Strawberry Loft

A tough day in the office for me is forgetting to circle back and being startled by a follow-up email. A tough day for Mecha Man is blowing up in front of his father’s killer, literally. Hanging up the shrapnel of his mech suit Mecha Man is suddenly just a bitter man with nothing left to lose. It’s a good thing he kept his resume up to date, because he’s handed a new purpose and a hero team with SDN—the Superhero Dispatch Network. His team needs some work; they’re loud, and they don’t follow orders well. They have the right spirit and just need a firm guiding hand. Slowly co-workers start to feel more like a dysfunctional family. I played Dispatch, and I felt guilty about my ending.

Developed and published by AdHoc Studio Dispatch is a story-driven game where the player chooses the main character’s dialogue, a lot of it. If I turned away from my monitor for even a moment to check a message, I would miss a dialogue option. There is no “say nothing” option in this game, so it’ll randomly choose a dialogue option for you if you run out of time. I thoroughly enjoyed how much of the dialogue I got to choose; some visual novels don’t come close to having this many options for the player to choose. I felt completely engaged in the narrative, which was nearly a TV show with a star-studded cast. The YouTubers stood out the most to me. I thought Cr1TiKaL was perfectly cast for Sonar, and Jacksepticeye grew on me as Punch Up. Young Gravy was also hiding in the voice cast, and I didn’t recognize him at first as Golem, but his cadence on some words is unmistakable. Everything came together miraculously for AdHoc Studio for Dispatch to be as big of a success as it is. People were so disappointed when there was no new episode drop, and it had only been 4 weeks. AdHoc mentioned in an interview they were worried the episode releases wouldn’t work. I wasn’t sold at first on paying for a game that I still had to wait to come out once a week. I got swept up in the waiting hype, and I’m glad.

Stepping into the world of Dispatch was stressful, and I think it was important to set that tone. I also think it’s important to play with quick time events on. There were three sections of the game that utilize quick time events, all involving fighting. I think the first two quick time event segments are the most important. Robert is a hero without powers; he pilots a mech suit, but once outside that shell, his chances for survival in the hero world tremendously goes down. During the first quick time event I was stressed because the toxic villain could melt Robert to goo. I think it’s important to stress the point that Robert is just a guy trying to do good by his family name and other ordinary people. When Robert meets his team of misfits, he has nothing left to lose; he lost Mecha Man, and that was his everything. He was exactly what the Z team needed, and I think it felt natural watching him take the reins. Robert wasn’t a corny hero who thought the team could be outstanding model heroes; he was realistic with them. When they pushed, he would push back, but he’d never leave the team feeling punished. Robert let the Z-Team know he wasn’t much different from them; he just had a dad who raised him as a hero. That’s all the Z-Team needed—guidance—but he didn’t change anyone.

 I never felt like there were any mean dialogue options in Dispatch. There were awkward moments between characters, but from the choices I made, I never thought Robert would read as deliberately mean. Some of those Tell-Tale games let you be mean enough to turn your friends against you. Then the dreaded “They will remember this notification” pops up in the corner, and you know they’re going to leave you for dead as revenge. Going through his own rough time made Robert softer and understanding. In a take-no-shit, yet calm, sort of way. One of the hardest choices is presented early; the player must decide to let a Z-Team member go. It’s between Sonar and Coupe—I kept Sonar on the team—and no matter who you choose, Robert tries to let them know their time with SDN was not meaningless. That they took the first steps to change, and they could keep doing good. He knew getting cut from the Z-Team would most likely lead that person back to their villain era. I was a little upset at Blazer for deciding suddenly someone had to go when I felt like I was starting to like the team. I wasn’t failing as much. The player puts time into raising stats and probably raises a few by the time they choose who to cut. With one hero down, I suddenly felt like I didn’t have enough people.

Dispatch is not about who you were; it’s about who you’re becoming. Your past does not define you. I messed up letting that message go right out the window, getting a harsh ending with Invisigal. I wasn’t a fan of Invisigal; she disobeyed every order, she never wanted to be a team player, and at no point did I ever feel like we were getting through to her. There is a whole scene where I had Robert tell her fate does not define her; Invisagal’s power didn’t make her evil; they’re not inherently villain powers. I started to feel I was getting through to her, but I did not romance her, and it felt like when I chose Blazer, I was rolled back to square one in getting Invisigal’s trust. When I had the option to cut Invisigal, I took it without taking into consideration how it would affect her. At this point I had the Z-team tell me it was her or them. I couldn’t lose the team I had worked so hard with. At one point in the game during the big bonding moment, the player can reveal that Robert is Mecha Man. I revealed it, and Flambae tried to kill me before running. When making the decision to cut Invisigal, he speaks up to defend her, surprisingly reminding Robert and the others he was let back onto the team after threatening to torch Robert. At this point Invisigal did get Chase mortally wounded when he went to save her after she went off alone again.

I made Invisigal turn back to villainy and got a bleak achievement for it, but I wish she would have opened up to Robert more, romance or not. After the disaster at the docks everyone is feeling defeated, and that’s when Invisigal suddenly spills her big secret. She worked for Shroud because he could help with her asthma and stop it from impacting her powers. She’s also the one who placed the bomb on Robert at the beginning of the game. She ruined his career and nearly killed him. I know it would have been terrifying to admit this man she might not respect and feel safe with would see her as a monster. I did. I think I would have felt different if she hadn’t shared all of this after causing so much tension. It didn’t make me sympathize with Invisiagirl; I was hurt. I stopped trusting her each time the game gave me the option. Invisigal felt left behind and ended up making her the villain who killed Shroud. She actually took Robert’s ending from him; I did not get to choose to spare or kill Shroud myself. The bright side is that I did get the option to stop Coupe from being arrested, and I took it, putting her back on the Z-Team. The game also told me the Robert I played was a hero who always did the right thing, which felt bittersweet.

I’ve heard mixed reviews on the actual dispatch gameplay mechanic of Dispatch, but once I got the hang of it, I loved it. By the last chapter I was cheering on the Z-Team I had built. The random generation for success or failure could feel unforgiving at times, but I was on top of the world when an impossible mission passed.  I kind of wish there were more dispatch sequences. I wish there was less hacking, mostly because I was bad at it. I would forget hidden codes and couldn’t seem to outrun the security drones. I was unable to turn the lights off in the jewelry store for Invisigal, but it wasn’t on purpose!

Dispatch was a unique experience, and I had a great time playing it. I liked it so much right after I finished, I started playing again to see the other options and redeem my blunder. Not picking Waterboy for my team this time around is going to tear my heart to shreds. He deserves the chance to become a great hero. I never expected Dispatch to have heavy consequences down the road in the storyline. Overall, my most dispatched hero was Malevola, nine times out of ten with Sonar. Who was yours, and are you proud of how your version of Robert turned out? Dispatch was so well received, and fans want so much more; there are already talks of a possible season 2 being released. If that happens, I hope the writers keep putting the same care into creating a great story and keep the cast we’ve bonded with. Maybe with the addition of a new hero or two and a new villain. Put on a headset and start dispatching!