Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. Each and every time I step out of the gristle splattered corridors of yet another zombie game I take an oath to never to go back to that dark place. Then some new Z-Class drug hits the streets and just like that I’m sucked back in; like a volatile crack addict with a long standing affair with rehab. It’s particularly unfair now since Telltale Games have come with their guns loaded, armed with the rights to one of my most cherished television shows and boasting over a dozen positive reviews from various sources. Sorry Jade; this is the last time darling, I promise. (Until Lollipop Chainsaw, that is.)
So following my one night stand with a real game (Prototype 2) I’m back to what I do best, tightening the purse strings and inflicting my opinion on the download market. But after suspending all feelings of fear at the controls of one Sergeant Heller I felt like I needed to come back down to earth a little, so I opted for The Walking Dead: A New Day. Another game with zombies for me to munch on, joy.
I’ll start by admitting that I have no romantic delusions about my chances should a real zombie apocalypse come about. I’m a medic; I get bitten, I get spat on and I drive around in a yellow and green transit which isn’t the most inconspicuous avenues of transport. When it comes, and it will, I’m done for and little in the ways of gaming wisdom is going to stop me hunting you down and munching your brains out. I’ll probably start with Trevor (our editor), he might not be much in the ways of healthy eating but if I’m going to hell for this then by god I’ll be wearing his hide as a dinner coat.
But don’t go running for your nearest fire axe quite yet, because all you’ll need to survive this apocalypse is nerves of steels and acrobatic thumb reactions. Fans of Heavy Rain and people who were disappoint by Jurassic Park will know the trend. The Walking Dead is an interactive adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s comic book work; the existence of which seemed to have escaped my knowledge until google told me otherwise. Oh google, what would my world be without you? So yeah, Walking Dead is a comic book and not a television series and so Telltale Games decided to honour this by recreating the feel of a comic book in their game, with the added pleasure of being able to take part once in a while.
Interactive story telling; you can play whenever the game feels like giving you a turn. It worked for Metal Gear Solid; because I didn’t want to interrupt the amazing feats I saw before me, and it almost worked for Heavy Rain; because it asked my permission if it was okay to kill off the drug addict before finally getting on with it, so it was a bit more interactive than necessitated. Okay you missed that QTE, how about you try again? No, well we might have to kill him if you don’t – are you sure you want him to die? Oh okay then, you’re sure? Okay, he’s dead now. We [the game] hope you’re happy with yourself. So on the scale of one to ten, one being a book and ten being Heavy Rain, where does The Walking Dead stand on sharing? I’d say about a seven.
You choose what to say, when to say it, and if you say it all, through a not very complicated tree of dialogue. Ever played Alpha Protocol? No, you haven’t. If you have then you’ll remember the best thing about it was the choice in dialogue and how everyone in the world seemed to be listening in on your every conversation; it was a game about spies after all. Walking Dead does something similar, you pick a line from out of four option and the world will forever remember what you said and then reflect back on it later when working out if you’re worth keeping around or not. So if you want to survive try to stay at least on someone’s good side, preferably a person with a gun and affable nature.
Taking control of Lee Everett, former professor turned convicted murderer, players explore and navigate the zombie apocalypse using a reticle to scrutinise their surroundings and solve puzzles; such as how do we distract that mob of zombies parked outside our safe house with only a remote control? The result will astound the less technical savvy players. Don’t get ahead of yourselves nerds, you still die later after it’s clear you’re of no further use. Exploring offers some nice back story, especially in this first episode, and gives the player a chance to interact with and piss off their fellow shelter sharers.
Players will quickly figure out that this will be nothing like Left 4 Dead, or in fact any other zombie game they’ve ever played before. Because for once the focus is actually on staying alive by just staying alive. Rather than staying alive by killing every single staggering piece of meat between you and a plausible escape route. So with this in mind, action lovers may want to look elsewhere. Walking Dead is about emotion, empathy, and most of all survival. When the action does kick in it won’t be pretty, it’ll be dire and frantic and over in a matter of seconds if you aren’t paying close attention.
True to form, at the first time of testing I turned Lee into zombie chow. In my defence I had no idea that suspiciously positioned corpse was going to go for me, despite the fact the game warned me it was a zombie game on the cover. But once I figured out how to kill things and Lee stopped getting eaten things went much more smoothly. We, as in Lee, even got to familiar location in the series before anyone else had to die. Then it was moral choice time, and in the advent of my fatherhood I was unable to let a child die and so I chose obvious and answer and let a grown man die instead. The repercussions were subtle and I got the feeling more would come of it later in the game, but for the time being my heroic actions earned me a free ride to the next town.
While I’m personally immune to the some of the charms of its cell shaded design, especially having never once enjoyed a comic in my life, I’ll readily admit that The Walking Dead is a very good looking game. Particularly for a downloadable title the cost of a decent lunch; at least by my pay standard. The zombies might not share the shock and ew factor of the television show, but they look grotesque and the game brings across the key point of the game; surviving is messy work, especially when zombies are involved.
So things were going great. I was enjoying myself, even if not exactly a walking zombie repellent, and I was safe in the knowledge that those measly few quid of entry were going to a good cause. Then the game fell on its side, shit itself, and then died. Figuratively speaking, of course. Allow me the chance to explain. Myself, a little girl, a red-neck and his family made it to the sanctuary of a chemist. There were some other survivors there too, by the way, and they were pissed off about something. Then one of them had a heart attack and everyone started having the same conversation over and over and over and over again. It’s a bug, I said. Quit game, try again. Same result. Well, maybe I just need to re-install it. No problem. Again, the cycle continues.
What I eventually had to do was delete my save file and start again, without the option of skipping of fast forwarding to get back to the place I once was. I stopped playing, the hurt too great to continue, and invited Jade to play it instead. Hoping to manipulate our relationship status to coax her along as a means to get back to where I was before without actually having to play it. What happened was this; how do I do get through that door? Where is the key? Who is that? Where do I go now? How do I — OH JUST GIVE ME BACK THE CONTROLLER! Not my greatest plan, I admit, but it did save me playing through part one at least.
So no, it’s not reliable. Yes, it did hurt the overall score. There are other glitches, especially in the sound and design, but you need to forget about all of that. Yes there are things that keep this game from being outright brilliant, but there is more than enough to warrant a play through. The cast is great, featuring a good balance of new and old recognisable characters, and when it doesn’t let you down the gameplay is engaging and story driven. It’s only a couple of quid, or dollars, and you get well over two hours worth of interactive entertainment for the price tag. Will I buy the second episode? Yes, and I don’t regret buying the first either. In the absence of nothing better, The Walking Dead is the best zombie game of 2012 to date. Now, I end this review with a question. Answer it in the comment box or in the forums, as linked above and here; how would you survive the zombie apocalypse?