Telltale’s Walking Dead: More Than Just Good Old Fashioned Zombie Killing

       When it comes to the zombie genre you tend to have one theme when it comes to video games: kills as many of the undead as possible. And teabag your friend who had the misfortune to be overrun by the horde. In any case, the zombie genre as a game tends to be pretty narrow. However with the release of Telltales video game version of The Walking Dead, based off of the television series based off of a comic the genre in video gaming is getting a tad more moralistic.

To start while defined as an action-adventure game,  the gameplay itself is more of an updated point and click variety- you’ll still be smashing the heads in of zombies, but it will take a little bit more precision that just the regular hack and slash and shoot of previous games. Instead in Telltale’s Walking Dead it engages the player in how it is they would handle the zombie apocalypse, who they talk to, what they say. Unlike other games in the genre it is a wholeheartedly character driven game, one where the moral grey areas that come with the risen dead are at the focus as opposed to how many kills a person gets.

You play from the point of view from Lee Everett, a man who at the start of the end of the world is being brought to prison for a violent crime he had committed. When the police officer who is driving unknowingly plows into one of the walking dead trying to cross the highway they crash into a ditch , and after being knocked unconscious Lee is saved from the efforts of a young girl by the name of Clementine, left with only a babysitter when the dead began rising. And for those out there who despise the television series dimwit by the name of Carl- have no fear Clementine is the complete opposite. As are most of the characters in this game. Whatever your personality, there tends to be somebody you can relate to.

There needs to be a strong balance between action and exposition within television, enough that it gives the program depth. One of the largest problems with The Walking Dead show is its sense of pacing- too little action and too much of the characters (who aren’t necessarily likeable) discuss their plight. At the heart of any zombie film or TV show is the idea of what the survivors do as the world crumbles how they try to rebuild the lives they had and keep going on. It delves into the dark aspects of what is left with society, which if it takes up half an hour of screen time will become a little boring. The game subverts this because no longer are you just watching as people choose what to do, you are the one choosing it.

The entire game is based off of the idea that as you play as Lee Everett, you’re making conscious choices on what to ask other survivors, deciding how much of your past (which you as a player know very diddly about) and the game remembers them. The most interesting aspect of the game is the fact of the matter you choose who it is you save in scenarios and then have to live with your choice because it will remember later on.

Engaging and extremely visually appealing Telltale’s Walking Dead could be considered more of an extremely interactive television show. It is up to the player to decide how they interact with people and who it is they want to wrestle from the rotting hands of the dead soccer mom leaning out of her minivan.  Fans of the television show won’t be disappointed as recognizable figures such as Glen and Hershel Green make cameos throughout the first episode and more to be expected for later ones. Oh yeah, that’s another thing. The game is released in episodes as the story progresses. The first episode was released back in April of this year, but the second episode is due to be released sometime this month where Lee and Clementine are expected to experience some hunger pains and cabin fever.

What the game lacks in player controlled action it more than makes up for in the character development, the artistic design of the game and the urgency and suspense that comes with most horror/zombie games is not lost from the point and click nature. If you are fan of the show, you will like this game. And if the show lost you long ago like it did me, you’ll still be pretty happy with it.

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