The Walking Dead

Following a rather disappointing venture into a potentially positive zombie game, one which seemed to have some critical acclaim, I decided to explore an essentially identical scenario, given that my interest in zombie games seemingly will rise back up just when you thought it was dead for good, like a…zombie. This time, the game in question is Telltale’s The Walking Dead.

For this review, a bit of a preface is needed. I have watched the first season of The Walking Dead show on AMC, but read none of the comic books, and thus my knowledge of the universe this game is set in is rather limited. Having seen the first season helped as I was familiar with a few concepts, and a guest appearance by a character from the show, but was not something that I at all felt was necessary, meaning the game more than stands on it’s own merits, separate and apart from the other ventures, and can easily be understood without knowledge of those other parts of the universe. So, we’re off to a good start.

Episode 1 includes an appearance by Glen from the TV show. Such tie ins are unnecessary in a game this good.

While The Walking Dead is considered an adventure game, it really could be described more as a choose your own ending adventure book, you know, those books where you would read a few pages, and then are tasked with making some seemingly innocuous choice that sends you to page 87 if you decided to steal the car, or to page 103 if you hitch hiked. I point this out because it is not really an interactive game in the traditional sense. If, for example, you were expecting to constantly have control of the character, guiding him through levels, jumping, exploring, etc, you’re not getting that. Many of those things do happen in the game, but they are pretty rare. Rather, most of the game is one long cut scene where you can alter the direction of the game through your dialogue choices.

Spread out amongst these cut scenes are the more traditional adventure aspects of the game. For example, in episode one, there are three or so portions of the game where you are given free roam of an area, such as inside a pharmacy, and you must interact with the items and people available to find the solution to progress. If you so choose, you can utilize the standard UI, which highlights items you can interact with, so it makes it easy to, say, find the batteries you need to give to the reporter who wants to listen to the radio to find out what is going on at her station.

The most “game” like it gets are a few quick reaction or key mashing sequences scattered throughout the game.

Frankly, the game doesn’t sound too interesting at this point, and I can’t blame you for thinking that. It is largely hands off or slow paced during the few times you are allowed to explore. There are only a handful of events that really require quick action, such as quickly unlocking your handcuffs and reloading a shotgun to save yourself from the zombie crawling towards you. Dialogue options also maintain a timer, shown at the bottom of your current choices, but failing to respond quickly seems to be taken for silence. For example, at one point in the game another party member suggested we sneak up on another survivor who appeared to have given us trouble in the past. I opted not to object, or state my desire just to talk to, rather than attack, the survivor, and so this party member talk my lack of an answer as “no objections.” Interesting, but we’re still not at the part that makes the game good.

That comes from the game’s story and choices. Over the five episodes The Walking Dead encompasses (which is just another reason to abstain from purchasing anything immediately) you’ll be faced with a number of decisions. Do you tell this character what really happened in that dark spot in the previous episode? Do you lie to a little girl about her parents? Do you abandon a group member for dead? Some choices are more obvious in their implications than others, while others are much more subtle, and may not come up again until much later. Still, your actions are cumulative, and the game does warn that it tailors the narrative to the decisions you have made, further emphasized when, again with the standard UI enabled, a message pops up that lets you know that particular person will remember you sided with him in a moment of crisis.

Sometimes you’ll need to very carefully decide what you want to do.

The types of choices the game throws at you, and the resulting consequences, are the kind of thing that would drive me to play this game over and over again. Shortly after getting started, I convinced a close friend to play as well, with the result being that we took two similar, but not entirely the same, paths through the game. Suddenly we were comparing our every actions. Did you side with Kenny, or Lilly? Were you able to save the man in the forest? Did you kill that one person we both agreed we hated when you had the chance? While our discussions on the game proved insightful, the game itself provides you with much of the same information, as, at the end of each chapter, there is a screen that pops up, comparing your choices to those of other players. The next screenshot shows one such screen from the end of episode one, so it doesn’t include too many spoilers, but enough that you can now consider yourself warned.

