The Walking Dead (2012)

The best part of this game is, without hesitation, the story. I would have loved to just watch it as a TV series, so living it was really entertaining. At the beginning, I found the first episode a bit boring, but it quickly got better with the next episode and I just wanted to know what would happen next.

I don't watch the Walking Dead TV show, but I read the comics, and I really felt the spirit of the franchise while playing. It is emotionally powerful, you get attached to the characters, and those unexpected traumatizing scenes... (looking at you, episode 3).

It was my first Telltale game, but it won't be my last. The game-play is simple, and is fine for this kind of games. There were a few glitches, but nothing that ruined my gaming experience.

I played the game with French subtitles, because I couldn't find any English ones. It was a bad point ; it was sometimes really badly translated, with even a few spelling errors. In English, I would have made different choices sometimes.

400 Days :

I also played the 400 Days add-on, but it was not as good. It follows the stories of several characters, but I wasn't enough emotionally invested to care about them. It was what made the main story so captivating.

I maybe would have enjoyed it more if I didn't play 400 Days right after the main story, but for example while waiting for season two to be release.

The Walking Dead is about Lee, a university professor and convicted murderer, trying to survive in a zombie-infested world. Along the way, he meets a young girl named Clementine and many other characters that help him along his journey. As many others have said, it’s like watching a TV show but you make the choices. This leads to a much more personal and emotional experience than most video games. Seriously, this game is VERY emotional. Like fuck, really emotional. The entire game revolves completely around it’s characters. These characters are really interesting because they aren’t the most likable people in the world but they just feel so realistic. You really start to care about these guys.

Other than characters, this game also has a huge focus on choices. This game relies heavily on quick decisions. There are times where you’ll have to decide between the lives of two people in the span of five seconds. It’s crazy. There are many moments where you’ll make a decision and regret it a second later. It gives this game such an intense feeling that’s hard to shake off even after you’ve played it. I’m looking at you episodes four and five (seriously, you guys are fucking crazy). The choices are also pretty controversial. Some say that none of the choices you make actually matter and I sorta have to agree. But, a game like Life is Strange where your choices do matter is nowhere near as good as this. At the end of the day, I’m okay with it because the story being told is so great that I could care less if this was just a visual novel. You are given an illusion of choice but it’s a hell of a good illusion.

Walking Dead also has a few problems. For example, the graphics aren’t anything special. It’s obvious they were going for some sort of style but it falls short and just looks bad sometimes. It isn’t too big of a deal other than being distracting a few times. There’s this annoying train puzzle in the game that is a lot harder than it has to be and really ruins the pace of the game. Also, every achievement in this game is given after a chapter is completed. On one hand, there isn’t much to do in this game so I’m not sure what other achievements would be given. On the other hand, this could be a disappoint for someone who really cares for achievements but I personally couldn’t give a rat’s ass.

9/10 -- Amazing. This game is a brutally emotional experience that touches your heart like a surgeon performing a heart removal. With a kickass soundtrack that I forgot to mention and some characters that you wish you could talk to in person, this is a game you must play. I’d say this game was perfect if my choices actually mattered more because that shit would’ve been bombin’. Anyway, go buy this now it’s like on every platform other than Nintendo 64 like it’s even coming to Ouya.