The Walking Dead: Season 1 Review

From http://8-bitgirl.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-walking-dead-game-review.html

[WARNING: Spoilers to follow about The Walking Dead: Season 1)

I’m done. I’m done, man.

Holy crap. That ending.

The Walking Dead was amazing. Regardless of the any issues that the game had at times (which were frustrating at times), the story was fantastic, and that was the driving force of the entire game. 

I’ll be reviewing the game primarily on the story, mostly because I’ve covered the other qualities that the game has in the first episode, and it stays mostly consistent the whole way through (the issues, too, though I noticed they aren’t as bad in the final episode, at least for me).

The story of The Walking Dead: Season 1 moves along at a pretty fast pace, though it won’t seem like it as you go through the episodes.  It’s interesting that the season doesn’t just focus on one big tale per episode over a big, long 5-episode arc like, say Sam & Max. At least, not entirely. No, it’s a story that moves from event to event, understandable given the setting and the circumstances. The zombies are a major danger – the characters have to keep moving in order to survive. People join the group, people are lost….it happens a lot throughout the game. Like other works like Frankenstein, Night of the Living Dead, or 28 Days Later, it sometimes makes us ask who the real danger is, who the real monsters are – is it really the zombies? Or is it us?

Episode 1, being the beginning, gets you used to things and how the game will go. You are introduced to the setting, the apocalyptic world that you’re put in. You get used to bonding with people that you think might be with you through the whole season, but they won’t. At least, most of them won’t. You get to start bonding with Clementine, and you learn more about yourself and the others. The game also introduces you to the choice system, which can change your relationships with other people. You’ll have to choose to save the lives of certain characters, like Doug and Carley.  Though it only happens twice in this episode, it’s only a taste of what’s to come. This was only the beginning. Most importantly, the choice system defines who you are and what you’d do, if you choose honestly.  Overall, the first episode is a great set-up to what will feel like a long journey.

Episode 2 moves forward to three months later, where it ups the ante, and forces you to take sides. You can only be in the middle for so long, because there will be a point in the game where things come to a head, and you have to pick one person’s side over the other. And that is the one of the defining moments in the game. It’s great, honestly, though there is one new character – Mark – that I wish we got to know better. He’s introduced so suddenly, and is taken away just as suddenly, which kind of makes it feel like he was just there to die so that the others could live instead in the whole carnivore plot at the dairy farm. The impact of his loss, while strong, could have been stronger if we had just gotten to know him longer. Plus, we learn about this whole military base side-plot that we were never a part of, which is slightly disappointing. 

Episode 3 maintains, or even heightens the tension from the previous episode as things get really bad at the motor inn, the main “safe” haven of the group. It questions our trust of people who we’ve gotten to know, and things, like before, come to another head. While the episode is more of a transitional point to the next episode, but it still comes out pretty well. People come and go, sadly, as they often do in this game. And the train gets moving...

(P.S. I liked the references they made to the dumb radio puzzle back in the first episode)

Episode 4 puts Lee and the group in a new place- Savannah, Georgia. There, a lot of the story is devoted to finding a way out of Savannah. Trust again becomes an issue in this episode, but between Lee and Clementine, due to the sudden appearance of this seriously creepy stranger. Finally, as they accomplish their task in getting a boat that they discover in working condition, another problem occurs – Clem’s gone. The end of the episode is a prelude to the final episode, and Lee gets bit.

Episode 5, aptly titled “No Time Left”, is Lee’s final mission to save Clementine from the hands of the stranger. You go through a lot of trials, and there are several indicators that remind you that the clock’s ticking. Lee, and in turn, you, don’t have much time left before turning into a walker. When you finally get to your destination after a visceral sequence that shows just how far Lee’s willing to go to save her, you finally meet the man who has Clementine. The stranger questions the choices that you’ve made thus far, criticizing them, and you have to answer for them. Why did you do the things that you did? Was it justified? Was it alright? And you find out that you may have helped to ruin this guy’s life, directly or indirectly. It’s a heavy sequence, yeah, but not as hard as what comes afterward.

The ending, man. Geez, that ending. It’s heartbreaking. Just…heartbreaking. I can’t, man.

It’s tragic, but genius. It’s painful and tear-jerking in all the right ways, if that makes any sense. It’s amazing. There was no better way to end the tale, and from the outset, you know that this story won’t end well.

And it doesn’t.

Just a quick note about the choice system: I’ve seen some complaints saying that the choices you make in the game don’t really matter. But they kinda do. Though Telltale Games wants to tell its own story, it manages to tell one that adapts to your choices. Like I mentioned before, you do affect your relationships with others, with Clementine, and save or kill others in the process.  You change the way people look at you by what you say or do. Sure, the choices aren’t meteoric, and the main tale is still told, things do change from player to player. As a result, each player’s experience of The Walking Dead won’t be exactly the same. It’s the little touches that make your own experience of the game so special.

The gameplay mainly consists of puzzle-solving, QTE, and decision-making, which is fine, considering that this is more of an adventure game than a puzzle game. The puzzles are there to both help in the development of your own character, Lee, at times, and to progress in the story (obviously). The QTEs are often done during action sequences, which do heighten the tension a little bit, and aren’t totally overdone. The decision-making is, like I mentioned before, the crux of the game due to it's story-bending ways, and it’s quite good, letting you personalize both Lee and your own journey by doing the things I mentioned before with the choice system.

I’ve also mentioned this before, but on my playthrough of the game on the PS3, I experienced some bad lags, screen-tearing, points where the game wouldn’t load for me, some glitches – one that’s really bad, too, where I couldn’t even move Lee in Episode 3. It’s a shame, since I really wanted to keep playing. However, they aren’t too much harm to the game. They don’t happen constantly, but they can be very deterring.

I’m glad I didn’t play the game the way it was originally released last year – episodes released every couple of months. By experiencing the whole ride in a short amount of time, I got the experience the full impact that the game provides – no long stops in-between to forget anything important, no cliffhangers (well…), none of that. I have to admit, however, that it’s a lot to take in by not doing so. I don’t know if I want to start playing The Walking Dead: Season 2 so immediately (since it apparently comes out this month! Awesome!), and have to wait so long just to continue to the next episode.

This game shows why video games can be so incredible. Because it is incredible.

9.5/10 - Incredible