Some decisions are extremely critical, such as who do you save when two lives are on the line. Here, most people chose the attractive sharp shooting reporter rather than the tech guy.

The game playing for keeps is just one aspect of what makes it so good. The other part of that is the great character development and the story. The game begins at the outset of the zombie apocalypse, with the character you have control of, Lee, being transported in the back of a squad car.  You’ll later find out the reasons behind this, and it can become pretty important later on. Needless to say, stuff gets bad, there’s an accident, and by the time you come to, the dead are walking the earth. Injured, alone, and confused, you stumble into an apparently abandoned house. Eventually you’re introduced to the most important character in the game, the heart breaking Clementine, and, after some ugly events, you two decide to stick together, with your relationship culminating in some pretty heart wrenching stuff.

From there on out its all about who else you meet, who you keep alive, and whose side you take during arguments. My personal prerogative was to attempt to protect Clementine as much as possible, while steering clear of the bitter dispute between two other group members that is most prominent in episode two - Kenny and Lilly.  Sometimes, attempting to take the middle ground doesn’t always work out well, and I’ll admit, some of the consequences to my choices actually made my jaw drop, in full comic fashion, since I couldn’t believe that X just Y’d Z.

One of the achievements of the game is that this tiny eight year old girl is this fully developed character, rather than just some annoying sidekick you have to deal with.

Not everything is perfect with The Walking Dead, and the few issues I have range from technical to content, but none of them are so major as to negatively impact the experience this game provides. One involves the use of autosaves,  since this game saves your progress after you make certain key decisions or progress. That might be fine, except there were a few sections of episode three I had to replay because they space between checkpoints was substantially large enough that I couldn’t make it to the next one in the free time I had, and so was forced to replay 10-15 minutes. There were a few times I also felt that Lee’s actions didn’t sync up to what the chat options implied, as in a case where it seemed I would be asking someone else for help, but it came across as being far more aggressive than I had anticipated. The biggest issue probably would be how quickly a friendship could sour, with just one decision going against, in my case, Kenny’s wishes, and suddenly I found I was on his bad side. It’s understandable, but at the same time it seemed like things were blown far more out of proportion than they should have been, and that our past relationship should have counted for more.

So, to recap, since this has been a bit of a vague review, and I feel that it has to be given the story driven nature of this game: It’s not that much of an interactive adventure, rather consisting of long conversation cut scenes in which you make critical decisions that impact your narrative experience interrupted with occasional areas wherein you can choose what to interact with, usually with the goal of overcoming a certain puzzle like obstacle, such as determining how to get a train up and running. When you make choices, you play for keeps, as the decisions you make will stick with the characters you’re interacting with, which, when using the standard UI, the game will notify you about, and that these decisions will come back to you in some way, shape, or form. However, it does seem that, no matter what choices you make, eventually all roads lead to Rome, with characters dropping out at prescribed times, and the way it happens being based on your choices, but ultimately unavoidable, which is probably the biggest fault of this game, but, given the ending, is well worth it.

Interactions can run the gamut from romantic to deadly serious, as you face issues such as who to willing abandon or determining who to feed on your dwindling rations. Sometimes a little comedy sneaks in.

You’re looking at roughly 12-13 hours of an incredible narrative experience, one that was so engrossing I couldn’t wait to get home and play it. After finishing it, all I could think about was if there were ways I could change the outcome - if different decisions would have saved certain characters at the expense of others, and ultimately this all spilled over into a continuing conversation with an ever growing number of friends who have all made different decisions about what their choices were, and why. Usually the game is on sale for $12.50, which is a steal for what you get, and I wouldn’t suggest picking it up at any less. Easily one of the best games I have every played, drawing me in in a way I would have never anticipated was possible before, even if it really isn’t a game as I’d define it - 10 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 10/10

Suggested Price: $12.50+ 

*****

For more The Walking Dead images, check out this collection of various screenshots otherwise unused in this review. Click any one for a full sized image.