The Walking Dead: Episode One “A New Day” Review
The Good:
Captures the feel of the comic books and TV seriesThe Bad:
Point & Click might not be everyone's cup of teaSTORY In episode one, you play as Lee,a man that just so happens to be being escorted to prison for the suspected murder of his wife. Then suddenly a “Walker” a.k.a “Zombie” appears out of nowhere, forcing the cop car that is escorting Lee to swerve out of the way, which results in the car [...]
STORY
In episode one, you play as Lee,a man that just so happens to be being escorted to prison for the suspected murder of his wife. Then suddenly a “Walker” a.k.a “Zombie” appears out of nowhere, forcing the cop car that is escorting Lee to swerve out of the way, which results in the car crashing down the side of the road. This grants Lee with an opportunity to make a run for it and escape his pending prison sentence, but for Lee, it’s out of the frying pan and in to the fire as the town that he finds himself in is empty, deserted and filled with blood thirsty Walkers; the idea of prison will soon be looking like the safer option and a holiday resort compared to the Hell that he has found himself in. Lee will rely on other survivor’s if he wants to live, but not everyone can be trusted in this newly troubled and desperate world. Who can Lee trust? And what decisive choices will he make? That my friend is all down to you!
A walk with friends
GRAPHICS
The Cell shaded look has always been of a hot topical debate, I can remember so clearly the arguments that I found myself in when the cell shaded look was introduced to Zelda: The Wind Waker. Though looking back at that debate now, I feel that no one was really right or wrong; it was all down to personal preference. The Walking Dead has been given the cell shaded make over, though this may not make too much sense if you are comparing it to the great TV series, but seeing as the game is based on the cult following comic book series, it couldn’t be a more perfect fit. The cell shade captures the essence of the comic books perfectly and at times, it actually feels like you are playing an interactive comic book. Even though personal preference is always left open to debate, for me The Walking Dead game could not be any more fitting with the cell shade and it all adds to its sinister charm.
SOUND/MUSIC
Episode one all in all is very well acted out, there’s not really a bad word you can say about it in all fairness. The voice acting is relatively cheesy, but in a good way and I think that complements the comic series very well, if it was all too serious then it simply wouldn’t suite the visual style of the game. You get to understand both Lee’s and the other characters emotions throughout this episode and that is largely down to the high quality voice acting. Episode One does it job just fine in this department and I’m safely assuming later episodes will also follow suite, though it will be interesting to hear things from a new characters perspective, we’ll all just have to wait and see.
GAMEPLAY
This is a strange one and even more so, if like myself you are not use to the point and click genre. Traditionally point and click games are designed to be used with the keyboard and mouse, so it was interesting for me to see how it would fair on the 360 console and I have to say it surprisingly works very well. While you use the left analog stick to move your character around, the right analog stick is used to select objects, chat to other characters and generally interact with your environment. This caught me off guard to begin with, but after about 5 – 10 minutes into the game, you quickly begin to get use to how The Walking Dead plays and it all makes sense.
Some unwelcome guests
Another key element to The Walking Dead’s gameplay is that when you engage in conversation or a particular action scene, you are given multiple choice options. Now depending on what dialogue you choose to speak or how you decide to react in a particular situation, it will have a later effect within your game and apparently it will also affect scenarios in future episodes and to add a little more pressure to the multiple choice options, each multiple choice interaction is timed, so you better react quickly and correctly. Once you get use to how The Walking Dead plays, it is a very easy pick up and play game.
REPLAY VALUE
Just by playing the first episode, it’s not possible to get a true understanding of The Walking Dead’s replay value as a whole, as it spreads across all five episodes. But obviously what I can do is judge it one episode at a time and from what I’ve played so far, I think The Walking Dead will have a good amount of replay value. Even during episode one, you could see how characters would respond to your reactions and without giving nothing away, some of the actions that took place from the choices that I made we’re very drastic and changed the tide of my story instantly and looking back, if I would have made a better choice, things may have gone a little smoother for my character. The Walking Dead has plenty of potential and it will be very interesting to see how my story pans out in later episodes from the choices that I made in episode one and then I will be curious to replay the game from the beginning to see how the story changes when I make different choices.
Some zombies just want a hug!
CLOSING VERDICT
As always with any Xbox Live Arcade game, you always have the option of downloading the trial. I am a big fan of the TV series, but just to be on the safe side I downloaded the trial first, instead of jumping in with the purchase. I would strongly recommend anyone to download the trial first like I did, as I never really quite knew what to expect from this game. But I can happily say that I was impressed with the trial and once it was over, I purchased the full episode straight away and at 400msp per episode (5 in total), it’s fairly priced. This may be a game for the fans only, as I doubt it will win any new followers, but you never know. But as a fan of the series and now the game, I am very much looking forward to future episodes from Telltale games.
You can download The Walking Dead: Episode One here: http://marketplace.xbox.com/en-GB/Product/The-Walking-Dead
Episode 4: Around Every Corner
The Walking Dead: Episode One “A New Day” Review,
About the Author
