Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Rrp: £18.99
Available on Steam and their own site
Ah Telltale Games, you guys seem to be single handedly resurrecting the point and click genre, at least, as far as main stream gaming is concerned.
Anyway on to the review….
As you may have guessed the game is set within the Walking Dead universe. You control Lee in his effort to survive in this new world while protecting Clementine, a girl he has taken under his wing.
This series isn’t difficult to complete, in fact it’s incredibly easy to finish the game, but it isn’t about that. The point isn’t to just ‘finish’ it’s to try and get the ending you want, which is harder than you think. Throughout this game you’ll be forced to make hard decisions that you may not see the end result of right away. The game even throws a few red herrings at you telling you characters will remember things you’ve said or done that have no apparent bearing on the outcome.
The story has many twists and turns you may not expect, especially if you haven’t been thinking about your actions as you playthrough. I can’t tell you much, if anything without giving away spoilers. That being said I can say that sometimes the option you pick may not be quite what you expected.
Very few games in this world actually illicit a real emotional response beyond rage or frustration. This series is one of those few, several times throughout I genuinely laughed and cried from the actions of the characters on screen.
All the characters you come across are believable and even the “villains” are relatable to some extent. One of the great things about this game is the little girl, Clementine. You would be forgiven for assuming that she would be a one note character when you first meet her, but over the course of the story she grows into perhaps one of the best written female characters I have ever come across.
It plays like a traditional point and click adventure game to some degree. The puzzles aren’t so much mind bending as they are logic puzzles, nor are any of them just put there for the sake of it. It differs from most point and click games by doing away with a inventory, you won’t be rubbing item A against item B to create a usable item.
Stylistically the game borrows heavily from the original comic books rather than the TV series. I personally think this was a wise move because it makes it distinct from many games and it will age better.
I found that the game was better played using a controller, though a mouse and keyboard do work perfectly well it just felt better using a controller.
There were some minor graphical errors, nothing game breaking, a missing gun in a cut scene here, a character who moves without walking there. It’s mostly concentrated on the second episode and even then is only on three minor occasions.
All in all I would urge anyone and everyone to get this game, the Rrp is well worth it. Of course if you’re not one to pay attention to dialogue and just want to move to the next action scene I would say this isn’t for you.
Stay tuned for my review of the 400 Days special episode.
