The first episode title, "A New Day", truly captures the essence of your gameplay experience with this title and world. While the environment will seem very familiar to fans of both the comic and TV series, you don't take on the role of any of the known survivors from Kirkman's saga. Instead, you play as Lee Everett, a man with a checkered past who is thrust into this survival setting at the beginning of the outbreak.
The Walking Dead is a great upgrade of the point-and-click adventure games of old. A new type of interface (to me, at least) coupled with quicktime events and fantastc animation make you feel like you are truly controlling an episode of the TV show (or comic, if you prefer) as it plays out. While you will occasionally notice the rails the game puts you on, it really doesn't detract from the overall experience with the game. This isn't a sandbox style survival horror game, but more an interactive movie.
One of the things that I truly loved about this game was how your choices mattered. One of the early choices you must make is whether to travel by day or night, and that choice directly affects who you will meet on your journey. Characters will remember if you were nice to them, lied to them, or stood by their side when the shit hit the fan, and will react accordingly. But it isn't just easy choices you are forced to make. More than once in the story your actions can directly affect who lives, or who dies. These are powerful moral choices that you are forced to make in the blink of an eye, and the characters that make it through that situation will remember what you did. I played through twice, making different decisions each time, and was pleasantly suprised to see that not only did my actions affect my current playthrough, but they will effect episode 2 as well. This was shown in the "coming soon" clip (reminiscient of a "next week on" TV clip) where I experienced 2 very different views of what is to come.
I really can't speak highly enough as to how well crafted the story of "A New Day" is. It is simply remarkable. You are drawn into the world immediately and surrounded by a cast of very deep and complex characters. Learning about Lee's past as you move through the game is done very well. And the moral dilemmas you have to go through really tug at your heart strings. I haven't enjoyed a game story this much since Batman:Arkham City. And I LOVED that.
The game is not, however, without flaws. There were a few times where the rails the game puts you on are glaringly apparent, and there are a handful of bad dialogue responses (for instance, more than once a character is referred to as Lee's daughter, even after telling the person more than once that he is not related). These are easily overlooked when compared to the game's overall story and presentation.
If you liked the old point-and-click adventures at all, and can stomach another zombie game (or 5), then this game is for you. If you're looking for a sandbox style shoot-em-up, you may want to give this a pass.
If I had to rate this game, I'd give it a solid B+ at this point, with the option of raising that slightly if the gameplay, story, and presentation continue over all 5 games. But it is a great buy for $5 when you need a game to waste 2-3 hours with.
Nice post Bat. I may have to to give this a try!
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