𝙎𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 ᝰ.🖋

By seeing all of this hype and interesting progression schedule, you'd think, "Oh, this game is really cool! What are the other characters like?". That sure was my initial reaction. I've always loved superhero-based media and was so excited to get to play a superhero game with "life is strange" like dialogue mechanics.

At first, I agreed with all point of praise but overtime, my positive opinions on the writing and characters turned into criticisms. Particularly on the romance options of the game.

In Dispatch, you have two romance options, Blonde Blazer and Invisigal. Blonde Blazer is consistent hero throughout the game while Invisigal is a reformed villain working on becoming a hero through SDN. Both options do have their faults because of the dialogue options and overall writing in the game.

Issues With Blonde Blazer

Throughout almost every dialogue selection scene with Blazer, the game is so insistent that you kiss her. Even from the get-go on the day you first meet her in episode one, the game gives you the option to make a move on her. Now, kissing itself isn't inherently bad, my problem with it that how the game tries so desperately to rush you into it instead of actually fully getting to know her or developing a relationship with her first.

The romance between Blonde Blazer and Robert just felt kind a bit pushed as well. It could be because of pacing, dialogue or a mix of both. I just feel the game could've benefited from flushing out their relationship a bit more instead of spamming the "kiss her" or just straight up douchey dialogue options almost every time she's on screen until it was the appropriate moment to do so once both parties felt comfortable enough with one another to pursue a romantic relationship. Robert should not be a rebound man after Blazer breaks things off with Phenomoman.

Another issue I had with dialogue options is that in once scene where Blazer is having a wardrobe malfunction with her dress in the privacy of the meeting room, we have the option to tell her or not about it. A whopping 2 percent of players chose told her about it. This not only reflects how gross some of the people who play this game are but also how weird the writers were for even thinking it was okay to even add this in.

Issues With Invisigal

One of the first interactions you have with Invisigal is when Robert is half naked and just trying to get changed, which gave me a weird feeling about her right off the bat. Invisigal is a reformed villain so she's still on the path on becoming a better person. A reformation arc for a previously villainous character is always something I root for but, Invisigal's character as a whole makes it difficult to do so.

I won't sugarcoat it when I say that majority of her actions are HR violations. There are two scenes I wanna talk about in particular to support my point. The first of which being a talk in bathroom with her in episode 4. She blatantly retells the story about her wet dream of Robert and gets angry when Waterboy "ruins" the mood for her by literally doing what people are supposed to do in bathrooms. Shitting. Another being the locker room scene where Invisigal kisses Robert without his consent. Even when you choose to push her away, she still kisses him, which is a form of SA. Also including the amount of unneeded sexual comments in a professional setting.

I do like how her romance route is paced and how eventually Robert sees past her rough edges, but their interactions could've been written better and less of a violation to Robert's boundaries. It's really weird that the writers thought it was cool to just let SA happen in their game and try to pass it off as "romance". Invisigal's love route would've been so much better if we got to know her a bit more and if she and Robert actually had meaningful, deep dialogue with one another. She also would've been more likable if she didn't make unwanted sexual comments and harass Robert, verbally or physically, every time she's on screen.

Issues With Malevola

Malevola isn't a romanceable character in season one and she barely makes any screen time, but I feel like one interaction she had with Robert is important to talk about. In episode six of Dispatch, Robert is lying on the floor of his apartment in his briefs while venting to his pet dog, Beef. A portal opens up from his door and Malevola, Ryod and Invisigal enter Robert's home and tells them they're throwing a housewarming party for him. Robert tells the three that he's not in the mood for partying and Malevola jokes, "not what it looks like to me with your tighty whities." and then proceeds to touch his crotch area for a brief moment, which Robert clearly was uncomfortable with.

Her character could've gone without that little interaction completely. From her dialogue, I think she's pretty cool and I hate that her character kind of got botched because the writers thought touching someone's genitals without their consent is "comedy".

Overall thoughts and what can improve

Dispatch in its entirety is by definition is what some would call a good game but for me, how they tackled serious topics and certain humor in the game brought it down a notch.

I know that majority of the comedy genre jokes about serious topics, but things like SA, especially towards men, is joked about so often in media that we become desensitized to it almost. if the roles were reversed with Invisigal/Malevola being men and Robert being a woman, there would've been a big public bashing of this game, online. It's important to handle these topics with care and bring awareness to it properly, if that was the creator's intention behind those scenes. If not, they shouldn't have added those scenes in the game in the first place.

The game would've benefited greatly from more than two love options from character who could balance humor, seriousness and form well flushed out relationships with Robert. From what I've seen, I do think having Robert as bisexual, pansexual or omnisexual would've been a better call since he does have some chemistry with Waterboy and Phenomoman. I really would've loved to see some more of all of the Z-Team members because they're all pretty interesting characters. Thought this game did have a few hiccups with writing and romance, I'd say overall it's a fairly good game. It has a solid story, plot, cast and amazing graphics and voice talents. I'd love to see more games like this in the future but with better writing.