In its second chapter, the
downloadable Walking Dead video game continues to hit the right notes
from Robert Kirkman's source material while making me wonder why the
AMC television series can't approach the quality of the game.
The start of chapter two
finds our protagonist Lee, the young girl he rescued Clementine and
the band of survivors he's hooked up with still holed up in the
fortified motel they found at the end of the first chapter. Three
months have passed and the group finds themselves arguing over the
meager remaining rations. Starvation proves to be as large a threat
as the walkers outside their barrier. This chapter finds Lee send
company trying to find a way to restock their rations while avoiding
both the walkers and the roaming bandits that steal and kill from
other survivors at will.
Telltale Games promised the
decisions you make throughout the game will have lasting effects on
the story and how it plays out. Decisions you made in Chapter One
have repercussions both in this chapter and the subsequent ones. You
start to see that early on as different characters react to you in a
positive or negative way based on how you interacted with them in the
previous chapter. At first playthrough it appears Telltale upped the
number of diverging paths this go around by giving the player more
points in the story to choose different dialogs or action options.
The result of your choices often have repercussion moments later as
factions and alignment change. One character I was on very good terms
with entering the second chapter would barely acknowledge me by the
end of my first go around.
Without spoiling too many
plot points, the emphasis of the Walking Dead game remains on human
drama and interaction with the undead providing a constant background
threat. It's nothing like the Dead Island or Dead Rising
games which provide nonstop actions and zombies filling every corner
of the screen. The life and death decisions you need to make (often
on the fly with a countdown giving you a short time to make your
choice). Instead of searching for weapons that decapitate the undead
as quickly as possible, you're left scurrying for loose change in
order to remove screwed in items blocking your path. While this could
make for a boring game, the writing remains top notch providing
characters you care about and scenarios that have you sweating
bullets.
If you've played the first
chapter, both the visual style and gameplay elements remain in place.
The controls still appear a bit stiff and clunky and are better
suited to the point-and-click style of PC gaming rather than the
console experience. They don't take too long to get used to and are
offset by the stunning, comic book inspired visuals. The Walking
Dead simply looks like a
gorgeous animated film. At the low cost of $5, The
Walking Dead remains
an essential purchase for anyone that considers them selves a fan of
the original series.
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