After watching the TV series and reading through the comic books, there was no surprise that when the Walking Dead game had been announced, that I was over the moon. I had slowly become an avid fan of the series and was ready for the next adventure that provided me the opportunity to face even more zombies.

My first thoughts when I downloaded this game from the Xbox Live Marketplace was “Oh wait, it’s not a full game” which now after playing the game, is perhaps not the best way to grab people’s attention to purchasing this new release however, after writing this review, I hope to change people’s perception of the game.

As I’ve said, The Walking Dead Episode 1 isn’t a full game – its part of a five part series of games that are to be released on a monthly basis. At the start of the game, we meet Lee, a criminal on his way to prison before finding out about the zombie apocalypse at the wrong moment.

Visually, the comic book art-style will definitely appeal to those who enjoyed reading the Walking Dead comic books and reminded me somewhat of the Borderlands game with its vivid colours. The environments that are seen throughout the game vary from woods, housing estates, towns and the recognisable Hershel’s farm from the TV series – all of which have been designed with due care to suit the type of game that Episode 1 is really well.

If you’re expecting thousands of zombies coming at you and you being one man and his shotgun taking them all on, think again. Episode 1 is a point and click game, something I have rarely delved into as a gamer myself so this was something new and different to try out.

For the first hour on Episode 1, I was a bit sceptical on whether or not I would enjoy it. By using the highlighted areas on screen to identify objects that I could interact with and use, this was a lot of a help to a newcomer to the type of game but it still made the game an excitable and real adrenaline rush at certain points and didn’t seem like a total walk in the park with the additional help given to me. Worrying about whether you’re about to see your inevitable death due to the zombie crawling nearer to your legs before you can get that bullet into the shotgun really gets the heart going and for me, standing out of my chair – as it if was going to make my character load the weapon any faster! (There is some logic to this that will be applied in some day and age!) This makes up for the time spent on the slower pace that Episode 1 provides, especially when it comes to the dialogue.

TellTale games have really excelled in The Walking Dead Episode 1 when it comes to the voice acting and the dialogue. Throughout the game, you are required to choose dialogue options, some of which can gain you more information about Lee himself and finding out more about his background or, these can be vital decisions that can change the way the game plays out for you. Most of the choices are choosing between two people to save however, I made a point of doing as much interaction with everyone as I could and through the way that you respond to some of their questions, those people perception of you change which is noted to you through a message appearing in the top left corner.

I think that without the dialogue choices in which I could easily use to gain more information about my character and delay the actual storyline for an extra 5-10 minutes was key in making the game and enjoyable one. Overall, the game can easily be completed within a couple of hours and is an easy game at that, once you know where and what you’re looking for however without the depth that the dialogue brings to the game, then I can imagine Episode 1 would have become a very boring and mundane game rapidly, pushing more people to not like it.

 

Going back to my point that I made about the game being a relatively easy play through once you know where you’re going,one flaw that I did find with the games is that sometimes, the direction on where you’re going and or what you are looking for is misleading. Without bringing too many spoilers into this review, there was a moment where I had to locate a key which, due to previous conversations, I understood to be under the counter within the drugstore where we were holding up in. I spent a fair amount of time trying to find this key by searching through all of the counters and came up with nothing. After half an hour of wandering around, speaking to everyone and exploring as much as I could, I was finally able to progress with the storyline. As frustrating as this was to begin with, it did force me more into exploring my surrounding areas and trying to just exhaust all possible dialogue options and clicking on all areas that were highlighted for me.

The characters within the game are all new to the franchise apart from the familiar faces of Hershel and Glen which, you can try and consider how this story that’s told within the game can relate to the story that’s been told within the TV series and comic books which, for me, only increases the profundity of the franchise as a whole. Some of the characters could have done with a little more work and thought mind you. Perfect example of this was a reporter that went by the name of Carley who, although could shoot a gun pretty well, kept her extra ammo in the purse and also wasn’t aware on what batteries were. These characteristics just didn’t add up very well within my own mind in the fact that she was able to carry herself with a gun and do it very well, however was too dumb to know what batteries were?! Aside from this, all of the characters presented themselves as unique individuals, all standing for their own beliefs and each had an short but interesting backstory to how they got to where they were, something of which I enjoyed.

As a major lover of zombie games, this really did challenge me on whether I really loved them as much I said I do as it wasn’t really much of a shoot-em-up but a game that presents itself with more concentration on character development and very story oriented which is something that I’ve secretly been waiting for within the zombie games. The game overall is a very short one however, if we consider this including all of the other four episodes, each averaging about 3 hours, then at roughly £4 each, you’ll be getting a decent 15 hour game for the £20 mark and that’s just based on one play through. Consider the fact that you might wish to go back through the game to explore the other dialogue choices and you’ll have racked up perhaps a 25 hour game for £20. Unfortunately, Episode 1 doesn’t offer co-op or multiplayer however I do not think it requires these options as it stands very well on its own two feet as a single player game. The achievements for it are all story related and can be snatched up within the first play through which, to some people, might not give them enough of a reason to go back through the game again but each to their own. I know that I will definitely be playing back through Episode 1 in preparation for Episode 2 coming out in around a months’ time.

The Walking Dead Episode 1 is definitely a game for fans of the franchise and zombie lovers however; you do not require any knowledge of the story that has already been told through the TV and comic book series to understand the game. I think the game is a great way to first get into the Walking Dead franchise and is definitely well worth the money, even if you can quickly complete the game within one night. I’m going to give Episode 1 and 8/10 and I’m really hoping that all of the following episodes keep up the same level that this game has made with a great debut.

 

© 2012 – 2014, zero1gaming.com. All rights reserved. On republishing this article your must provide a link to this original post