The Walking DeadĀ game has been one of the best gaming experiences weāve had in 2012. Telltale Games have done an incredible job of bringing to life the world that Robert Kirkman created in his comic books. The episodic approach of Telltale Games has not only been a complete winner, itās been the first time in ages that weāve seen the gaming community so eager for a release. The wait between instalments, whilst relatively short, has felt like forever as gamers whip themselves into a frenzy.
Episode 4: Around Every CornerĀ picks up the story whereĀ Episode 3: Long Road AheadĀ as the survivors arrive in Savannah to find itās overrun with Walkers and controlled by the mysterious Crawford community. Upon arriving in Savannah the group find an empty house to take shelter in whilst Lee and Kenny explore the city. Finding a boat they realise that could be their ticket to safety but first they need to figure out how to get it up-and-running. Of course along the way there are some serious scares, moral dilemmas and plenty of walker action. There are lots of twists and new characters too as the game hurtles along at a surprising pace.
As with previous instalments of the game expect to feel stressed out and emotionally drained by the time you reach the end. Telltale has learned how to really draw you into the game making it tougher and tougher to make the decisions required of you. From shooting more children (please stop making us kill children Telltale ā we canāt cope with the emotional fallout!) through to deciding between life and death for your group there isnāt an easy decision to be made in this episode.
Something we did learn at the end of the episode is that weāre becoming increasingly more brutal as we progress through the game. At the end of the stats are displayed showing you how your decisions fit in with other gamers who have played the episode. Clearly weāre getting more desensitized as we took pretty much every opportunity to serve out a bit of death that we could. Whoops!
The way in which the story-telling unfolds is so beautiful itās easy to forget youāre actually playing a game at times. This of course can be fatal as often you need to carry out actions in a very short time-frame to stay alive such as fighting zombies, freeing your trapped leg or jumping from rooftop-to-rooftop. There are plenty of puzzles to solve and if weāve learned anything four episodes in, itās that you need to talk to everyone all the time and search absolutely everything in sight.
With only one more episode left of the season weāre already struggling with withdrawal.Ā The Walking DeadĀ has been the standout game of the year and 2013ās first-person-shooter based on the TV series really worries us. With a game this perfect, do we really need another one? Thankfully Telltale are busy at work on a second season of their version of the game and we already know itāll be worth the wait.