Part of the 9 days of heck. Proof that you can tell a good story, AND have zombies in it!
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Year: 2012
Played on: Xbox One
Also on: PS3, Xbox 360, PC, and Everything else
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
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You will remember that.
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Date posted: October 28, 2017
PREMISE
What can you say about The Walking Dead? It’s pretty popular right now, even though, you know. Zombies. You think something that has been played to death would fade out of the public consciousness, but TWD television is in what, its eighth season? How the hell has the main cast not been eaten yet? That’s not realistic at all!
I digress of course, as I am here to talk about the Telltale game instead- in fact, it can argued that this is what really got Telltale in the lime light, even though they made some pretty good games beforehand *COUGH* Back to the Future *COUGH*. Why the hell did I just do that?
Anyways, Telltales The Walking Dead, or as I call it TTWD, does not take place in the main continuity of the TV/Comic series, for the most part anyway. Instead, it focuses on a group of survivors trying, well, trying to survive. I’m not going to spoil anything in this review, as I believe that the game is worth playing for story alone. All I am going to say is that you follow a man named Lee Evertt, who escapes from a car accident to find that zombies Apocalypse has just began. Finding a little girl alone, named Clementine, Lee focuses on finding other survivors and reuniting the girl with her parents. The rest is a surprisingly emotional, and terrifying roller coaster, again, I am not going to spoil anything- its up to you to find what really happens.
The gameplay is what I would call a modern version of the old adventure games of old. (Hello redundancy!)You can walk around various areas, talking to the other survivors and collecting items need to solve puzzles and progress the story. The dialogue system is also neat, as you sometimes have to choose an answer right on the spot, as there is a timer. This adds some realism to the game, me thinks.
PROS
The biggest and best thing about this game is the story. It is surprisingly well written, especially one involving zombies. Add to this you actions actually having consequences, then you have a match made in heaven. Not only do characters (well, the ones that survive, anyway) remember what you say, they also react to it in the long run. Something you say in Chapter 2 could very well affect what happens in Chapter 4. It is incredibly refreshing to play a game where your choices have meaning. There are times where I actually panicked, not because a zombie was coming, or that my ex was going to knock on the door, but because I felt like I was going to upset a character in the game! The only game that came close to this kind of feeling was Mass Effect, and we know how THAT turned out. My review of the Mass Effect 3 ending here!
Kudos as well to the art direction, which is highly stylized and actually quite colorful. It is done in a style of the TWD comics, and looks fantastic.
CONS
Well, you see, there are some problems. I am going to say it. There are some terrible game play sections. Theres a part where you have to defend your camp, and it is just awful- I’ll sum it up in a sentence- Third person-esque shooting gallery in an adventure game. Yep.
Also, some choices actually don’t matter, but thankfully, these seems far and few between.
Some players might feel the game is also linear, or may feel like the game is too short for whatever reason. I don’t know, I think I’m just nitpicking here.
Some of the events of the game may leave you depressed, especially the ending. You have been warned.
FINAL VERDICT
TTWD is a fantastic adventure game that is easy to pick up and play. The story is the biggest draw here, and I think fans of TWD tv series will enjoy the more emotional and character driven approach it takes, over the more action and thrill oriented television series.
Just remember to keep that hair short.
Agree? Disagree? Good! Leave a comment about how terrible my taste is in the comments below!
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