****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I'm a pretty picky gamer. Although I love RPGs (as an example), most of the Final Fantasy storylines since VII have been pretty garbage. Even for some of the best/most critically acclaimed games out there, the storylines usually lack a lot of realism and the focus is on other things other than storyline. However, this game's story is SO high quality that my boyfriend (who hates to watch me play video games) actually got super into it watching me play and knew everything that was going on, and I think was just as enthralled as I was. And trust me - that's saying a lot. This is a truly A+++++ storyline game and one of the best I've ever seen in a game.WHAT *IS* THIS GAME? - good question. I was super confused for awhile. But this was previously only a PC/Mac game (did not buy the Mac version because of quality issues I read about) that was released chapter at a time, ending on the fifth chapter. To make it a little more confusing, there's another The Walking Dead game coming out with Daryl Dixon as the protagonist. Anyway, the makers of this game decided to finally release all final five chapters in XBox 360/PS3 editions. So you get to play all the way through. It was also sold as a high discount compared to most games ($30 vs. $60).I had heard just amazing things about this game from the fans, but didn't delve too deep as too why because I didn't want to get spoiled in case they did release it to console one day. After it won G4's Best Game of the Year and took home a bunch of other awards, I was thrilled to find out it was being released just a few days later on console. Great timing!Like I said before, there are five chapters in this game and they're all obviously the same story. But yay, you don't have to wait for the next chapter! It's just right there.This game is actually so good that I think it would be totally worth the full game price of $60 (there's a lot of hours in this game and the replay value is HIGH), but I'm glad it was sold at a discount since users who didn't have a strong enough PC to play on or a Mac and didn't want subpar quality had to wait for quite awhile.STORY - simple enough. At first. You play Lee, who is on his way to jail when the game starts. You find a little girl all alone named Clementine (cutest little girl EVER) and she becomes your pal that you want to protect. You run into a bunch of other people on the way and form groups of sorts and fight zombies and people together. Or each other.This game is NOT related to the comics/show. Well, you'll run into Hershel Greene briefly and maybe (?) someone else; and it IS set in Georgia, but you won't be hanging out with Daryl Dixon or the Governor or anything like that. The characters are completely original, but they're fantastic. The major similarity to this and the comics/show is the atmosphere. It's dark, gloomy, brutal, gritty, and painful. Oh, and sometimes you'll get a chuckle. It doesn't hold back and is quite sick and depraved. Also, lots and lots of cursing, which is something that they can't do on TV. That definitely adds to the realism.What makes this story so interesting is how your decisions really do factor in to what happens in the game in the long-run. Remember those books where you would "choose your fate?" It reminds me a lot of that. And the most difficult part is that the majority of the time there are no clear-cut right and wrong answers. You're not on the dark or light side like Knights of the Old Republic; sometimes there simply are no right or wrong decisions - just decisions. It's incredibly painful to make decisions sometimes (like whose life to save! Ugh!), and the little girl is just so sweet and adorable, and making decisions regarding her are some of the toughest. Do you tell the straight-up truth to her about everything, or do you try to make things seem better than they appear? Do you let her accompany you on dangerous missions after you promised to never leave her side, or do you make her stay back even though it breaks her heart? There are a lot of tearjerkers moments in the game and the fact that there's no right/wrong answers makes it more so.The writing is so good that it feels like you are a PART of a new series of The Walking Dead show. There's a lot of talking (some optional), but not in a boring "watch this overly dramatic 10 minute cutscene" kind of way, but it integrates you into this dialogue. You have to give a lot of opinions and make a lot of decisions, and you're usually on a timer to answer to add to the pressure. You definitely can't just put down your controller and eat while watching a big conversation, you HAVE to participate. It really does an amazing job of balancing fun game play and a great story.POINT AND CLICK - yes, this is basically a point and click game. But a very well-done one. You definitely don't need to be a veteran FPS player to play this game. You just have to know how to click buttons and figure out some puzzles and how to fix a situation sometimes. But there is still plenty of action. You'll be attacked by walkers quite a bit...you'll be put in really, really scary situations and have to make quick escapes. It builds a LOT of tension just like the show does. It's also like merciless like the show as well. No characters are safe. If you hate stories in games and just like to shoot things, skip this game. Well, maybe. The story is so incredibly good that you may be pleasantly surprised. And if you're a big TWD fan, I feel pretty confident that you'll like it.REPLAY VALUE - high, high, high. I was already wanting to replay it before I finished. Considering there are a million decisions you can make and they seem to all make an impact somewhat (think kind of like Heavy Rain, if you've played it), it definitely creates enough curiosity where you'll probably want to replay it.Basically, the hype is real. Play it.WARNING: Watch the end credits of Episode 5 to the very end...there's a little sneak peek of something for the next episodes. Yes, Telltale has confirmed it. Can't wait!
