The Walking Dead Episode 5 Review: No Time Left
So this is it! After debuting in early February, each episode of The Walking Dead has continued to impress and gain momentum leading up to this final entry. If you were worried about Telltale coming up short in Episode 5: No Time Left, let me put your worries aside now. The Walking Dead tugs at your heartstrings in so many ways as it provides one of the most memorable entertainment experiences of 2012.
Warning! Spoilers for Walking Dead episodes 1-4
Episode 4 of the Walking Dead was a filler episode, a lead-up to this one moment. Episode 5 picks up right up where it left off. Lee has been bitten and is desperately searching for Clementine, who has been taken. Making matters worse is the zombie infestation has now infested Savannah. The stakes have never been higher in The Walking Dead, and that’s why it shines.
Episode 5 doesn’t lie to you with where the story is going. These are Lee’s final moments, and the pacing couldn’t be more hectic. We're forced to make major decisions that drastically change your story experience. In one section, you’re quickly giving orders to your group and cutting off zombie arms to help seal yourself from hordes of undead.
When the pacing slows down we see a side of Lee that we haven’t seen before. We see a man desperate to paint a better picture of his current situation, but we know that it’s a short-term solution. It’s here that we learn more about Omid and Krista, characters that haven’t received a lot of screen time until now. Every choice that we’ve made up to this point, all the relationships you have formed, will come back and play a huge role in this episode. In previous episodes, we would get references to what happened, but they never played a huge role. Here, previous conversations like how you saved Duck at the farm or what you told Clementine resurface. It's refreshing and helps tie a bow on season one of The Walking Dead. 
The Walking Dead gameplay is still the same thrilling experience. The core of your adventure is focused on you making decisions using the Mass Effect-inspired pop-up wheel. All your actions will be QuickTime engaged, but you will be emotionally connected that you won’t mind sitting back and allowing the action to unfold.
Episode 5 just misses on being a complete game due to presentation issue. Once again, the all-star voiceover cast returns along with the graphic novel art style, however technical glitches that have been a constant issue thoughout the series resurface. Frame rate does drop, causing the game to briefly stutter before a scene loads. A couple of times character lips aren’t synced up to the script, which takes you out of the atmosphere for a brief moment. In the end, that’s not what I am going to remember about The Walking Dead. What I am going to look back on is the barnstorming finale that will be talked about for years to come.
As the final minutes come to a close in season one of the Walking Dead, Telltale managed to save their best tricks for last. Paying tribute to iconic horror movies, Episode 5 saves the most badass zombie fight, dialogue options and the best Clementine and Lee moment for the very end. When the music goes away, it makes the final moments unforgettable. I have never cried from a video game, but The Walking Dead broke me down and left me in shambles as closing credits appeared on the screen.
Since completing The Walking Dead, I haven’t stopped thinking about Lee and Clementine and how it profoundly affected me. As we have embarked on this great journey, we have been delighted with this year’s most likely Game of the year winner. Telltale’s The Walking Dead series not only rejuvenated the adventure genre, but has also set a new precedent for video game storytelling. The only aspect that disappoints me about the Walking Dead is that season one has come to a close, and the long wait for season two has already begun.
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