I've never gotten into the Walking Dead TV series. I tried watching the first episode and couldn't get further into it, and with our current situation of zombie media saturation there was no real motivation to push further into the series.
But when Telltale released their game adaptation of The Walking Dead, which was supposedly going to tell its own stories with different characters, I was intrigued. Telltale has made some decently good games in the past. I loved the Sam & Max series, Back to the Future was good, and Tales of Monkey Island was also good. I had recently been disappointed in their release of Jurassic Park The Game, which was a complete failure in my eyes, and so none of this was enough to convince me to purchase The Walking Dead. My brother, however, was also intrigued, and so he went ahead and bit the bullet this time. And it ended up being a pretty nice bullet.
Telltale's engine is looking old. There's nothing all that fancy in the visuals here, and the game runs pretty poorly for me compared to a lot of games that look much, much better. But it still runs fine, and the engine works here because they've approached the game's visuals with a good deal of cel shading, which you might correctly imagine works well when you're adapting a comic book world. They pull that aesthetic off, and so it looks like you're playing a graphic novel. Animations are as stiff and awkward as Telltale's always are. To give you a better idea of the game's visuals, here's a link to the trailer for the game, or watch it below in the tiny video player window:
The game's audio is decent. Telltale's voice work always sounds very raw and warm. I'm not sure if that's a recording flaw, an aesthetic choice, or a digital problem, but it's certainly there and it could be a big problem for you if you can't forgive the game that, but it could also be a strength depending on your taste in audio. For the most part, I'd wager that many people would have no problem at all with these audio oddities, so if you're in doubt over them I would cast that doubt away. Music and sound effects are good. The voice acting itself was pretty fantastic and definitely sold me on the desperate zombie setting.
Where The Walking Dead game really shines is in its gameplay. Wonderfully for a zombie game, that gameplay strength isn't in its action scenes. Indeed, these action scenes are the weaker side of the game, with relatively awkward controls. Why is that wonderful? Again, this is a zombie game. And realistic zombie enthusiasts (irony, I know) will tell you that the best way to deal with zombies is from far away in a safe place. Melee is just a bad idea when it comes to zombies, and it's presented as incredibly awkward and relatively inefficient in The Walking Dead. Luckily, you won't be fighting too many zombies. You play the role of Lee, and as the trailer above suggests, you're on your way to jail in the back of a police vehicle when the zombie event hits. You're not trying to kill all of the zombies, you're just trying to survive. And the game's strength is in allowing you to make decisions in regards to that survival. Is your Lee an asshole, or is he a decent dude? How do you treat the survivors around you? When one of them is a complete prick to you, how do you respond? When you have the choice between saving one friend or the other, which do you take and which do you damn? These decisions are the meat of The Walking Dead's gameplay, and they make for an intriguing voyage.
Of note, the game is short. It will last you two or three hours each run-through. This is because Telltale releases its games episodically. The current release is only Episode 1: A New Day. It came out in late April. Episode 2 still hasn't released yet, but is supposedly due by the end of June. In general, you can expect the episodes to release with some regularity over a period of months before the full 5-episode season is finally finished. So, if you buy the entire season, you're not getting much game right now, but are instead getting a decent slice of game with the promise of eventually receiving the whole pie. As far as I know, the only way to buy the game on PC is to pay for the entire season upfront. Have no fear, you'll definitely end up getting your game eventually, but the wait may be a nuisance to some. I believe that you can purchase individual episodes on Xbox 360 or PS3. These would, if you purchased every episode, end up being more expensive, but also allow you to invest a smaller initial amount into playing each individual episode as it released.
Would I recommend The Walking Dead game series by Telltale? That depends on what you're looking for. If you want a zombie shooter or zombie action game, these aren't the droids you're looking for. If, however, you're looking for a choose-your-own adventure story, set in the zombie apocalypse scenario, where lives hang in the balance and depend on your fast decisions, then The Walking Dead should scratch that itch very well. I certainly enjoyed the game for what it was and I look forward to future episodes. If the game series can continue to provide the player with interesting and heavy decisions, it should stay awesome.
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