The Walking Dead (Video Game)

 I first heard that they were making a game based on ‘The Walking Dead’ a while back, and I was intrigued by it, mainly because it wasn’t going to focus on the TV series, but more on a completely different character. I then didn’t hear anything about this until last Friday when my friend, Lord Napsack, posted on his (Personal) Facebook profile that he was playing it.

And so I downloaded it on the Xbox 360 on the Saturday, and discovered that it was only one episode. Apparently it’s part of a five episode series, with each episode being released every so often. It can be frustrating at first since you just want to continue playing it, but at the same time it’s just like the television series where it keeps you wanting more, but you have to wait for the next episode next week.

By the way I will be going through pretty much every single part of this episode, so if you don’t want spoilers, turn back now. Also some language which may offend.

The first thing we notice in this are the graphics, which have a comic book feel to them, kind of like ‘XIII’. Now this was actually pretty cool as it reflects the fact that ‘The Walking Dead’ was initially a comic book series. It’s a nice throwback and it actually made me want to go buy the comics.

Anyway the opening scene has introduces our main character Lee Everett, who is on his way to prison after being convicted of some crime. Lee talks with the police officer driving the car and we get some details of Lee’s background. We’re not told a lot about the crime Lee has committed, but Lee hasn’t denied it at all; something which the police officer notes as strange as normally the prisoners cry they didn’t do it. This allows us to decide whether or not we want Lee to act like a unremorseful dick, or as a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and looking for redemption.

It is pretty interesting not having all the details yet, we’re not sure if Lee isn’t saying he didn’t do it because he didn’t and sees no point in denying it, or because Lee feels extremely guilty about it. We also get some background on the police officer, albeit his name, which makes us feel a lot for this character. In fact, the game does this to great effect about all the characters; whether or not the character features in the episode for long or just for a short while, we get loads of detail and personality so that we care or find the character interesting.

We also see that the game is simply a point-and-click game. What this meant for combat, I do not know as of yet, but for the time being it allowed us to look around the police car and out the window as authority vehicles race towards Atlanta. The other thing we see is that we have dialogue options, very much like RPGs like ‘Mass Effect’, but unlike ‘Mass Effect’, the main character actually says what the dialogue option says. What we also see is that certain dialogue options have a time limit. While this does hurry the game along and means we’re rushed to read the dialogue options and decide which is the one we want to go with, it does feel like real-time and gives a much better chaotic setting. This is best shown when the police officer turns to talk at Lee, not looking at the road and seeing a walker. We have about three seconds to select a dialogue option before the car hits the walker and we crash.

When Lee wakes up he finds the police officer outside the car. Using the point-and-click we get out the car, approach the officer and find the handcuff key. It’s here where we see how brilliant the setting is, nothing is happening apart from Lee trying to unlock his handcuffs, dropping the key in the process before unlocking his cuffs, and yet we’re still getting the feeling of anxiety and fear.

Of course the police officer becomes a zombie, but the second it happens you’re so taken back by it you say “Oh shit!”, which, bizarrely is what Lee also says. It’s very rare that a game mirrors what the gamer is thinking. And it’s here where the point-and-click is used in combat scenario, and it truly is breathtaking. You have to look around quickly to see what you have at your disposal, in this case a shotgun and a shotgun shell, and at one point you drop the shell during the chaos and you need to quickly pick up the shell and reload while the walker is quickly approaching. You know, for a point-and-click the combat part is probably one of the best I’ve ever seen.

Seeing a figure in the distance Lee walks in the same direction. We get a cutscene where Lee walks away (He has a limp) from a gathering swarm of zombies, and even for a cutscene where you don’t control anything it still drags you in; you are pretty much going “Get outta there!”, I guess it’s because you think you’ll regain control at some point.

You eventually enter someone’s back garden where there’s a tree house. We all know there’s someone in the tree house, but they aren’t answering. Entering the house we listen to the three answer machine messages where we hear how the situation degraded for a mother; first it’s all uncertainty but good, then it becomes hectic and panic settles in, then the final message involves what is essentially a goodbye message. This was superbly done, telling us how quickly the zombie apocalypse took effect.

Further investigation reveals a walkie-talkie in a draw and a girl, Clementine, reveals herself to be in the tree house. While reassuring her that Lee is a good guy, one thing was bugging me, the answer machine messages and Clementine mention a baby sitter, where is sh...oh there she is. Once again we get another point-and-click combat scenario, which has a new concept as Lee knocks his head and we therefore need to see through his blurred vision in order to defend ourselves against the zombie sitter.

After killing the zombie sitter with some assistance from Clementine and her hammer, we get some more information about the eight year old survivor and devise a plan to leave the city. I swear I selected the option which meant we leave during the day, since leaving at night is pretty much the worst decision to do during a zombie apocalypse, but whatever. It just means that we nearly get our heads blown off by another police officer,  Andre Mitchell, who is accompanied by Shawn Greene.

