The Walking Dead (Episode 1 & 2)

DEVELOPER: Telltale Games
Played on: PS3
Initial impression: Awesome.

Liked:
- Story
- Visuals
- Decision Mechanic


Disliked:
- Some Quirky Controls
- Length

On The Fence:
- Nothing!

As a big fan of the AMC TV show, I picked up a large compilation book of The Walking Dead comic. It covers the first 48 comics. I haven't opened it yet, but I did download the first one on my iPad through a comics app. I read it about 10 times, studying each frame, comparing how the show was different and so on. I'm really stretching for content that will keep me interested until Fall, when the new season starts up. Then I hear Telltale is coming out with an episodic approach to a game. I loved the Sam & Max stuff (review eventually), and the Back to the Future series has been really successful... so, why not? I nabbed the "season pass" for a whopping $20 and downloaded the first two episodes along with an exclusive PS3 theme. Great - it was about time I gave my Heavy Rain Crime Scene theme a rest.

*So far there are only 2 episodes. This is just for Episode 1 & 2. Review of later Episodes to follow.*

You are Lee Everett, a former college teacher who is on his way to prison for murder when the shit hits the fan. Riding out of Atlanta, GA, you see a dozen police cars speed in the opposite direction. The officer's radio is alive with chatter, hinting that something awful was going down in the city. The squad car you're being transferred in hits a walker and rolls into a ditch. You're pretty beat up from the crash but manage to struggle free and get the keys to your cuffs off the dead cop. Unfortunately, the dead cop doesn't STAY dead. Welcome to the Zombie Apocalypse, Lee. He soon finds himself in the house of a young girl, Clementine, whose parents went missing while they were in Charlotte, GA. You control Lee as he decides to care for her "until they get back" but he fears they won't ever be back.


The story gets better from there, and even shows you a couple of the comic book regulars (one who is only mentioned - and you see his demise!) before the first episode ends. The themes explored in this first outing are rather universal for the series - truth gets you further than lies, try to be civil, and trust builds bridges while doubt causes rifts.

The first episode hits three very distinct environments: in and around Clementine's house, Herschel's farm and a street in Macon, GA. The first location introduces you to the walkers. The second shows you just how clueless the isolated groups are. The third brings you the cold, harsh reality of the situation. It's a nice way to slowly integrate you into the world of this outbreak.

The second episode concentrates on just two locations, both in Macon. It starts at a motel your group decides to occupy and defend (in the end of Episode 1) and moves to a nearby dairy farm. Food is scarce, and your group makes a deal to help the owners of the dairy find gas in exchange for some chow. They've set up an electric fence with an step-up transformer, making it kill walkers on contact. They need gas to run the generators, and claim to have plenty of food. Your group sends a couple people to check the place out, and it soon becomes tempting to set up camp in this seemingly safe environment. There are some great puzzle-like segments to figure out and a good twist about 2/3rds of the way in. Very fitting with this setting. So much so that I'm kind of surprised the AMC show hasn't done it yet.

The visuals of this game are a lot like the comic - heavy dark lines with great details. The only thing different? It's all in color. Not a vibrant, happy rainbow-world color scheme, but not a dismal brown-world-apocalypse palette either. I think it takes a great approach to the middle-line. Lightly muted or subdued color with pops of less muted. It was dark where it should be dark, bright where it should be bright and a good mix everywhere else.

Holding back the dead!

The choices you make actually matter. If you tell a lie and get caught in it, an NPC won't trust you as much. If you're nice to someone, others will take notice. I've only noticed one slight flaw, though it's just a flaw in my mind I think. I decided to stay neutral in one fight between a couple survivors. One guy is convinced that, because I didn't side with him completely, I'm against him. He brings up that fight a few times later on (especially in Ep2).

Some controls are tough. Like the point & click adventure games of yore, you're presented with a set scene with exit points to other set scenes. This gets a little frustrating when you're searching an area for clues - it looks like you can go anywhere, until you hit an invisible wall.

The length of the episodes feels incredibly short. It could be my ravenous appetite looking for more at the end of each segment, but it's only made worse that there are a couple of months between episodes. I played Ep 1 and Ep 2 on two sequential nights. I watched the TV show - all 6 episodes of the 1st season - in one night. The world just sucks you in. Even when it's droll it keeps you tuned in, hoping for something to happen. Part of it is that I just don't like waiting. the other part is that they should release these things faster.

In the end, the game is a solid entertainer. I'd even play it again just to make different choices and watch them play out.

E1 10/10
Introduces you to an array of characters, covering a wide spectrum of the "types" of reactions you'd expect given the situation. Compassionate bad ass, angry bigot, over emotional leader who wants to act cold-hearted but takes things way too personally, dumb kid, smart kid, innocent kid, tech geek, redneck run-n-gunner... you'll find them all and more.

E2 9/10
One unforeseen event actually goes a lot differently than I thought it would. The somewhat predictable twist (but it may just be me - I've seen a LOT of these scenarios) fires off in a different fashion than I had anticipated. Offers a disturbing couple of facts that should haunt the player in upcoming episodes - I hope Telltale reminds people of them.

***Here There Be Spoilers! Avert Yer Eyes Lest Your Tale Be Spoiled!***
Select Text To Read.

Episode 1
I'm rather annoyed that Lee doesn't keep the shotgun you find with the dead cop. It works as an awesome melee weapon, and should you ever find ammo, you're set!

The fight between Kenny and Larry over whether or not Duck was bit by a walker has three outcomes: You side with Larry and get rid of Duck, you side with Kenny and piss off Larry even more (he already hates you), or you try to mediate and get both of them pissed off at you. Funny, I tried to mediate, but in the choices I totally stuck up for Kenny... and he still acts like a dick about the fact I wasn't 100% on his side. Asshole redneck.

Episode 2
The crazy woman. I wished I could have gotten more out of that scene. All I got was that she was babbling bullshit and eventually tried to warn me about - well - the big twist. By the time I got back to the house I figured out what the twist had to be, based solely on my experience with other stories.

Larry's death at the hands of Kenny was a shock, but Kenny DOES have a huge over-reaction streak going on. He panics at Hershel's farm and runs away from danger. This time, when locked in a room with a potential zombie, he takes action in the form of bashing Larry's head in with a salt block. Yikes. I couldn't side with Kenny over that one - it was a dick move, and I made sure to tell him that (more or less).

*** END SPOILERS ***