you miss the golden era of Telltale Games, this is exactly what you've been waiting for.
There's been no shortage of superhero media over the past decade. From the MCU's dominance to the rise of darker deconstructions like The Boys and Invincible, the genre has been thoroughly dissected, parodied, and reimagined. So when Dispatch landed on my desk, a superhero workplace comedy from a studio made up of former Telltale Games developers, I wasn't exactly expecting it to surprise me.
I was wrong.
The Fall of Mecha Man
Dispatch follows Robert Robertson III, the third generation to don the Mecha Man suit. Unlike his celebrated father and grandfather, Robert's tenure as LA's armoured protector ends in spectacular failure. When his nemesis Shroud murders his father and destroys his suit in a botched revenge mission, Robert is left powerless and publicly humiliated. His hero days are over.
Enter Blonde Blazer, a celebrated hero who offers Robert a deal: join the Superhero Dispatch Network (SDN) as a dispatcher, manage a team of reformed villains, and in exchange, she'll help rebuild his suit. The catch? Robert's assigned to the Z-Team, a ragtag group of ex-criminals that nobody else wants to deal with.
What follows is eight episodes of workplace chaos, unlikely friendships, and a protagonist learning that heroism isn't always about punching things in a fancy suit.
+ PROS
Exceptional writing and voice performances that bring the entire cast to life
Gorgeous art style and cinematography that rivals animated prestige TV
Some major choices feel railroaded regardless of player input
Too Short !!! I wanted more
Behind the Desk
The core gameplay loop puts you in Robert's chair, staring at a map of Los Angeles as emergencies roll in. Citizens need help: cats stuck in trees, bar fights, the occasional kaiju. It's your job to dispatch the right hero for the task. Each member of your roster has stats across Combat, Vigour, Mobility, Charisma, and Intellect. Matching the right hero to the right call is the difference between success and a PR nightmare.
It's a simple system, but AdHoc integrates it cleverly into the narrative. Successes and failures ripple into how characters treat you, how confident they become, and how effective they are on future calls. There's genuine tension in weighing up whether to send an underperforming hero on an easy call to boost their confidence or save your best for an emergency that might spiral out of control.
The hacking minigame, a 3D maze navigated under time pressure while radio chatter describes unfolding disasters, breaks up the dialogue-heavy sequences nicely. It's a small addition, but it demonstrates AdHoc's willingness to experiment where Telltale often played it safe.
The Writing Carries the Weight
Let's be clear: Dispatch isn't reinventing the wheel mechanically. The QTEs are serviceable but unremarkable. Some choices feel like they funnel you toward predetermined outcomes regardless of what you pick. If you're looking for a game where your decisions dramatically reshape the entire narrative, you'll find that impact limited to relationships and endings rather than the overarching plot.
But none of that matters when the writing is this good.
Aaron Paul brings genuine depth to Robert, a man grappling with legacy, failure, and the question of what it actually means to be a hero. Laura Bailey's Invisigal steals nearly every scene she's in, her abrasive humour masking a character far more layered than she first appears. Jeffrey Wright, Travis Willingham, and the rest of the ensemble deliver performances that elevate what could have been a forgettable comedy into something with real emotional weight.
The script balances chaos and heart with impressive restraint. Where other games might rush to a punchline, Dispatch often pauses, letting quieter moments land. A taco run with your team after a disastrous bar fight. A late-night conversation with a reformed villain who still hates the man you used to be. These are the moments that stuck with me long after the credits rolled.
Style to Spare
Visually, Dispatch is stunning. The art style sits somewhere between Hi-Fi Rush and Invincible, bold, expressive, and unapologetically comic book. The cinematography rivals animated prestige TV, with lock-on shots, depth of field, and compositions that feel genuinely cinematic. Facial animations carry emotional weight that most AAA games struggle to achieve.
It's a reminder that hyper-realism isn't the only path to visual excellence. Dispatch looks like nothing else released this year, and it's all the better for it.
The Cracks in the Armour
No game is perfect, and Dispatch has its stumbles. The toilet humour lands about half the time. Some jokes hit hard while others feel like they're reaching for shock value. The romance options (Invisigal or Blonde Blazer) lean into a tired "bad girl vs good girl" trope that the game doesn't do much to subvert. Invisigal's path feels like the canon choice, leaving Blonde Blazer's relationship somewhat underdeveloped.
The illusion of choice occasionally breaks, too. Early on, you're forced to cut a team member regardless of how much you've invested in improving their performance. It's a narrative necessity, but it highlights the rails beneath the experience.
And at around eight hours across all eight episodes, it ends just as you're wishing it wouldn't.
Verdict
Dispatch isn't a revolution. It doesn't redefine the narrative adventure genre or offer unprecedented player agency. What it does offer is something arguably more valuable: a genuinely compelling story with characters you'll care about, wrapped in gorgeous presentation and sharp writing.
AdHoc Studio set out to recapture the magic of Telltale's best work, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, and they've succeeded. More than that, they've laid the groundwork for something that could surpass it if given the chance to grow.
By the time the credits rolled, I wasn't just satisfied. I was already planning my second playthrough, eager to see how different choices would shift the relationships I'd built. And I was hoping, perhaps unreasonably, that a second season is already in the works.
Sometimes the best heroes aren't the ones in the suit. Sometimes they're the ones behind the desk, making sure the right person gets sent to the right place at the right time.
Dispatch understands that. And it's one of the best games I've played this year.
5.0
5 months ago
Diablo 4 Season 11 Review – Divine Intervention Feels More Like Divine Repetition
Diablo 4 · Blizzard Entertainment
Diablo 4's eleventh season arrives with a familiar promise: new powers, new systems, and a fresh reason to grind through Sanctuary again. Season of Divine Intervention brings Lesser Evil invasions, Divine Gifts, a reworked itemisation system, and the long-awaited Paladin class. On paper, it sounds substantial. In practice, it's another season that follows the exact same formula Blizzard has been recycling since launch – and this time, they've locked the most exciting content behind a pre-order paywall.
