Quick Look: The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

For all the emphasis that was put on the ability to craft your own story and the importance of decision making the ending was extremely anticlimatic. It boiled down to a guy you never met reading back to you a list of your decisions. As for my point about the characters, I felt a lot of characters were haphazardly thrown into the story and only existed to move the plot forward. Mark was brought into to the game out of nowhere only to be gone that same episode. Same with Chuck, Molly, Glenn, Vernon etc. Other characters, I felt had a lot of unresolved story arcs. It felt like there a huge build up with Lee's secret past but nothing really came of it. The same with Lily's betrayal and Christa's pregnancy. Once their role in the story ended they just disappeared from the game.

I didn't hate the game but I'm not going to make it out to be something it's not. The real highlight of that game is the relationship between Lee and Clem.

@superfriend: Nothing is experienced without a smartphone in hand anymore. Saddening, really.

I don't know what specific instances he was referring to, but I agree with him. The Walking Dead is known for it's gameplay (gunplay and sorts) being below mediocre and it best known for it's story telling and decisions. I really enjoyed all the episodes of The Walking Dead, but even the stuff the game tries to do isn't that great all the time.

Going for shock value for example, in episode 3 where you had to shoot Duck. I still barely believe the bomb crew holds that episode and specifically that instance in such high regard. It just screams: 'Hey! Player! We're making you shoot... a child'! Okay? Fine. I pushed 'A' without hesitation. I had no connection to the underdeveloped Duck. He was clearly used as a cast off for shock value. It may also be because I was dragged out of the experience before this instance. Did you know when you talk to Kenny and you chose the 'wrong' things to say, then Duck turns inside the train, everyone is killed including you and you need to restart? When you chose different things to say, which took me at least twice longer than the first time I tried talking to Kenny, Duck doesn't turn. So apparently you don't turn based on how long you've been bit, but whether or not you say the things people want you to say. It was so dumb. It just felt like a huge inconsistency and dragged me out of the drama experience, which is the thing the game is trying to do.

Because I'm only listing some examples I didn't like here it may seem I disliked the season but I really liked The Walking Dead and it's definitely justified on GOTY lists. It just does certainly have flaws. Also in the parts where the game is supposed to be good at.

Oh sweet, The Walking Dead discussion. I agree that the game had many issues when it came to actually delivering on what was promised in your choices. Ultimately, what you decide had little or no effect on the game and comprised of window dressing at best. A clear example of this is when in the last episode, Lee has to decide whether to cut off his arm or not. All this actually changes is that you have the arm or don't and you get one of two possible sets of dialogue. This is presented as a big decision at the time and one that may give Lee a greater or lesser chance of survival, but it didn't change anything meaningful. This was evident throughout the game and when many decisions came up, I was taken out of the experience knowing that in the past my choices had quantifiable limitations inside the game world. I would ask myself, "how will the game designers work around this one?"

On repeat playthroughs, it shows the best. However, even on my first, at certain points I had to take a step back and evaluate how the game would likely play out versus what it had presented as faux choices. To the game's credit, I never felt this was the domineering factor of anything I did in the game, but it was something I'd rather it avoided by giving the player any input into how the story unfolds. After a while, it becomes clear that you're basically being ferried along from point-to-point and that definitely takes its toll on how invested you feel as the player.

That's ignoring the technical problems that made this something of a nightmare for me, on Xbox. At the start I had three saves running to see the breadth of what I could do in the game. Eventually, two of these save files became corrupted. I ended up forced to take one of those save files to the end of the game and didn't think twice about going back to re-trod my path for the fourth-fifth-sixth time in certain chapters just to see an ending of which you barely had any lasting influence. The stinger is that the part where you play the game is painfully mediocre. It's so forced in fact the game would benefit from a "no gameplay mode."

I do give credit for the illusion of choice when it works, Clementine and Lee's relationship, characters like Larry, Kenny and Ben. It was a fascinating game to discuss with friends and go over all the variables. Telltale does need to make significant improvements on the first season to keep my attention in the second, especially concerning player input, gameplay and technical issues. If they'd also keep Whitta from writing a chapter, that'd be a plus.

Oh man, best comment I read all day. Well done, sir.

"[The Walking Dead comic book kinda peters out because it doesn't have very good characters]" *Stopped watching*.

Don't worry guys, I'm sure Stephenie Meyer will forgive you for not liking her dumb zombie book.

I can't wait to play this!

Patrick adds a lot of great stuff to this site. But he's just too involved, especially lately. I don't understand why he's not just an entertaining journalist with appearances here and there. Instead he has a huge presence, and tries to be a journalist, reviewer, critic, and just generally be always involved at once, at the same pace or more so than the original 4 guys who actually are reviewers and critics. Except for Vinny, but once the site got going he knew what his job was, and has stuck with it placing himself where he can. Not to mention, Vinny's just fucking awesome. I feel like Patrick would be so much of a better fit if he wasn't just fucking everywhere and easier to digest.

It's a bummer that this video is still plastered on the front page over stuff like Luigi's Mansion. That's a Patrick and Brad one too, but it's actually a decent video of of an awesome game. Why this garbage (video and game) is sitting as the feature presentation seemingly purely to soak up comments is beyond me.

Wait, lemme get this straight: Patrick thinks Walking Dead is a "terrible" show, but he thinks Lost is genuinely a great show?! Walking Dead is far from perfect, but people who think Lost is terrific (at least beyond season 2) should NEVER be taken seriously when judging the quality of television shows. Lost is possibly the most poorly written show I've ever watched.

