A mere week ago, we comic book fans and nerds in general were treated to the epic finale of Telltales video game, the Walking Dead. A game that has consistently received near unanimous critical and fan acclaim ever since the first episode hit the interwebs back in April.
Now that the first season as a whole is done and with a second season already in production, the time has come for me to give you guys me thoughts and final verdict on the Walking Dead: Game.
TWD follows in the wake of other Telltale series in that its split into 5 episodes that are released every two months or so, the game play however isn’t as puzzle driven adventure game as some other Telltale tittles such as Sam & Max or Monkey Island.
The game is more like a interactive episode of the show set in the comic continuity, while you do get to walk around and have ME style conversations with NPCs that build your relationships with them, the real meat of the game is the experience itself.
Throughout all 5 episodes you will make some pretty difficult choices that are almost never black or white, instead the players own views on the situation at hand will make him/her see this choice as either right or wrong.
And the game keeps track of everything you do, and not just the choices you make, even if you say some seemingly trivial thing now can come back to bite you in the ass later on, and it most likely will.
Now the story beings with the main character of Lee Everett, being transported to a prison near Atlanta (its the same infamous prison from the comics) when the zombie apocalypse begins and he gets knocked out in a car accident, he awakens to find a young girl Clementine all alone in a barricaded house and decides to protect her in the post apocalyptic world.
I must commend Telltale for making the character of Clementine so like able and you will genuinely come to love her and want to protect her just as much as Lee, this is especially impressive considering most kids in fiction range from either annoying….. to that little bastard from SW Phantom Menace….. You know who I mean…..
But Clementine isn’t the only character of note, as the season goes on you will meat a vast assortment of characters and your views on them will change, you might think some one is an asshole this episode only for him to redeem himself later on or vise versa.
And depending on how you deal with them in conversations and the choices you make, you will craft all sorts of different relationships with them, this is especially important in the first two or three episodes as there is a power struggle going on in the group and you’re in the middle of it.
Depending on who you side with, this will affect how the last two episodes play out and what certain characters might do.
And that’s the great thing about this entire season, the feeling that you can truly shape this story to how you play and it puts some bigger budget games like Witcher 2 or ME3 to shame with its storytelling, the high point of which is the emotional attachment.
You will get attached to almost every character in season 1, they all go through some pretty rough shit and in Ep 3 and 5, I cried, I shit you not my friends I did indeed cry and when a video game manages to make a soul less bastard like me tear up, you know its got some good story telling and writing.
But the game is not without its faults, there really isn’t that much gameplay and while it does give you a little more freedom than some tittles like Heavy Rain, if you’re looking for a game that’s really gameplay focused, this isn’t for you, oh and if you’re one of those FPS or L4D guys who just wants to shoot the hell out everything, do NOT buy this game.
This is a game that is made for guys like me, for comic book fans, and for people who enjoy mediums like TV shows or movies as the story and the experience of playing the game is the main reason to buy it.
The game also has some frame rate issues which get some what better as the season goes on but its never fully fixed and it took me out of the game at points, it even caused me to die a few times as well.
Also Episode 3, while still a very good episode took a little too much control away from you as a lot of things happen in it and no matter what you do now or what you did previously, 80% of it cant be stopped and it goes against the philosophy the entire season was built upon.
And a fair warning, this is an adult game, its rated M, don’t let the cel shaded graphics fool you, it has blood, swearing, decapitation and all sorts of sick shit, Episode 2 has one of the biggest WTF moments ever and its single handedly one of the scariest experiences I’ve had.
TWD is a near perfect game in my opinion, it truly delivers on all fronts and while it does have some small issues I have to say this is probably the best game that’s come out this year, and im so happy Spike nominated it for GOTY at its VGA nominations, lets hope it wins and doesn’t get snubbed like the past two Arkham games were.
FINAL VERDICT: A-
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