One Man, His Ummm... "Neighbor's" Child, And a Ton of Zombies: The Walking Dead Game (Retail) Review

When I first Telltale Games was creating the Walking Dead game, I was both excited and a little down. I am a huge fan of the Walking Dead TV show, and the comics that everything is based on.  My only experience with Telltale to that point was hearing that the Jurassic Park game was a mess. I had the opinion that they were a small studio that purchased licenses and made lackluster games. Coupled with the fact that this game suffered delay after delay, and I doubted the Walking Dead would even make people take a look. I bought the first episode when it was released with low expectations and really enjoyed the heck out of it. I decided to wait until all of the episodes were out to continue playing it. Fast forward to this week when I decided to buy the retail version and experience all that this game has to offer.

The Walking Dead Game is set in the same general area and time that comic series and TV show takes place. There are even some little Easter Egg moments that any fan of the series will enjoy. With that being said, it is entirely its own story and feels both unique and fitting in the world the WD comics created. The game begins with the protagonist, Lee Everett, being hauled out of Atlanta to the state prison by a very talkative police officer. As you look out the windows you can tell that something terrible has happened back in the city, although the Barney Fife cop does not seem to notice (or care); the cop seems more hung-up on whether you’re actually innocent or guilty. So Hell is unleashed on our hero after the policeman loses focus of driving and drives into a walker, sending the car headlong into the woods. After begrudgingly killing a couple of walkers after the car wreck, Lee wanders into a small town.  Just as he thought he found an empty house, a young girl named Clementine saves Lee from the clutches of the undead. Lee discovers her parents were out of town and the babysitter is nowhere to be founding leaving her all alone. Lee takes her in and vows to protect her.  Thusly, we begin our duos' story.

Clementine is one of my favorite supporting characters in a game in a long time. She accomplishes something that the TV show could never get right with Carl. She has both the innocence of a child and the resourcefulness of a survivor. The TV show always tried to make Carl fit into these categories but it usually failed resulting in him looking like a bumbling idiot. Clementine on the other hand is a very honest character and the actor that voiced her deserves all the credit in the world for accomplishing this challenging balance. While Clementine stands out as a great character, all of the characters are very believable. The voice actors clearly put in their time and felt an emotional bond with their characters. The player will can feel this bond resulting in a more emotional. It makes the game so incredibly engrossing and makes everything feel a bit more realistic.

Making decisions as Lee takes forefront in this game and I think that has a lot to do with the design of the dialogue system. Fellow Mass Effect players can relate; TellTale gives the player several options in dialogue to choose from – I’d even hazard to say they do a better job of making varied, realistic responses! Telltale's best addition to this game is also a very simple one. They added a 20-30 second timer for each decision. It really makes the tension heat up and makes the player really focus.  Sometimes these decisions make you feel like you have a gun to your head and you have seconds to decide who in the cast dies. Talk about stressful! You don't have time to stand up and go to the restroom while you ponder your choices, it happens right there and right then. This feature made me actually feel like I was Lee at times. Specifically in the third episode, I made a choice to either save someone or turn the other cheek. I instantly regretted the decision I made and when Clementine got upset with me for what I did and I felt even worse. There are very few games (if any) that I can think of that brought out such a human reaction in me. The Walking Dead has the potential to really make you question morality and just how far you will go to survive. Even though, I knew it was just a game there were moments where I just could not pull the trigger.

I can’t put into words how I felt about the story. It is probably one of the most heartfelt stories in recent video game history. Lee Everett can either be a hero or a no bull taking bad-ass but in the end it is all about saving a little girl he has grows to love dearly. The story has all of the elements that make it a classic. It is a story of survival and an ode to what it takes to trust someone in a very trying time. Episodes 2 and 5 are the standouts in my opinion. Episode 2 has little to do with the zombies and all about the loss of humanity and morals when your back is against the wall. Episode 5 is a perfect climax to the story and sends the player on an emotional roller coaster.  TellTale does an awesome job of recalling nearly all the decisions you’ve made throughout your journey, and it will make your stomach uneasy.  It’s worth mentioning this doesn’t feel like after-credits where are they now we see in boosh TV, movies, and video games.  We see the results of your actions from certain encounters that will make your head spin. It is also packed with some amazing dialogue and action that make it one of the best two hours in video game history.

By now, I think you get the idea how I feel about the story, but let’s talk a bit about the game play. If you have ever played Heavy Rain then this game will feel relatively familiar. The game is more of an interactive story and uses quick time events. I am a big fan of this new growing trend of interactive story games where I control the outcome, but it is not for everyone. If you hated Heavy Rain and lack any interest in the Walking Dead, you might want to skip this one. If you’ve ever played any old school point-and-click adventure games this game is right up your alley. Walking Dead feels a lot like a modern revision of that, and it’s good but it also fumbles a little.  We aren’t treated with many puzzles, and they are really just a matter of looking around for the right item – not much of a head scratcher. I think that’s a definite flaw, but if you’re more into an interactive story it won’t bother you much.  The game has a few moments where it turns into a third person shooter but they are few and far between. These moments also bring some issues. Throughout the whole game your right stick controls this cursor, and for the most part it is fine. However, during the shooting I believe they should have dropped that and given the player some cross hairs because aiming is really confusing with that huge cursor. I also had a few moments where I died a lot on something that should be easy, because it was so hard to line that cursor up when it gives you nothing to really aim with.

I have a major problem with the fixed camera angles. The game could have used a camera correct button or a way to allow you to move it yourself, but instead it seems to be more stationary and allows you to get stuck in corners or running into walls because it is hard to see exactly what is in front of you.  This can be really frustrating when you can’t find that one item to move the game along because how wonky the camera angle is. The game also suffers from some frame rate issues when a new scene begins. This is certainly not game breaking, but for a game that does so much to drag you into your role, this affects the immersion a bit. When your character lips start moving like a guy in a live action Japanese anime, you lose some of that connection this game is so good at building up.

So to give the short and sweet summary of the Walking Dead Game... The game is an interactive story that relies on quick time events. If you did not like Heavy Rain or the Walking Dead series then I suggest getting the first episode by itself and not investing in the whole package. The games story is heartfelt, emotional, and really allows the player to get immersed in their role as Lee Everett. Clementine is both incredibly cute, innocent and a BAD-ASS!! While the game suffers from touchy controls and bad camera angles it is not close to game breaking and can be overlooked. Finally, at $29.99 for the disc version this game is a relative steal and worth every penny of its $30 dollar price tag.

I really debated what to give this game in terms of rating. I decided I could not give it a perfect score because it has far to many hiccups to ignore. However, this game gets a score that is a close to perfect without actually being perfect. Consider it a 9.7 and thus it earns the....