The Walking Dead Review
A
Journalistic Review by DefiantParrot
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| The Feels! |
*Warning: Contains Spoilers*
*No seriously*
Originally Written 10/25/2018
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Platform: Xbox One
Genre: Point-and-click Adventure
Release: October 14, 2014
I
love video games, I have ever since I was a two year old bird, playing Super
Mario Bros. for the first time on the NES. Now at the ripe old age of
twenty-seven I have played so many different video games and made so many
memories.
I’ve made best friends with aliens
I’ve slayed Dragons
Even traveled through time
I’ve many fond memories of the storytelling in video
games, I love a good story and very few games have ever made me cry.
One of those games is what I’ll be talking about today.
Telltale Games The Walking Dead
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| What a shit show this turned into |
I always planned on talking about this game at one point
on here, but with so many of the folk at Telltale losing their jobs, and with
Halloween approaching. I figured now was as good a time as any, so to the fine
individuals who lost their jobs. My heart goes out to you and I wish you all
the best, and as I did for Visceral, let me look at one of your crowning
achievements. This is The Walking Dead.
So this game was released episodically as is the norm for
Telltale, the first episode being released back in April of 2012. Now there is
a discussion to be made about how and if episodic games are good, I won’t be
discussing that here. I’m looking at the game as a whole not episode by
episode.
Back in 2014 I was in between jobs, had no money and no
drive to really change that. One day I noticed that the first episode of The
Walking Dead game, was available for free and out of sheer boredom I decided to
play it. After playing the first episode I immediately went to work in getting
the rest. I was hooked.
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| Cute Kid Alert |
The game follows Lee Everett. A man trying to survive in
the world of The Walking Dead, the people he comes across, the choices he
should make, all trying to protect a little girl named Clementine.
For anyone who somehow hasn’t played or had the story in
this game spoiled, I’ll tread lightly for a while and just say that Lee and
Clementine make this game.
I love the storytelling a video game can do, and this
game excels at making you care about Clementine, she’s adorable, resourceful,
kind and above all else you want to protect her. You feel what Lee feels.
The other characters are memorable too, giving me some of
my favorite side characters in a story.
With those other characters come choices. How will you
interact with them? For example will you and the redneck Kenny become best
friends or constantly irritate one another.
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| Somewhat... |
Of course that’s one of the trademarks of a Telltale
game. Choice. Every time you start a new episode you get that reminder of the
game constantly changing with every decision you make.
From a storytelling perspective this is great I loved seeing
what happened every time I made a tough decision, at least the first time
through.
See that’s the biggest flaw with this and so many of
Telltales other games. Upon a second playthrough and even more after that you
see how your choices don’t seem to matter much. I mean I won’t say they all
don’t matter, but most guide you down the same path.
This game’s main story is worth a replay on its own for
how lovable the characters are and heart stabbing the outcomes can be.
But it is disappointing to see how little your choices
matter and how you are constantly guided down the same path no matter what.
Of course another argument I’ve heard against these games
is that. Are they really games?
I of course mentioned
this in my Life is Strange review
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| Admittedly I am a sucker for dialogue options |
As far as I’m concerned point and click adventure games
always have a place in my book, and I found replaying this much more enjoyable
than Life is Strange. I enjoyed the characters more even beyond the main two.
Kenny is memorable and loveable in my opinion. Ben will always stick with me
for several reasons, and The Stranger the final villain of the game was creepy
and disturbing as hell. I enjoyed the story more obviously, and there were no
missions where I needed to collect fucking bottles in a goddamn junkyard.
Now there are two really big complaints about this game
that do have some merit to them. The first is how the game looks, Telltales
style and game engine has been criticized for years now and there is a good
point to be made there. While I thought this game stood out and looked unique
back when I first discovered it. There are so many more games that do go for
this game look and pull it off much better, and some parts here just look ugly
in my opinion. It has certainly aged for the worse.
The next is this games framerate which is as stable as a drunk one-legged sailor
trying to play twister in the middle of a tsunami.
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| This is most apparent during action scenes |
Every time there is a transition in a scene the game
hangs on the previous scene as it attempts to load the next one. Hanging on
transitions, framerate going to hell, just a damn whiplash effect as you play.
Again this is clearly bad and unforgivable in this state.
I feel you can get through it to enjoy the game but they still shouldn’t be
doing this.
Now I am going to talk about the ending for a moment.
Even after years of having finished this game, as I was
loading up the final chapter and was watching it unfold as I played. I got a
knot in my throat. Watching Lee, a man dying do everything he can to rescue
this little girl watching Kenny sacrifice himself, Ben dying in vain and the
confrontation with The Stranger. A depleted and barely alive Lee doing his best
to help Clementine escape. And the final look from Clementine a scared child as
she sees her hero slowly die. His head hitting the metal rack as the infection
spreads. Lee a man who never had to help her, willingly do everything to save
her.
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| WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?! |
Goddammit, even after all this time, I cried like a
fucking baby.
All in all Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season One
receives my…
Silver Seal of Recommendation
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| FOR THE FEELS!!! |
This is a game I’ve found myself recommending over the
years, and while it isn’t for everyone. This is a game I feel everyone should
experience in some way, and thank you to the hard workers who helped give me an
experience like this. From the bottom of my heart thank you, and goodbye Lee.
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