The Walking Dead spans several mediums, with ongoing comics, a TV show, an episodic game from Telltale and even an upcoming first person shooter based on the TV show. They’ve all been well received too – well, the released ones have anyway – and the episodic game is a particular highlight, largely due to its extremely good, yet sometimes absolutely devastating narrative.
In fact, it’s one of the best games of last year, backed up by numerous game of the year awards and near unanimous praise from critics (it holds a 92 Metacritic rating, though that’s only based on twelve reviews).
Personally, I think that it’s one of the best games I’ve played this generation and, to my mind, there’s few other examples of storytelling in gaming that are as good as The Walking Dead. While we didn’t review each episode individually, I took a look at the game as a whole after all five episodes had fully released, so I’ll let those words do the talking:
This game connects you and the characters like no other. You are living the zombie apocalypse, not just glimpsing into a world through a screen. Emotions are raw and genuine, choices are brutal and yet necessary, the outcome is heart-wrenching and yet so incredible.
It’s arguable that The Walking Dead hasn’t only forwarded the zombie trope in interactive media, but the medium as a whole. Choices you make have a huge impact – it’s not a matter of gaining XP or being at a certain point on a morality scale but instead a matter of life and death.
To put it simply, it’s a game that shouldn’t be missed by anyone seeking a good story. It might be Lee and Clementine’s story but in the end it’s yours too, since the choices you make affect the outcome of the game to such a large extent. Even if you aren’t a fan of zombies, the connections between each of the character’s and their tale – their plight – is one of the best pieces of fiction that released last year.
Now it’s your turn to tell us what you think of Telltale’s The Walking Dead. I’m confident that most of your reactions will be positive, though it should be interesting to hear from anyone who didn’t quite click with the game. All opinions are welcomed, so long as you’ve played the game.
Simply drop a comment below with a concise review of The Walking Dead and make sure to put a Buy It, Bargain Bin It, Rent It or Avoid It rating on the end. As always, we’ll have a round-up of your thoughts on Monday, so if you want a chance to be included make sure to comment by Sunday afternoon.
Tuffcub
Stil hate it.
online4ntagonist
Absolutely brilliant. Way better than that AWFUL tv-series. Acting’s better too.
BUY IT NOW
rept0n
BUY IT… and BUY Series Two the second you can!
Clem <3
Mickey2010
Buy It.
Loved everything about it from the storytelling, the choices you make, the ‘comic’ book-esc type graphics and the voice acting was great (albeit the game a tiny bit buggy at times)..Me and a few lads were talking the other day it’s possibly the only game in 12 years of Playing video games where I have been brought to tears where every choice you make has a affect on your consonance as you try to protect Clementine..
If I was to some it up in 5 words..
Ground-breaking..Gripping..Emmotional..Heatwarming..MASTERPIECE
Bring on Season 2
Tuffcub
15.54 and it still utter tripe. Stay tuned for further updates.
CarBoyCam
Buy it. No doubt about it.
I received the first episode for free from the XBL Marketplace and wasn’t expecting too much from it… Oh how wrong I was! During the first episode I just about managed to keep up with which character was which and grasped the general gist of what was going on. But, as the episodes progressed (and as my wallet got emptied) I found myself well and truly engrossed in the game.
I was much more familiar with every character in the game, even the new ones who’d only been introduced recently. What’s more is that I found myself developing a bond with certain characters too. It may sound weird, but it’s a very powerful game. I began to see Clementine (a young girl you’re looking after) as if she was my own. Dreading the time if/when anything bad happened to her. Panicking when a walker got anywhere near her. Then there’s Carley. She is (or was) a journalist who knows about Lee’s past. But she shows that she can be trusted when she keeps her knowledge to herself. Gradually I find myself wanting to protect Carley too. Again, fearful of anything bad happening and if anything did happen, I’d be livid. It’s bizarre, but I developed a relationship with these virtual characters beyond anything I’ve ever felt before in any other game.
By the time I reached the 5th episode I didn’t see The Walking Dead as a game anymore. It was an experience, almost an extension of my life thanks to the emotional effects caused by events and dilemmas faced throughout the story.
The thing that got me most though was the ending. I won’t say what happened, but what I will say is that I’ve never cried at a game before… Ever. However, that all changed with The Walking Dead. I howled. Sobbed my heart out. Not a single game in the past has ever made me do that and I doubt any future game will either. Well, that is until Telltale release the second season…
Tuffcub
Terrible game with terrible animation. The Lego games havemore character than this lot.
Tuffcub
Time Check: 17.19. Status Of The Walking Dead Game: Awful
three_leg_jake
Has someone stolen Tuffcub’s sweeties? He appears to be in need of a nap…
Walking Dead game? Bloody fab! A good story, great characters and some really tough decisions to make as a player. Not “shall I be good or bad” as in Infamous but “which of these two equally deserving of life characters do I save?”..and one of the most daring endings I’ve seen in a game for a long time. Interactive movie is a phrase I could use if it wasn’t such a daft term. Sure some of the gameplay is a little clunky but as an experience it is top dollar. BUY IT.
bunimomike
It’s okay. Tuffcub just doesn’t know how to handle women, let alone children of the female variety, so every moment in the game, he felt compelled to try and blow her effing brains out or sell her to some rich Japanese business man.
After typing that I now want an option to be able to play this out. Meh! Terrible game. :P
Tuffcub
That is entire untrue, I happen to have a posse of beautiful blonde bitches. Women love me :)
But The Walking Dead is still SHITE. Walking between characters and offering them a chocolate bar IS NOT A GAME.
Enzo DeGregorio
While I don’t think that The Walking Dead is a revolutionary game of any kind, as it was portrayed in several reviews, I would still say that the low cost of entry warrants a purchase.
The cel-shaded style of the graphics works surprisingly well for a game of such serious subject matter and the story is engaging and thoroughly disturbing in places, though it stutters somewhat around episodes 3 and 4. Lee is more the star of the show than Clementine in my opinion, being ultimately far more interesting, though the ensemble cast is still good. The music ranges from decent to forgettable except for one section of episode 5, though the sound effects add an extra layer of poignancy to certain scenes. The gameplay is a streamlined version of the same formula that Telltale used in their Back to the Future series, however it fumbles somewhat in the more action-orientated sections to which it’s simply not suited. That said, this may not be the case for other UIs (I played the series on PS3), I can envisage that point and click or touch screen controls would suit the game better. The reflexive story aspect is good and it’s probably the main reason most will play the game, but it stiffens up in later episodes leading to a largely fixed end point. On that note, I’d say buy it with the caveat of play Heavy Rain first :P