Redefines "Survival Horror"
The Walking Dead game is created in a series of 5 episodes, each one is about 2 hours long. Telltale Games is known for their episodic games where their development philosphy is built around releasing one episode at a time so that gamers can experience the story while waiting for the next episode to be released. Although inspired by both the comic books and the TV show, The Walking Dead game features a completely new group of survivors and characters. Gamers will partake in this adventure in the shoes of Lee Everett, an ex-convict who's been offered a chance at redemption.
The game starts out with Lee handcuffed and on his way to prison when the police officer driving the car inadvertently hits a zombie, causing the vehicle to roll off the highway and knocking both unconscious. When Lee wakes up, he finds a dead officer, a shotgun and a shotgun shell next to the crashed vehicle. Lee quickly grabs the key off of the dead officer to release his handcuffs and soon witnesses the recently deceased officer coming back to life. The officer gets up and attacks Lee, who then uses the shotgun to put him to rest for good. The sound of the gunshot quickly attracts other walkers in the nearby vicinity and Lee is chased over a wooden fence into a stranger's backyard. He enters the house, checks the owner's voicemal messages and encounters another walker. This time though, he is saved by an 8 year old girl named Clementine who lives in the backyard's treehouse. Her parents haven't returned from their trip to Savannah and she hides in the tree house to wait for them. Lee senses the danger of leaving Clementine behind, so he decides to take her with him. He continues to look after Clementine as his own daughter and puts her safety as his top priority. The journey they venture on soon leads them to other survivors. The survivors either learn to adjust to the new predicament or work hard together to try to escape the current horrifying turn of events. You will grow with some of the characters and may feel attached to them, as you probably will in real life situation.
I honestly love this game. I just can't put it down. It really knows how to put players right in the action of the horror that goes on in this game. You will be on the edge of your seat from day one until the journey is over. It's a roller-coaster ride from the very beginning. You will realistically experience fear, desperation, sadness, empathy, anger, and every other human emotions possible as Lee Everett. The story is simply very well told. As the story progresses, players will have to make decisions for Lee Everett as he interacts with other survivors. The decisions you make will drive a tailored gameplay experience where something you choose to say or do will have repercussions not only in the episode that you're playing, but also in future episodes of the game. As TellTale Games puts it, "Decisions range from relatively innocuous (do I lie here and if so, how should I lie?) to world-changing (I can only save one person, who will it be?)". Players are given a very short time to make those decisions and will come under pressure, so players will have to react quickly. "The undead won't stand by and politely let you figure out your next move". But rest assured that no decision is a bad decision, but if you do make a seemingly regrettable choice, the game has the option for you to rewind and re-enact the scenario again. This is survival horror at its best!
The PS3 version does suffer from a few game glitches here and there. Sometimes the control seems clunky and trying to move the cursor to the desired location is challenging. The action scenes can be a bit sluggish too. I have also experienced one case of the game freezing on me. But I think these are minor issues that won't take away from anyone's gaming experience. However, they do keep it from scoring a perfect 10.
The game's graphic is inspired by the work of Charlie Adlard, the artist for the comic books. This is a single player game and has no multiplayer capability. I also really enjoy the game soundtrack. It fits the game nicely. You don't have to be a Walking Dead fan of the TV show or comic books to enjoy this game. This is the ultimate survivor horror game that Resident Evil and Zombiu strive to accomplish but never quite achieve in the same way this game has. It is one of the best games I've ever played and one of the best horror movies I've seen in a while. Telltale Games certainly knows how to strike the iron while it's hot for they already have plans to make a sequel to this amazing game. I can't wait!