The Walking Dead has slowly but surely taken over world and all of the media and TV ratings and has become a household name around the world. So it was only logical that eventually a publisher would pick up the name and convert the greatness to consoles. And boy, am I glad that Telltale was the one to do the deed.
Walking Dead Season 1 surpassed all my expectations and completely took me by surprise. The graphics are a little out of date, but the depth the storyline drives into and the consequences of your actions and decisions make that a rather easy thing to overlook. The game is driven and determined by the choices you make as you progress through the game, therefore creating opportunity for lots of replayability.
You play as Lee, a man who at the start of the game, is clearly a man in trouble with the law because he is being transported in a cop car and not as a civilian. You will find out as you play what Lee may or may not have done, but of course as you can probably guess, they don't make it to the police station. Something goes awry and soon you are introduced to your first walker.
The control system is as simple and basic as it gets. You don't actually move Lee around, instead you control a sort of mouse and click on points of interest for Lee or click where you want him to walk to or on objects that you want him to examine. It sounds dull but it works out quite well, being as that's all you really need to be able to do anyways.
The zombies are just like off the show, dumb, ugly and thirsty. A couple have a creepy look to them but wouldn't say that any were downright scary. But the blood and gore is there, so that's a plus. Also, don't expect the story to be related at all to the story from the show. This is its own story in its own, however, the two do have a few things in common. I will not disclose them for the sake of spoilers but its basically the same world and time period and setting from the show, just different people and different trials and tribulations.
The story is the star of the game and it will wound you up in its captivating twists and turns and different characters that you will have to try to survive with. The people that surround you will quickly either be your friend or foe depending on how you treat them and talk to them and what you choose to do involving them. Its very easy to not agree with these characters a lot of the time especially Lily and her father (well really her father, I actually have a soft spot for Lily) but make your choices wisely cuz your survival could depend on getting help from those within your group. Some of the choices you will be forced to make will not be easy ones at all and the results of some of these tough choices will either weigh so heavily down on you or will give u some relief but Im here to tell you no matter what, most of the time you not gonna get what u truly desire. Some characters just cannot be saved and once you get past that and realize that, u will move on.
The game is divided into 5 episodes, and all are good but not all are great. Ep 1 is ok, its sort of a walkthrough and gets you started. Ep 2 however is one of the best off Season 1 and it has some very interesting plot twists that you wont see coming. Ep 3 is also very important and will have you wanting more once its finished. Ep 4 & 5 are more on the dull side and I was disappointed that the last episodes didn't have more outlasting fun to them and will too easily be forgotten.
But, overall The Walking Dead Season 1 is a great buy and I recommend it 100% to fans of the show and recommend it to players who love a good story based game full of drama and excitement. Telltale Games are releasing a lot of legit, grade A games and this was the start of their success in the console world. Go get it!!