While avoiding being a complete disaster, the game isn't without its flaws.
As for the story, this game introduces us to the Dixon brothers at the time the outbreak occurs. You see their journey into the first season of the T.V. show and what they go through along the way. You meet new survivors along the way, but yo never get attached to them and they just are a helping hand for scavenging. You are alone on all of the missions, which was kind of disappointing, but at the same time heightens the sense of helplessness. The story is mediocre at best as not a whole lot gets explained, but it keeps you flowing through the campaign.
The campaign is broken into sections where you go through the level completing a main objective while having a few side objectives in the level. These can range from trading medical supplies, to finding a missing person. Some of the side missions, if you choose to complete them, will award you with a new character to take along, or sometimes a new vehicle. The teammates have their own preferences and you can send them along on fetch missions before starting that said mission. The vehicle is used to take you from area to area. You can take 3 different routes to once said location with risk factors of breaking down and using more gas.
This games main focus is on item usage. Each mission is supposed to be played stealthily using silent attacks on walkers from behind. Using guns, and you will come across quite a few, will alert more and more walkers for you to dispatch. Gas, health items, bottles for distractions, and ammo can be found by exploring the level. Playing smart is the key as you can easily become overrun and lose much health. There are close up encounters where you have to focus a retical over the head and press R2 to kill the zombie.
For the combat, this game is a first person shooter that focuses a lot on melee combat. Different weapons can be found to deal damage. Most walkers will falter with 3-4 hits and you can shorten that with a charge up attack. This will leave you vulnerable to attack though, so use it wisely. Walkers will break through doors to get to you. While some may complain about the AI being dumb, they are ZOMBIES afterall, what else would you expect. This game also gets the "Shoot 'em in the head" factor right as only headshots kill the zombie. This is for the melee as well as the shooting. Shooting the body will only dismember them, and some melee weapons cut off limbs. All silent kills use the knife and is an instant kill.
Although the game doesn't re-invent the genre, it does do a couple of new things. Such as making you feel as though you are a real human in an outbreak that can overrun at any time. This game has haunting atmospheres in later levels, and sometimes makes you feel scared about what's around the corner. The walkers themselves have a lot of variety to them as well. There is also a new mechanic that makes so when you sprint for too long, you start to sweat which gives off your scent to the walkers. Very clever as this game makes you rely on planning you attack ahead of time.
The graphics on this are not that great. There is no multiplayer/split-screen, and the campaign can be completed in about six and a half hours, and there are a decent amount of invisible walls, and the ending is a bit disappointing. I will say that the developers did a great job with the time constraints they were given. These were really my only problems with the game, it runs smooth, hit detection is spot on, the music is great, and of course Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus reprise their character roles in this.
If you are a fan of The Walking Dead, or if you're looking to pass the time until Dead Island Riptide gets here, this will satisfy. While not being the best zombie game, I had my fun and enjoyed the time I spent playing it.