The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a welcoming return to one of 2012's best games of the year.

User Rating: 8 | The Walking Dead: 400 Days PS3
It's safe to say that not too many people foresaw how stunning The Walking Dead would become in a video game. Yet, the episodic tale based off of that highly famous series turned out to be a smashing success, and perhaps one of the greatest and unique experiences 2012 had to offer. Needless to say, the heavily accumulated fans, including myself, have been longing for more ever since the astonishing conclusion of the first season towards the end of last year. Even with season 2 approaching the horizon, the wait has remained virtually unbearable. Thankfully, this add-on, 400 Days, does well in filling that void.

First of all, 400 Days isn't your routine The Walking Dead episode in terms of how season 1 functioned. Instead of one straight out story being told with one protagonist, five separate protagonists are introduced, all with their own background story taking place at various intervals of the zombie apocalypse. Since this episode is rather brief, even compared to season 1's episode, each of the character's chapters are extremely short lived, yet many events unfold within these minuscule time spans. So while each character's introduction is over almost as soon as it starts, all of them contain some memorable and shocking moments similarly to past episodes.

Playing each character's story chronologically is probably the best way to tackle this bonus episode, although it doesn't make too much of a difference in the end. Vince's story takes place a mere two days after the outbreak, for starters. His criminal actions, the intentions of which are left somewhat unclear, land him in a prison bus with several other convicts. Keeping to one of the strengths of the season, much of this portion of the episode (as well as the others) focus on the well put together dialogue and their respective options. A difficult decision must be made as a result of a dire situation towards the end of Vince's introduction, and that's only the beginning...

The remaining character's stories follow a similar pattern. Usually, they aren't alone, therefore interaction with other characters remains an essential component to the game. Each chapter contains at least one tough or major decision to be made, the effects of which actually affect the outcome of the episode. As for the characters themselves, there's a fair amount of variety among them, though it's difficult to genuinely be attached to any of them at this point, especially with their brief appearances. There's already the aforementioned convict, but in addition to that there's Wyatt, a man with the appearance of a hippy; Russell, a young man found traveling out on his own; Shel, a mother who lives with a small group of survivors; and Bonnie, a recovering addict. Overall, It's a relatively interesting cast of characters, yet there's so much that isn't known about them even after completing this episode. This, of course, is perfectly fine given this is a bonus episode meant to bridge the gap between season 1 and 2.

As previously mentioned, the same elements that made season 1 exceptional are present in this episode. The writing, of course, is well done. Morally conflicting decisions must be made. Tense moments provide a generous amount of excitement and times. Additionally, 400 days positively builds on to season 1 as made evident by various references and nods to past events that occurred in the duration of the first season.

Fortunately, there aren't any egregious flaws with 400 days. Not a great deal has changed since the initial episode of the series in terms of visuals and everything. Random pauses between scenes, often when there's a decision being made or a certain action with multiple outcomes possible, still persist at times. The only true bummer is the fact that this episode is over so quickly. My run through the episode lasted approximately an hour and a half. Compared to season 1's episode, this one is the shortest, with the exception of season 1's final episode. On the brighter side, 400 days is faster paced, thus less time spent having to move around and figuring out how to proceed, a minor issue that persisted in past episodes.

Each character's story comes together at the end of this episode, albeit in an unexplained and seemingly rushed fashion. However, decisions made in each of their stories impacts the outcome significantly in an intriguing way. It's tough to say exactly how impactful the conclusion of this episode will be moving forward to season 2, but either way, it's hard not to be even more excited to witness how the next season will play out.

The Walking Dead: 400 Days fulfills its purpose in bringing back the series in an exciting way and in making the transition between seasons smoother. Fans who have invested themselves emotionally in the first season owe it to themselves to shell out of the $5 and play this solid DLC episode. Taking a glance into the future, there's no doubt season 2 will be as an intense and emotional as the prior season. With that said, 400 Days is a great beginning for what's to emerge in the upcoming season.