Running away from a zombie Chet, who Andre and Shawn were with earlier (If we left during the day we would have come across a still alive Chet and Shawn), we come across a farm, run by Hershel Greene; the same Hershel from the second series of the television show. Allowing us to stay the night it’s here that we see the dialogue options may have some consequences in the future, as you see words come up on screen saying “He will remember that”. We also see some development between Lee and Clementine which really adds to their characters.

Come morning we’re introduced to Kenny, his wife Katjaa, and their son Ken Jr. A.K.A. Duck. Something about him being quackers, I don’t know. Anyway we talk to them and pretty much everyone else such as Shawn where we learn more about his background, and Hershel tells me to become a better liar. I’ll get back to that later. Screams are heard and we find that both Shawn and Duck are being attacked by walkers. It’s here where we are given a choice, save Duck, or Shawn.

Ultimately I chose Duck, why, again, I’ll come back to later, which meant Shawn gets killed (Though according to online sources, Shawn dies no matter what), which leads to Hershel kicking us off his farm. Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Katjaa and Duck make their way to Macon, Georgia, where we find ourselves surrounded by zombies. However Glenn from the television series (Not voiced by the same actor mind you) and Carley come to our rescue.

We take shelter where we meet up with Doug, Lilly and her father Larry. Lilly berates Glenn and Carley for risking their place of sanctuary while Larry wants to throw out Duck as he’s covered in blood and Larry thinks he’s been bitten. This was a great scene as it explores what most of the show and comics cover; panic. Or rather it covers the fear within a group and how easily it can break a group apart. The scene also covers how large Lee’s eyes can bulge. The scene comes to an end when Larry suffers some heart problems. We’re then tasked to get into the locked pharmacy where the medicine should be.

Going around the store we can talk to everyone and again get some development from each of them, such as Larry’s temper, Lilly’s determination to keep the group safe, how Carley came to town and how she has a crush on Doug, and so forth. While talking to Carley we can see that she is messing around with a radio, and we’re asked to help get it working. And by get it working, I mean get some batteries.

Yes, Carley didn’t even bother to see if the thing needed batteries. We go over to the obvious section saying ‘Batteries’, and then I needed to go online to find out where the second one was. Yes it’s cheating but I could not for the life of me find this last battery on my own. Apparently it’s on the ground. I gave these batteries to Carley, but she says the radio still doesn’t work. So I have another look at the radio. Power button doesn’t work, antenna is out, volume does nothing, maybe one of the batteries is a dud? So I open the battery latch, select the option to look at the batteries, and watch in wonder as Lee turns the batteries ROUND. That’s right, Carley put the batteries in the radio THE WRONG WAY ROUND. Well done Carley! You are now officially the most stupidest person I have ever met, fictional or real.

Granted Carley does give us the final piece of the ‘Lee’ puzzle, he found his wife cheating on ‘him, with the SENATOR! Jesus, how did that happen? Of course since I went with the ‘good guy wanting redemption’ path, I got a really good scene developing Lee’s relationship with both Carley and Clementine. It also helps when the scene takes place in Lee’s dad’s office where there’s a lot of blood.

Meanwhile Glenn had left the pharmacy in order to get supplies, but was pinned down when he tried to rescue a survivor. Lee and Carley go and we get a really tense stealth scene, where we have to make little-to-no noise and try not to be seen, otherwise the zombie horde will be upon you. And there’s humour as well in this scene, since Glenn is verbally disappointed when he finds the survivor, Irene, has a (dead) boyfriend. We’ll come back to her later.

Back at the pharmacy we find that a zombie that’s pinned by a telephone poll outside is Lee’s brother, and he has the keys to the medicine. After working out how to distract the zombies, Lee has a very emotional scene where he says goodbye to his brother. This is promptly ruined when Lee only fails multiple times to hit his brother in the head with an axe, which means the first five odd strikes involve Lee hitting his brother in the neck. I have no idea if you can kill the brother zombie with the first strike, but it made this scene even more gruesome.

Back inside Lee opens the door to all the medicine...where the alarm then goes which attracts pretty much every zombie in the city. You’d expect Lee to know that his parents pharmacy has an alarm. Anyway with the zombies bursting in we have another choice; save Carley or Doug. I save Carley, and once again I’ll come back to that later. Lee once again saves Clementine from a zombie, but on the way out Larry, who is now better after I got the medicine for him, punches me in the face and leaves me for dead.

WHAT THE HELL?! I risked my life to save this guy, and he punches me in the face?! I am sooooooo kicking his arse when I get out of this. Luckily Kenny comes back to save me. We then find ourselves at a motel, where Glenn decides to leave as he needs to catch up with the television series. Larry also reveals that he knows Lee is a convicted murderer and he wants Lee to stay away from Lilly. Lilly meanwhile has warmed to Lee, and she, Lee and Kenny comment on how the motel is a great place to secure, especially since they have lights, which then go out a second later on cue. Which I suppose is a good thing as I would have thought the lights from the motel would’ve attracted every zombie in a five mile radius, you know, like what happened in ‘Land of the Dead’ and ‘Zombieland’.

