The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help delivers riveting action, superb characterization and engaging writing.
I really enjoyed Telltale's first episode of Walking Dead canon. Titled "A New Day", the first of five episodes was tense, exciting and engrossing thanks to great characters and dialogue. Telltale made me optimistic with its first delivery on the story, and so I went into Episode 2 with high hopes. Thankfully, Telltale delivers another brilliant installment in what could well be a special series. "Starved for Help" tackles some interesting themes, while balancing a dark, mature story with excellent characters and dialogue to make, in my book, the best episode yet.
Episode 2: Starved for Help is set three months following the conclusion of the first episode, where Lee, Kenny and company setted up shop at the Motor Inn. However, everybody is fatigued and the group is facing difficulty with hunger, with less rations than people to feed. In addition to this, there are growing tensions between Kenny and Lilly amidst leadership issues and Lee is forced to contend with one or the other. Over time, the group meets two strangers who offer them refuge – and food – in exchange for gasoline. I'm not going to spoil anything else outside of that, but know that things get very intriguing and dark, which makes the story even more engrossing. Again, Telltale delivers excellent writing to go hand-in-hand with its well-developed characters. The characters' ordeals are convincing and you'll feel for every one of them. I also like how the game recaps players on the previous episode, which is a nice touch.
Following a tense opening sequence, Telltale hands us tough choices, of which are personally more difficult this time around and carry a lot more emotional weight. Whether it was feeding one over another or deciding on what to do next, I always found it hard to make a fast decision, and more often than not finding myself pausing the game to really think about my choices. Also, like the previous episode, people will remember things that you say and may react differently depending on your prior conversations. So if you lie or hide something, it will surely catch up with you. I love how Telltale makes you empathize with Lee's predicament, with Clementine as his priority, and I constantly made decisions that I would make in real life should a situation find me in that way. There is a lot more character development too, which brings us in to each characters' situations and fleshes out their personalities, which is a terrific achievement.
In terms of presentation, Starved for Help features a lot of freezing and constant chugs, which was evident in "A New Day", but I'm starting to become adjusted to this issue. I can handle the freezing, but it sometimes occurs for 3-5 seconds each time something interesting is happening, which again breaks the tension. Apart from that issue, the game runs better than before, which is very important, because this is definitely more compelling than the first episode. There is a lot more interactivity here, with numerous action scenes (in a graphic adventure sense) and they are executed really well. The controls are the same, but there is more interaction and player urgency in Episode 2.
This episode is also paced really well, and feels a lot more focused than the first episode. You'll be witness to some scenes which are tense, edge-of-your-seat moments that feel really special. I'll look forward to making different choices in a second playthrough, and seeing how (and if) choices made in "A New Day" stack up in Starved for Help. If so, I think Telltale will be on to something great, which I've said before but really emphasize. The storytelling here is fantastic and it makes me a firm believer that games can certainly have a say when it comes to the push and shove of story.
The gameplay is as limited as it was in the first episode, but that's okay, because what's presented here is great. Whether its fixing something, checking items in the environment or engaging in conversations with people, Telltale always makes it feel like you're doing this for a reason, which engrossed me even more. Like I said before, there is a lot more "game" this time around, but not so much that it detracts from the story. Story is the significant part of the Walking Dead, so I'm happy either way.
The audio presentation is superb. The voice acting is fantastic and the sound effects are great. The tense music also adds a great deal to bringing you into the experience, and the moments of ambience are really tense and intriguing. I also like how multiple lines were recorded for many different dialogue choices, which enforces Telltale's passion with this canon.
Visually, "Starved for Help" is dealing with a lot more variety and colour than "A New Day", and the character models are as solid as ever. Lip-syncing and some iffy animations are the only downsides to an otherwise pretty game, with better textures and lighting than what we saw before. Lee's facial model looks great and reinforces his emotional output with Clementine, and that's a really good thing.
Episode 2 is going to run at 2 hours, which is the same in length of the first episode, though a second playthrough will cut that time down to around 90 minutes. It might sound short, but its perfect for the story at hand, and is delivered with great confidence.
The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help is a brilliant instalment in what is shaping up into a great series. The character development is great, the writing and performances are superb and the voice acting, gameplay and dialogue choices all mesh to form a cohesive, dramatic and suspenseful second episode that makes my mouth water at the prospect of opportunities for episode 3. You have to play this.
SUMMARY
Presentation 9.0 – The presentation is a lot better in spite of the same problems, but the excellent story, characters and writing are the most important parts, and they are superb.
Graphics 8.0 – Great environments, character models and art direction.
Audio 9.0 – Fantastic voice acting, great sound design and a tense, intriguing soundtrack.
Gameplay 8.5 – More interactive than before, this episode features some riveting action scenes, terrific dialogue choices and tough moral decisions.
Replayability 8.0 – I can't wait go through the choices again for both episodes.
Overall – 8.5/10