TellTale creates a game worthy of the franchise

The Walking Dead from TellTale Games is an episodic point and click action-adventure game that stays faithful to The Walking Dead canon while providing a new storyline.

To help The Walking Dead game feel more like the comic series that is it based off of, Telltale has chose to use a cartoon, cell-shaded art style as well as releasing the game in five episodes. Both of these details definitely helped to make The Walking Dead feel like you’re playing an interactive comic book.

The Walking Dead focuses around dialog choices. Players are given a limited amount of time to choose between several dialogs choices, similar to Mass Effect’s dialog system, except Mass Effect doesn’t have a time limit. By introducing a time limit, players feel a sense of urgency and will hopefully answer more candidly. The Walking Dead allows you to portray the main character, Lee Everett, as a misunderstood or amoral man.

There are also quick time events throughout the game that add to the tension. The Walking Dead includes sequences where you have to rapidly tap a button to fight off an enemy as well as sequences where you have to quickly take down zombies by clicking on them. The Walking Dead was never made to be a shooter so some of the gun play and even walking around featured some clunky controls when playing with a mouse and keyboard.

The story in The Walking Dead is absolutely engrossing, bolstered by great voice acting and character models. While the graphics in The Walking Dead aren’t the most advanced, its cell shaded art style brings the comic book characters to life with vivid colors and hard brush strokes. You really care about each of the characters in your group. There are also some great villains in the game that do some shocking things.

Since there are so many choices a player can make in The Walking Dead, your friends playing the same game will most likely have different stories than you. This gives The Walking Dead some stellar replay value. At the end of each episode, you’re given a report on how your choices coincide with other Walking Dead players.

The story builds up to a nail-biting climax, albeit a short one. Since The Walking Dead is so good at making you care for the characters in your group, finding out the fate of Clementine and Lee will leave you breathless. Some players have complained about the ending but I think it was beautifully done and goes along with the themes presented in the game.

TellTale Games has done right by The Walking Dead franchise with an engrossing storyline that provides a parallel to the comic. This game is a terrific value and is one of the best games of 2012.