And after this, we get a ‘Next time on The Walking Dead’ segment, where they do a montage for the next episode. This, is fantastic. It’s a brilliant way to get people hooked and leave them eagerly awaiting the next episode, and it makes the game feel like a television show. See ‘WWE ‘12’, THIS is how you do it!

After the next time segment, we also get a statistic screen. Remember all those points where I said I’d talk about it later? Well here’s the bit where I’ll talk about it. There are five segments which majorly affect the game and, most likely, future episodes. The statistics I got were;

Honesty

Lie to Hershel? – You and 37% of players lied.

Who would you save?

Duck or Shawn? – You and 50% of players chose Duck.

Loyalty

Sided with Kenny? – You and 57% of players sided with Larry.

Mercy

Gave Irene the gun? – You and 54% of players refused the gun.

Who would you save?

Doug or Carley? – You and 76% of players chose Carley.

Now I have to say, I actually really enjoyed this, probably more than I should. It allows me to compare my decisions with other players, and actually gives me some pretty great analyst. Firstly, lying to Hershel, now, when I was playing and initially came across Hershel, I felt that I shouldn’t tell people what my situation truly was. I didn’t lie, per se, I just omitted some bits of information. I told Hershel that I was already on my way out of town with a police officer, but I didn’t say why. I guess I chose the wrong option at some points as Hershel figures out I’m lying and gives me some advice; lie better or tell the truth so people can trust you. I actually took this to heart and was more honest with other characters; I trusted Carley to keep the information secret, I told Clementine that the guy Lee killed wasn’t a zombie but was a “bad man”, I haven’t told Kenny what really happened yet but that’s mainly because the situation hasn’t resurfaced since Hershel spoke to me. That and Kenny and Lee have developed a close friendship now, so I don’t really want to ruin it.

The second main choice, saving Doug or Shawn. Now, this was a tough choice to make because both characters had good reasons; Shawn is a really likeable character, but Doug is a vulnerable child and therefore, how to put this, needed more protection. I think the fact that there was a straight 50-50 split in choosing between the two shows how hard it was to decide who to save.

Third point, loyalty. As said earlier, Larry blows a fuse when he sees Duck covered in blood. He believes Duck has been bitten and should be thrown out. Kenny of course defends his son and Lilly defends her father. Of course after being yelled at by both of them, I sided with Kenny for the most part. When Kenny asks what they should do, I suggested that he try to reason with Larry. THIS was the siding with Larry part. All I was doing was trying to find a peaceful solution! I can only assume other players either also thought the reason with Larry option was the neutral option, or definitely went with the pro-Kenny dialogue. The fact that we hardly have time to think things through due to the short time limit though adds to the increasing tensions in the scene.

The fourth point is after the stealth scene and we get Irene out. She’s been bitten and that’s why she didn’t want to get out. She sees Carley has a gun and asks for it. I refuse. Now, as a zombie film nut, yes I know that was stupid. Irene is going to become a zombie, no matter what. However, in game time the characters have no clue what’s going on. They assume it’s just a disease and can be cured or at least stalled. With that though, I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable if this was real life and that I’d be assisting a suicide, I didn’t really want that on Lee’s conscience. Course it didn’t really matter since Irene almost kills Lee, Glenn and Carley and shoots herself anyway. Either way, it just didn’t seem right to just simply hand over the gun. I think that’s why it was almost another 50-50 split, people either think it’s a mercy killing, or they think the character thinks there’s still hope. Or people were hoping to go for a ‘stay human as long as possible’ route.

The fifth and final point is another choice between two people; Doug or Carley. As said, I went with Carley, as did 76% of players at the time. Now, despite the statistic, this was a another tough decision, namely because both characters are likeable, interesting, and effective in their own ways. Except Carley not knowing how batteries work. Anyway, the only real reason why I feel a majority of people went with Carley, was because we all thought she was Lee’s romantic interest, despite her saying she has a crush on Doug. However at the motel, she says she wants to be alone for a while, and according to Larry, Lilly is our romantic interest. Huh. Okay.

It certainly means there’ll be some explosive scenes in the next episode, what with Larry threatening to reveal Lee’s criminal past and Lilly’s hot headedness already showing that she and Lee have an argument.

So after all that, is the game any good? Of course it is! What review have you been reading? The graphics are a great throw back to the comics while also keeping the feel of a television show, the story is great, it’s actually got some really good scares, and the game creates brilliant tension. And for a point-and-click game, it uses the mechanics to great effect for whatever the scene needs, whether that be walking around, combat, stealth or cutscene interaction.  Unlike other zombie games, like ‘Left 4 Dead’ or ‘Resident Evil’, the game focuses more on character development and interaction, as well as the emotions of the characters and how easily it is for a group to break down. In the same way as the television series and comics go, the zombies aren't really the true monsters in this, it's us, humanity.

 

If you haven’t played it yet, I’d definitely recommend it. You could wait a while for multiple episodes to be released, but I for one am eagerly waiting for Telltale to release episode two.