Game seems pretty mediocre. Also, cool your shit internet people.

This game looks egregiously bad, it is sad because I really enjoyed the Terminal Reality Ghostbusters game. Patrick the comics have been consistently excellent, I just caught up to the current story arc on a long flight home and it still has me hooked

ffs, this.

Holy shit , I'm digging you for the games you are reviewing lately, but for a minute just put down the "journalists first words" book and answer questions with simplicity.

Also, Walking Dead is not a "bad" show. You might not like it, great, but it isn't bad.

@delicioussandwich: Two posts, both awful. I think it's clear which one of us should stop posting.

Man, people are really upset someone has a different opinion than them. Life must be pretty rough for some of you.

5 seconds into the video they are already negative about the idea of this game.

God patrick sucks.

Patrick needs to read the comic past the first anthology because the comic is VASTLY superior to the show.

Why are people bitching about Patrick? TWD TV show is not very good and the comic is better but by no account great. And this game looks like shit.

Man this game looks bad, but I'm glad people are talking about telltales Walking Dead again. Love that game so very much.

As for the TV show, I haven't watched it, but people seem to be getting way too upset about Patricks opinion on this. Does it matter if he likes the show or not?

@enigma777: Um... the comic is great actually.

Screw you guys, TWD is awesome!

I heard they are going to rename the site giantpatrick.com

This quick look was not very informative

Came to watch the trainwreck. Got the Telltale game spoiled instead. Great stuff.

Last night's TWD is a great example of how well the show does character. Everything from Rick's growth as a leader, the relationship of Maggie and Glenn, and most of all the redemption of Merle. I respect Patrick's opinion but I strongly disagree that the show has terrible characters.

I love Patrick, but to say that the comic doesn't have good characters and it's more focused on the zombie setting than characters is plain wrong.

@lifendz: But he has to try to sound smart for validation!!

@spikedelight: I agree with you, except for that loving Patrick part.

Whoever watches that show and thinks its amazing and hasn't read the comics is doing a disservice to themselves. No matter how hard the show tries, it will never be able to accomplish what the comic series has done with story telling.

Puts the show to shame.

Reading through the comments is really disappointing. Come on guys! The Quick Look wasn't amazing but all the aggressive comments about Patrick are way over the top. It's just an opinion and you should calm down! I think Patrick does good work on the side and is a unique voice in the crew. It's great that he tries to shed more light on the "smaller" games and always tries to step out of his comfort zone in terms of game genres (see: Monster Hunter) and gives them a chence.

I know this community is better than this!

@slique: Not to mention how incredibly awesome the character developments in Invincible are. I'm not sure how much Walking Dead comic I have left in me though. I think it's still great, but I don't know if can emotionally hang on. :)

Tony from Comic Vine should have been on this segment.

The show has shitty characters, it managed to turn good characters from the book into complete morons.

I never comment, but I just had to chime in. I don't think people are being too harsh with their criticism of Patrick. I like Patrick going back to the 1Up days, but the assessment that the show and even more so that the

comic

is poorly planned or of a poor quality is just kinda irresponsible. I understand it's his opinion, but in any other gaming situation, I could see him saying, "Well, I didn't play the whole game, so I don't want to make an assessment." This is no different. The comic is gripping and incredibly well written. Patrick need go no farther than former 1Up colleague Shawn Elliott. He's actually the guy who got me to start reading the comic.

I guess I can buy that it's just his opinion regarding the show, but like some others have pointed out, 'If you're here because you are a zombie fan or a horror fan and you think you're gonna get a lot of that, you're at the wrong party.' This show is about the characters and how humanity responds when there is this threat. For people who just kinda passively observe, like a Kubrick film, it's just a show about zombies. But for people who watch the show with a slightly more discerning eye, it's incredibly rich in the way that it presents the relationships between characters. Characters actually GROW. Consider Glen, Carl, Merle, Darryl - all characters who have matured through the course of the show's 3 seasons. And they're ready to send out Season 3 with a bang. I think the show is so well done -- particularly in this 3rd season and the themes that it's exploring. It's so overly reductive to come to the kind of conclusions he mentioned on the Quicklook so bluntly. Just say you don't really care for the show and keep it moving. He's treating it like there's no depth involved in the relationships between characters, the choices, the way in which the show actually plays upon the expectations of the readers of the comic in that they divert from the direction in some ways.

Patrick is still the man.... he's a good fit for the team -- kinda. But this was just a bit disappointing to hear. I went straight to the comments and I wasn't disappointed that people were as bothered as I was.

My problem is that despite enjoying Telltale's game I think both the comic and the show are better.

I find it exhausting listening to "gamers" constantly complain about how every other segment of The Walking Dead franchise is garbage for the sake of accentuating how much they love Telltale's game.

If "better than this" means "agree with the staff no matter what or be labelled a mindless, anonymous internet hater" than yes, the community is better than this. And it seems like it's getting better and better every day.

Wow Patrick doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about

looks really boring more than bad.

This game looks god awful.

Patrick will always comment on things he knows nothing about. One of his favourite phrases is 'this/it seems like...'. This prefix is usually followed by an opinion which he could not have formed himself as he has said 'it seems', meaning he has no idea. It always comes across like he has read something or heard someone elses opinion and then that becomes his own.

I enjoy the TV show, so it's annoying to hear someone say they don't like it and that they also only have it on in the background while doing something else.

Early "Death Stranding" was really different, conceptually.