This is more an interactive movie than a game, but a gripping and emotional one at that! One hell of a ride.
The graphics style really doesn't appeal to me. It's like the designers couldn't decide between 3d and 2d, so they decided to scribble some black lines over the 3d models. At first glance, it looks rather amateur and low budget.
Next thing to put me off was the fact that this really isn't much of a game. It's more like an interactive movie where you choose your dialogue and press the right button at the right time. Most point and click adventures give you various items and you have to combine, use or examine the right one in the right context to solve puzzles and therein lies the challenge. Walking Dead, however, tells you what item to use where. It even shows you where to click...not that you can't figure this out for yourself. This takes away any challenge and minimises the playable experience.
Naturally, I couldn't believe it when I was seeing so many positive reviews for this series, that lacked both visual appeal and playability. But all these positive reviews made me think that maybe I was missing something. I'd even seen some people rating Walking Dead alongside such classics as Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle and Gabriel Knight.
I consider myself an open minded person, so I decided I needed to give this another try.
Second time around, I gave it much longer. The visual style that I initially hated started to grow on me a little. Although far from impressive, the graphics give the game character. Instead of perceiving this game as serious and cinematic, I accepted it as an animated comic book and that really works.
As for the playability, I stand by my original judgement. Walking Dead offers very little gameplay or challenge and solving puzzles doesn't require any thought. However, this time round, I decided to accept it for what it is and embrace the interactive movie experience.
Within an hour, I found myself completely hooked! The storytelling is outstanding and does a great job of capturing the tension and despair of classic zombie movies. The characters are great too, very well acted and evolve in a natural way. I actually started to feel a bond with some of the characters and while I'll often act a complete dick when I play video games, there were character in this game I really felt for and whose friendship I wanted to cultivate.
What I actually found was that my own personality and morality started to reflect in the game and my decisions came from the heart. At times this can be very challenging and can leave you feel real emotional turmoil. No other game has ever done this!
This is where Walking Dead really shines. Unlike most adventure games that give you a list of lines to say, and actions that lead you along a set path, your actions and dialog here affects the direction of the game and how the characters react towards you. Likewise, the choices you make also have consequences and can even determine whether some characters live or die.
Although this isn't new to gaming, I have never seen it done this well. It really engages you and you feel like you're an active participant, creating your own path. So while the game lacks traditional gameplay and challenges, it gives you a completely different dimension of interaction, one based on emotional attachment or resentment, morality, spur of the moment decisions and, in some scenarios, even fear.
Unlike most zombie fiction that's all about blood, guts and mass killing of zombies, Walking Dead is handled in such a mature and thoughtful way. As much as I hate to admit it, there were a few times I started welling up with tears.
I hold my hands up and admit I was way too quick to judge this game/interactive movie, but I am very glad I decided to give it another chance and I direct this review towards similar sceptics. Give it chance!
I've not been overly impressed by Telltale Games previous games in terms of their game engine and visual style, but they have such an incredible talent for story writing, voice acting and well developed characters. So this interactive movie engine is a perfect way to show what they do best and I really hope they will continue this formula for their future projects...whether it be another Walking Dead title, a return to previous titles (Monkey Island, Back to the Future) or something entirely new.