If you call a zombie a walker, you're being pretentious
By KhoiFish 1 Comments
First and foremost, I haven't played many games from 2012, but The Walking Dead is without a doubt, my favorite game of the year. It is one of the few games that actually had me care about the characters, the decisions I made, and made me tense at certain points in the game where I actually winced.
Now I don't keep up with the show, when I certainly should be (I'm working on it), but I started reading the comics long before either the game or tv show came out. And from what I had played in the game, it captures what the comic is doing perfectly. This isn't some run-of-the-mill zombie story. It's not all about action and gore (but there is still plenty of that). It's a game about your decisions and consequences. Did you say the right thing at the time? Did you save the right person? and so on.
Going from your normal, average, everyday lives, to living in the horror that is a zombie apocalypse takes its toll on everybody physically and psychologically After playing and finishing the game in less than a day (I was that addicted), it makes me rethink the whole, 'I wonder if I could survive in a zombie apocalypse'. Even with all the "zombie survival" guides and movies, I really don't think I would last very long.
The thing I really love about The Walking Dead isn't that it's not about getting from point A to point B, but more about how your decisions affect future outcomes. How it is going to affect the people around you, what they think of you, and if they will support you. Rather than the game being just a story, it takes it to another level where it feels like this is what will probably happen if any of this ever happened in real life.
Of all the episodes, 4 was probably the worst of the 5. I didn't really feel like anything interesting was happening up until the very end. The best of the episodes probably either has to go to episode 2 or 5.
2 was one of my favorites, mainly because I didn't catch on to what the St. John family was up to until after I had came back from the bandit camp with I think Andy. 5 was another favorite because I loved how Telltale brought it all the way back to episode 2 and the station wagon. I didn't see that coming at all, and I loved it.
Another great thing about the game is the timing you have when it comes to making choices. Do I side with Kenny, who's been my right hand man since episode 1, or do I side with Lilly who is going crazier by the second? Carley though had me bummed out the most. When Lily had shot her, I was devestated and the fact that Ben survived and was not helpful at all throughout the rest of the game, made me annoyed that I made the wrong decisions when discussing who was giving supplies to the bandits.
Also let's face it, most kids in most video games are pretty much useless. Clementine and Duck though break that mold. I don't like most kids in real life and in video games, but I actually found myself caring for her and wanting her to be safe. There were times, like when I killed Andy in the barn in front of her in episode 2 that I found myself to regret but it gives you a chance to tell her why you did it. I made that decision because I wanted her to be safe. I didn't want her dying, that's why episodes 2 and 5 are so good to me. It was because the game gave me this sense of purpose to actually care about someone other than myself, even if they weren't real.
Because of the timing you have in making your choices, it gives me more than enough reason to go back and see how things will play out differently if I saved Shawn instead of Duck, or took food from station wagon, even though Clementine says we shouldn't steal. Little things like that, will probably change the entire game for me in my next couple of play throughs.
Overall, I can't get enough of the game. It makes me want to go back for more, finish my Walking Dead Compendium, and start watching the show. There is little that the game does wrong, and I can't wait to go back for more.