The Walking Dead: The Game – Episode 1 Review

Gameplay Gets a Fresh Makeover
Telltale must have learned their lesson from their previous games because they made quite a few changes for the better in The Walking Dead. In previous titles, such as Jurassic Park, players were able to go through every dialogue option in the tree in order to flesh out things a little more before they made a choice. In The Walking Dead, players are given a set amount of time to choose a response and when they choose it they can not go back on it. This helps add to the experience and helps the story flow a little smoother. Now it will be like a gut reaction as to what your response would be if you were in the same situation. It adds quite a bit of your own personality into the world.

There are not very many puzzles in the first episode of the series and this may come as something that may put players off at first, but once you get into it, it is really difficult to put down. The game plays out as if it were an interactive graphic novel and the controls are really easy to pick up and get the hang of. When you are attacked by a walker, you must mash a button to throw it off of you then search for the nearest object to bust its brain. Other times you will control Lee with the left stick and look around with the right trying to find different interaction points to click on to give you more information or initiate speech.

The Pricing Isn’t Bad At All
You can decide to purchase The Walking Dead: The Game either as individual episodes or as a “season pass” that gives you access to all 5 episodes as they are released as well as a premium theme. The individual episodes are priced at $4.99 while the bundle is given a smooth $19.99 price point. This means if you played the demo and really loved the game you could pay $5 less and receive the whole story without having to worry about paying for the rest as they release. Neither price is unreasonable by any means and the game is still affordable even if you choose to just pay per episode rather than buying the package.

Not

Some Hiccups To Be Found
There are a few minor problems that can be found while playing the game that seem to be present in most of the games Telltale has handled. The first is the one I mentioned up above in the graphics section. At some points in the game you will notice that the graphics look a little sharp and some of the smaller objects that are seen throughout the world come in as a bit blurred. The other problem that can be found are audio issues that cause the volume to come in and out. Characters will be talking at a normal volume and will suddenly have their voice lowered to a whisper.

Verdict

Episode 1 of The Walking Dead: The Game is an excellent start to this series. Telltale has hooked me in and I am definitely looking forward to seeing what the next installment has in store for the characters. If you are a fan of either The Walking Dead comics, television series or both, then you should definitely make sure that you purchase this game because you will not be disappointed. Telltale has done an excellent job in bringing a great Walking Dead experience to home consoles.

[Editor’s Note: Episode 1 of The Walking Dead: The Game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]