Approx. Length: 15 hours (about 2-4 hours per chapter; 5 chapters total)
Language: English
Played on: PS3 (Digital download)
Also Available for: XBox 360, PC, Mac OS X, iOS
Type of Game: Point-and-Click; Choose-Your-Own-Adventure; Puzzle; Horror
Overall Impression: It's really good, but holy **** (feel free to insert whatever swear word you want) -- it's dark, sad, intense, and depressing as well.
SPOILER ALERT WARNING!!
This
review will contain some spoilers -- or rather, there will be a
"Spoilers" section at the end of the review to go into further detail
about certain things. There may still be slight spoilers throughout the
review, but I've tried my best to keep them at a minimum.
PERSONAL STANDING (Pre-exposures, thoughts, etc.)
Before the game existed, I read some of the comic books. It was recommended in some nerdy podcast I listened to. Curious, I borrowed the first 4 volumes from the library and was hooked. When I heard that there was going to be a video game, I was a little hesitant. Video game adaptations of anything tend to be horrible. After reading an entry about it on Siliconera and watching the video (that video has comic book spoilers, so don't watch it unless you've read maybe the first 8 volumes), though, I decided to give the game a chance.
STORY
In The Walking Dead, you play Lee Everett, a convicted murderer. The zombie apocalypse hits while he is being driven to prison. Eventually, he finds a little girl named Clementine, and he decides to take care of her and help her find her parents. That's all I'm going to say. Part of experiencing the game is seeing what happens next.I can tell you: the story is very well written.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay involves a mix of point-and-click interactions, some quick-time events, some puzzle-solving, and one of the most important and driving aspects of the game: making choices. At the start of each chapter, before you even begin, these two sentences are displayed on a black screen:
This game series adapts to the choices you make.
The story is tailored by how you play.
While this sort of gameplay is not especially new, it is very engaging and feels unique.
TYPICAL GAMEPLAY FLOW
At the beginning of each chapter, some cutscenes are played and then Lee (i.e., you) will get placed in some kind of situation -- either internal (something happening within his group) or external (something happening elsewhere). From there, it will be a mix of point-and-click exploration, talking with the other characters, quick-time events, solving puzzles, and making choices. After you meet your objective (whatever it may be), more cutscenes are shown and the whole cycle starts over again. At the end of the chapter, you'll be presented with stats of your major choices and how it compares to everybody else who's played The Walking Dead. I will show my stats in the "Spoilers" section.
THE INTENSITY OF CHOICE-MAKING
One series of choices presented to you in Chapter 1.
From left to right: Larry, Kenny.
When making choices, a timer will start going down, so you don't have forever to make your decision. Sometimes the timer is slow; sometimes super fast. Sometimes I don't have time to read all the choices, and I think that's intentional -- to go with your gut instead of always trying to make the rational decision or the decision you think the characters want you to make (and just so you know, you can't please everybody).
While choices don't always affect the end result, they do affect the characters and how they might treat you later on or what they will do or say. And some choices can be very difficult to make. One situation puts you in charge of handing out the rations for the day, but you only have 4 pieces of food for a group of 10 people. If you imagine yourself in a real situation like that, how would you decide who gets to eat and who goes hungry?
I'll mention how I generally played / made my choices in the "Spoilers" section.
The game hinting that Clementine will remember whatever choice you just made.
Left to right: Lee, Clementine.
Left to right: Lee, Clementine.
CHARACTERS/VOICE-ACTING
In The Walking Dead, there are a good number of characters. Some of them are jerks; some of them are decent. I think the cast is varied, and the characterization for some of them were really nicely done. My favourite characters are Lee, Clementine, Glenn, Carley, Mark, Molly, and Chuck. I'll mention more about the characters in the "Spoilers" section.
VOICE-ACTING
The voice-acting is great. While each chapter would be about 2-4 hours of gameplay, I can only imagine the large size of the script, to accommodate the varying choices you make. My favourite voice is Clementine.
GRAPHICS
The Walking Dead has a very comic book feel to it. It's kinda like how a comic book would look if it was 3D. I think it works very nicely.Since this is a horror game, there are a lot of bloody, graphic moments. Some of Lee's death scenes are pretty brutal (zombies digging into your entrails and such). Just like the comic books, nothing feels censored here. So make sure you've got a strong stomach.
MUSIC
The
music fits with the sombre, hopeless, bleak atmosphere. Sometimes it gets very intense for the moments where zombies are chasing you. Other times they're sombre string pieces. At least, that's what I remember.
VIDEO GAME VS. THE COMIC BOOKS
So, The Walking Dead video game and The Walking Dead comic books are completely different. Some of the characters in the game come from the comic books, and the game is supposedly canon to it. Similarities would be the atmosphere and its focus on story and characterization instead of a focus on zombies. To me, I find this almost like a breath of fresh air. Playing as Lee Everett instead of Rick (Rick is the main character in the comic books), you are really free to make whatever choices you want and have a better, more immersed experience in the Walking Dead universe than if you were playing a character that already exists and already has his personality established (from the comic books).
REPLAYABILITY
The neat thing about replaying the chapters is if you make different choices, you'll get a different experience. So, I'd say that there is a lot of replay value here. The only question is whether or not you would want to replay it, since the story can get pretty dark and depressing. I think I would replay it at least once more.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
The Walking Dead is a really great game. It is very engaging, immersive, heavily plot and character-driven, and fun. And you get to kill some zombies. What's not to like about this? Well... I gotta say that sometimes there are slight graphic goof-ups, but that's a minor issue. Not a deal breaker when it comes to a gaming experience like this.Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free. Now to get to the meat of my review -- my actual experience with the game, which is spoiler-heavy.
