QCF: The Walking Dead: Episode 1

Telltale Games has developed a reputation for taking well established franchises such as Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, and transitioned them into the adventure game genre. Some of these titles were well received, while others may have missed the mark. In my opinion, their latest effort with The Walking Dead is their most ambitious and most successful transition to date. Everything fans love about the graphic novel and television show is well represented, and also gives players the chance to tell their own story as they play out the zombie apocalypse.

At first glance, seeing a developer like Telltale Games tackle The Walking Dead seems a bit off. With titles such as Left 4 Dead and Dead Island, you would naturally assume a company with a catalogue of adventure games would not be suited to take on a game with shooting and killing zombies for survival. However, just like the original source material, the stories within The Walking Dead are more based around the humans surviving the ongoing zombie outbreak. The zombies are merely a catalyst to further advance the characters and the relationships between them, which is what you'll experience playing Episode 1 of The Walking Dead.

You play as Lee Everett, a former professor who you'll soon learn throughout Episode 1 is not just fleeing from the zombie attack in Atlanta, but also a very troubled past. Lee crosses paths with a young girl named Clementine, who saves him from becoming a snack for her former babysitter turned undead walker. From that moment forward, Lee becomes the child’s protector and adoptive guardian. Seeing the innocence in the young girl’s eyes and her sadness over the whereabouts of her parents drove me further as I did everything possible to protect her. The emotional connections experienced throughout the three hours on Episode 1 are strong and will sometimes come at a heavy cost.

Telltale approached this title with dialogue options similar to what you would see in Mass Effect or Heavy Rain, where the main character chooses to say something positive, negative, or somewhere in the middle. However, these dialogue options are not only timed, but have consequences that will be experienced throughout all five episodes. Also on more than a few occasions, Lee will be forced to make a choice that can mean life or death for one of the survivors or him. The fact that the player cannot take the time to weigh the options and is forced to make tough choices at the drop of a hat really adds to the suspense and brings tension to every conversation. Throughout game play, you can choose to have interactive elements highlighted, as well as hints and reminders when conversations lead to something that impacts the story. For fans wanting total immersion, these can be turned off at any time so the experience is more tense and without assistance.

Combat is also in the game, and the developer has approached it with true adventure game conventions. The player will navigate with the left joystick or WASD controls, and use the right joystick or mouse to position a reticle over objects to interact with. Whether it is a zombie needing to be kicked off, or a survivor needing rescure from impending doom, the action plays out like a quick time event without ever feeling like a simple task. It was difficult to grasp at first, though after a few encounters I found myself moving quickly with precision anytime there was trouble. In these moments, the game did experience some slow down and issues, but it never took me out of the experience or caused any real problems in the game play. The game is not perfect, though it succeeds in so many aspects, so it’s difficult to say anything negative about the experience. At the end of the episode, Lee has time to reflect on the events and decisions of what occurred, and prepares for another day (possibly his last). The ending of the first episode even has a small trailer detailing the next episode, with the player’s decisions and results being prominently displayed throughout the cut scene. It's the best portrayal of an episodic game, and feels like a real television show, which has only been done as well in Alan Wake.

Overall, The Walking Dead Episode 1 is an amazing start to what will surely be a great run of episodes exploring relationships between survivors, and takes interactive storytelling to new heights. Although there are some minor issues sometimes causing the experience to stumble, The Walking Dead Episode 1 is just as well done as any of the source material. I cannot recommend this title enough, and we at Press Pause Radio will be reviewing each episode as it becomes available as part of The Walking Dead Season Pass.

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Four.Five out of Five Hadokens