Review: The Walking Dead

G'day guys and gals!

I must be honest before I do the review: I have never been a huge Walking Dead fan, of the comics or

the greatly famous TV show. I've seen the odd episode here and there, I've read one or two comics down the line but I've never taken any interest of the series in a whole. That was, until, I met Lee and Clementine in this five part series. A young girl in the care of a simple man, fighting off their fears of death, zombies and the chance that life may never return to the way they were before. One searches for their lost parents, the other seeks redemption, this is their tale.
While the game is under the classification of "Downloadable Content", I'm treating the game as an Arcade title. Walking Dead by Telltale sees a convicted criminal, Lee, on his way to jail for a gruesome murder. As the infestation of the zombies begins, he finds himself in a car crash with the undead quickly surrounding him and thus our adventure begins.
I'll get to the groundbreaking stuff later, for now, technicalities!
Graphics are in classic comic book style; facial expressions aren't overwhelming unless the character is performing a higher expression such as agression, fright or joy. While comic book graphics in a video game aren't exactly new (Such as in the series The Darkness) and are at times oddly confusing, the game pulls it off quite well. Sound effects and musical score are brilliant and quite well suiting. From the crush of zombie brains to the gust of wind through trees, the sound effects makes a brilliant alliance with the musical score. Sombre in times of peace and safety, quick and jagged as one of demons pushes for your brains. Sound effects are quite crutial to a Zombie titled game and Telltale
truly did great work in mixing both to work simultaniously together.
Now onto what makes this game truly great: The voice cast. The back and forth between Dave Fennoy (Lee) and Melissa Hutchinson (Clementine) is one of the best partnering in video game history. There have been many games where the protagonist has met or spent time with a child before, but never before has a game completely fleshed out a brilliant storyline between the two before. Secondary characters truly bring this type of connection to a further standpoint: Gavin Hammon (Kenny) and Lee develop a close relationship as they both are trying to look after the people they care about. While Lee keeps a constant watchful eye over Clementine, Kenny sympathises since he too is watching out for his wife and son, Katjaa and Duck (Cissy Jones and Max Kaufman) and the rest of what would become to be their little survival group. While so many characters come and go, whether by their choice, death or the choices you make along the way, each and every character makes a big impact on the storyline.
Speaking of which - your choices in every single episode makes a massive impact on how the story changes. From small choices such as telling people the truth or lying to the face to the large impacts such as who should live and who you leave to die follow you right until the last moments of the game, where all of your choices good and bad will be there staring you in the face.

While the TV show flourishes on the small screen, the video game series is still as popular as ever, even as rumours of the upcoming epilogue continue to circle the web. Even though I wasn't a fan to begin with, I am now. To those who have yet to try the game, I highly recommend giving the game a chance, as by the end you will be out of breath and sobbing.

Out of 10, I give The Walking Dead a 10/10
PERFECT SCORE

Good Points:
+ Gameplay is simple, yet fun to play
+ Storyline is sublime
+ Voice cast is damn near perfect
+ Each episode leaves you wanting more
+ Musical score/Sound effects are brilliant
+ Cheap price, big on quality

Bad Points:
NONE

The Walking Dead episode 1-5 are out now for 400 MSP each (Total of $20 for all five) and 2GB of download usage.