So I'll do the scrolly thing and the "Spoilers" section will appear after that. Then I'll add some more scrolly things after the "Spoilers" section in case anybody wants to comment, but not see the spoilers.
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SPOILERS
My general gameplay
In this playthrough, I was generally playing Lee as the nice, honest guy. I tried to make the choices that would satisfy others. But when I got angry, I'd get angry, lol. I was super angry when Kenny killed Larry and told him off whenever I got the chance.
I think I was a little too forgiving of Ben. He really did screw up so much. When he pleaded for me to let him go in Chapter 4, though, I just couldn't do it. That's just too sad -- feeling that the only redeeming quality for yourself would be to die.
When faced with choosing sides, I would go with what I thought was "right" at the time, or I'd side with who I was most loyal to. I really liked Carley and was always nice to her. I also always tried to be nice to Clementine. I really wanted her and Lee to have a family-like bond.
I think for me, the most difficult decisions were:
-splitting the food rations in Chapter 2
-whether to bring Lilly in the RV in Chapter 3
-whether to have my hand chopped in Chapter 5
-what to do when Ben was impaled in Chapter 5
There's probably more, but I don't remember right now.
Characters
My first thought: why did Carley have to die?! I almost think it was forced -- so the writers didn't have to further develop her path. And I fully get that. I've made text-based choose-your-own-adventure kind games before (not on a professional level, though I want to) -- I understand how difficult it is to write to a game with many branching paths. I understand how difficult it is to code / program a game with many branching paths. It is time-consuming. I just wish she didn't have to die.
Well, this section would probably be mostly me whining about why they had to off characters I liked, like Mark, and Chuck. Mark seemed like a decent guy, and Chuck seemed pretty bada** and wise.
It's too bad Molly left at the end of Chapter 4. She was pretty bada** as well.
I really didn't like Kenny in the beginning. I get how family is very important, and how family takes priority over pretty much everything. But when your family is safe, can't you, err, help out everybody else? I was pretty upset when he didn't help Shawn in Chapter 1 after he took Duck to safety. Close to the end, though, Kenny turned out pretty decent. I was sad when he died in Chapter 5.
Lee and Clementine... that last scene between Lee and Clementine... it was so sad. I cried a lot. Clementine's desperate voice really did it for me. My last words to her was "I will miss you."
My stats for each chapter + fate of the characters
So here are the stats of my choices at the end of each chapter. Yeah, they're horrible screenshots. I also took pictures of the fate of the characters that shows at the end of Chapter 5.
Chapter 1
Lie to Hershel? -- You and 63% of players were honest
Duck or Shawn? -- You and 47% of players chose Shawn
Side with Kenny? -- You and 48% of players defended Kenny
Gave Irene the Gun? -- You and 45% of players gave her the gun
Doug or Carley? -- You and 76% of players chose Carley
Chapter2
Chopped David's leg off? -- You and 84% of players chopped his leg off
Shot Jolene? -- You and 87% of players had Danny shoot her
Helped kill Larry? -- You and 68% of players didn't help
Killed both of the St. John brothers? -- You and 82% of players didn't kill both brothers
Stole food from the car? -- You and 44% of players didn't steal
Chapter3
Did you shoot the girl in the street? -- You and 40% of players shot her
Did you abandon Lilly? -- You and 57% of players did not leave her
Did you fight Kenny? -- You and 44% of players talked him down
Did you shoot Duck? -- You and 79% of players shot him
Did you help Omid? -- You and 43% of players did not help Omid
Chapter4
Did you kill the boy in the attic? -- You and 74% of players killed him
Did you lie to or threaten Vernon? -- You and 66% of players were rational and honest
Did you bring Clementine with you to Crawford? -- You and 74% of players brought her
Did you let Ben fall to his death? -- You and 67% of players pulled him up
Did you reveal your bite to the group? -- You and 80% of players showed the bite
Chapter5
Removed Lee's arm? -- You and 70% of players removed your arm
Lost temper? -- You and 27% of players calmly argued with Kenny
Gave up weapons? -- You and 58% of players surrendered your weapons
Killed Clementine's captor? -- You and 56% of players didn't kill the stranger
Stopped Lee from turning? -- You and 62% of players made sure Lee didn't turn
Left to right: Kenny, Katjaa.
Left to right: Larry, Lilly.
I don't remember calling her a b*tch, lol.
Left to right: Lilly, Omid.
Yeah, I pushed Omid off that bridge in Chapter 3.
I thought it was the only way to get him on the train.
Left to right: Ben, Carley.
Left to right: Christa, Doug.
Left to right: Doug, Duck.
I left Duck hanging when he wanted a high-five in Chapter 3.
I thought he was just going to have his hand up forever, lol...
If you read my spoilers, thank for reading them! Now to finish with more scrolly things. Feel free to comment :D
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This game absolutely rocks. Game of the year 2012 is not undeserved. Would love to compare notes but people who might not have done this game could be reading. :)
ReplyDeleteThe last episode was an absolute doozy. I was, like, clenching my head in agony most of the time. But I didn't cry though. Still, it hurt. Alot. In more ways than one, as you know!