entertainment media is at its best when it compels deep thought or elicits strong emotions. the adrenaline rush and competition of an fps, the desperation and sorrow when your favorite character's fate depends on the next page, or the endless discussion boards reflecting a story's parallels with the real world; if a piece of media makes you think or feel deeply, strongly, uncontrollably? then you have stumbled upon gold.

relative to other forms of media, video games are uniquely engaging, and a video game that can make you both think and feel deeply is arguably the best kind of media you can find. for example, books are so simple to create, that a single person can fully focus on word usage, dialogue, and overall plot without having to worry about budgeting, actors, animations, sounds, or any other aspects that movies or video games might struggle with balancing. conversely, you cant quite get the same feeling of skillful accomplishment from turning pages that you would get from even the easiest of single player video games. it is insanely difficult to get book level writing and storytelling into a competent video game, but when you do, there is nothing quite like it.

very few games reach this gold standard. Disco Elysium, What Remains of Edith Finch, and The Last of Us 2 are some of the best of the best, hitting you over and over with emotional uppercuts without sacrificing their stories' overall sense of purpose and messaging. Dispatch hits those emotional uppercuts just like the best of them, but stumbles short intellectually, and concludes in predictable triumphant fanfare that i fear will be ultimately forgettable. I cried, I laughed, and I loved, largely due to its amazing character writing and masterful use of tension, but as the game progresses it loses its grasp on its strong starting core messaging and dissipates all tension much too easily. If the other games I mentioned are gold, then Dispatch easily lands itself as a strong silver.

one strong benefit of Dispatch is that it is easily more approachable and digestible than many other "gold" games. Disco Elysium's "gameplay" is purely clicking to select dialogue options and can be conceptually overwhelming, "What Remains of Edith Finch" is more of a slideshow than an actual game, and "The Last of Us 2" is easily 30 or more hours that flip flops between uninvolved movie-esque cutscenes and heavily involved skill based gameplay, requiring a PS5 or beefy PC.

Dispatch is much easier to pick up, play, and put down than most better written narratives, largely due to its recognizable actors, high level of polish, and new combination of relatively easy (yet still expressive) gameplay elements. normally when a game combines multiple giant influences, it doesn't have the bandwidth to expand on any of them particularly well, and sometimes it has to scale back certain aspects to hone in on other areas. Dispatch turns that on its head and doesn't fall victim to its own ambition, creating something innovative without re-inventing the wheel.

the main dispatching gameplay element comes from "This is the Police" and expands much better than its own sequel. the story is built around diverging storylines reminiscent of Telltale while removing much of the frustration of redundant choices. there are quicktime events and hacking minigames - nothing youve never seen before - but are mechanically unique and spaced out appropriately so that you dont get bored of them. the visuals are great but not system breaking. original music is beautifully composed and licensed songs are all perfectly placed, with some pop hits sprinkled with unknown indie artists. the voice acting is filled with a star studded cast that perfectly balances "top talent" and "funny" actors.

the story is great. a bit predictable, but is elevated to such a high level by its amazingly written characters. somewhere, sometime, someone smarter than me said that a story's quality is largely dependent on its characters. the wheel isnt being reinvented, the heroes journey is making its revolution, but the characters are so easy to fall in love with that when twists do pop up, your heart is ripped from its chest. it ends up synergizing surprisingly well with its gameplay; in "This is the Police," your dispatched units were basically nameless faceless pawns on a chess board, only there to do your bidding. In Dispatch, every one of your units is a unique individual with direct player interactions and character development. unlike its predecessors, dispatching in Dispatch feels personal, resulting in a much more satisfying core gameplay loop.

the worst part is that you only get 8-10 hours with this cast, and i personally dont know if a sequel would make sense considering the branching "Telltale" narrative. i also have some gripes with the main story, as it heavily leans into a central theme (you dont have to be super to be a hero) and then fully neglects its messaging by the end, while also having a relative lack of stakes or negative consequences. its a bit cliche to say that every story has to have a lesson, but when i think of my favorite stories, they have some sort of message that still resonates with me years later, even if i cant 100% recall every plot point. im scared that this game will fade from my memory as years pass, which is a shame considering how well it draws out emotions. despite its shortcomings, if you like visual novels, choose your own adventure books, or strategy games, theres no way youll have a bad time.