The Walking Dead Review – Most games with zombies in it don’t really have an interesting story. After all, it’s all about whacking zombies, right? Well, wrong, thanks to The Walking Dead game.
The Walking Dead is an adventure game developed by Telltale Games, consists of 5 episodes. It is based on the Walking Dead TV series, but fret not. The characters and story are actually completely different than the TV series.
This is definitely not the first adventure game developed by Telltale Games. They have resurrected the good old Monkey Island adventure series before into Tales of Monkey Island (which was divided into several episodes as well).
Unlike most adventure games, however, there are no inventories to manage and you don’t have to blindly try every single combination of inventory items with interactable world objects. In fact, The Walking Dead focuses much on storyline and character development. And boy, they do not disappoint.
In the game, you will be playing as Lee Everett in third person mode. Using a combination of mouse and keyboard, you can walk around, interact with objects on the screen, and start a conversation with the other characters. Just like in the TV series, the game is all about survival and making tough choices as the zombie apocalypse world is pretty much unpredictable.
Telltale Games has placed what works and taken out what’s not. At all times, there are always surprises and tensions in every single thing that you do. Quick time events make sure you bash the right key at the right time or kill the approaching zombies quickly, without being frustrating. Even when you are having a conversation with someone, the clock keeps on ticking while you ponder about the answer.
What makes The Walking Dead one of the best adventure games of all times is that your choices dictate the story. Now, not every decision gives you a major branch in the storyline, but even smaller decisions will be remembered by the characters in-game and affect some of the conversations later on. Picking whom to save when you only have time to rescue one person is always tough and trying not to get too emotional with someone does not help, either. At times, I quickly reloaded the game just to find out what happened if I chose a different answer or decision. More often, I wanted to replay the whole game again just to experience a different story with different survivors. Replayability is pretty high, although you’ve pretty much known the main storyline.
Telltale Games have also worked hard in the game’s characters development. As you play more and more, you will feel attached to the characters in the game and emotional when something bad happens to them. You will care about Clementine; a small, young girl that you swore to protect in the game.
Awesome voice acting, musical scores, and visual arts will make you come back for more once you’ve completed the first Episode. I actually bought the whole 5 episodes when there was a Steam sale, simply because I’ve heard good things in every review of this game. Everyone loves The Walking Dead and you should, too, especially if you care about storyline more than actions. The Walking Dead has plenty of talks but if you play it slowly and wholeheartedly, you will be enjoying it to the fullest!
