And who better to deliver that sort of gameplay-lite approach to a big license than Telltale Games, who have tackled Jurassic Park and Back To The Future as well? Im sure some folks would prefer a Resident Evil type survival horror adventure game, but this version actually fits the approach of the comic quite nicely lots of talk, lots of characters, minimal but just enough action to keep you interested in terms of the original works spirit, its probably one of the most successful licensed games in recent memory.
Part of the fun is that youre not playing as Rick Grimes in fact he doesnt even appear. You play Lee Everett, a convicted murderer who is en route to prison with a friendly cop when the zombie outbreak begins. After an accident, Lee escapes from his confines and stumbles across a little girl named Clementine, whose parents havent come back for her yet and are thus probably dead. Along the way they meet up with some other survivors (some you might recognize), solve some very minor puzzles, and fight zombies with the power of Quicktime Events. By focusing primarily on new characters, youre able to fully dive into the minor role-playing elements (i.e. you can play Lee as a good man or as a total dick), instead of trying to mold an established character into someone you wish he/she could be.
This being only the first episode (broken up into 8 chapters) of a five episode story, its hard to tell where the story will go from here. Lee doesnt seem like too bad of a guy for a convicted killer, so its likely he is innocent or the person he killed was doing something far more terrible. The characters we meet along the way are also hard to get a handle on theres Carley, who seems to be a potential love interest, and Kenny, your new best friend who stands by you even when you throw him under the bus (more on that later), but none of them seem to have any deep agendas of their own. In Jurassic Park (the developers last release) you got to experience the story from multiple characters, each with their own unique motives and back-story, but this one keeps you with Lee the whole time, and unless Im mistaken, you can skip the getting to know you conversations with the others and know even less about them.
And that might be tempting, because the conversations you have to engage in can run a bit long, when you might just want to fight a zombie or at least solve a puzzle or something. Throughout the games talkier sections we are told things like Kenny will remember that or Clementine noticed what you did (via on-screen text), but they dont seem to have much bearing on what happens I can only assume these things will keep carrying over to future episodes and change what happens as you progress further and further. Even things that would seemingly produce a big change within this episode dont really seem to matter at one point you have the option of saving Kennys son or another character (who lived at the house you and your group is currently seeking shelter at), and the first time around I opted to save the kid. This resulted in the other guy dying, and then a relative of his demanded that we all leave. Made sense to me, but when I played again and tried to save the other guy, I discovered that my rescue doesnt work, Kennys son still survives and we still get thrown off the property. I even sold Kenny out and told the angry owner that it was his fault and that I was trying to help his loved one, but it didnt matter. Plus, Kenny didnt even seem to care that I was stabbing him in the back (after essentially leaving his son to die), so this was a bit disappointing the next scene played out exactly as it did the time I saved his son singlehandedly. If this system doesnt produce noticeable differences in the story or even the basic interactions, theres no real incentive to do anything but just tap whatever buttons closest to your thumb when the option arises.
Same goes for the achievements you get all 100 points just for playing through the game, one Cheevo per chapter. Theres no 10 points for saving person A 10 points for saving person B sort of stuff that inspires replays, nor does anything reward exploration. Theres a broken radio in chapter 5 that requires you to find two batteries (and then put them in properly after the other character messes up), but taking the 5 minutes to do this has no in-game or trophy benefit its just there to extend your playing time a bit. This section also contains a rather poor scripting decision, where you are tasked with finding a key to an office with medicine in order to help a sick character. A few minutes after this task is presented, another character calls to say he needs assistance nearby, and you say sit tight, Ill be there soon. I then spent a half hour trying to find the key to this office, walking in circles, talking to everyone twice, clicking objects over and over before finally giving up and going to assist the other guy. Once I took care of that and went back to the office, I discovered I now had a way to get the key. Im sorry, but a dude having a near-heart attack on the floor next to me seems to be a more pressing matter than a guy in a car who sees some zombies nearby, so its a bit odd that they introduce the scenario long before its possible to solve.
However, they get a lot of stuff right. The minor mystery about Lees family is given a nice (if somewhat convenient) resolution, and the action scenes are effectively tense. Telltale has also reduced the number of Hammer the ___ button over and over rapidly to get away moments that plagued Jurassic Park, and made them much more forgiving as well. The graphics are terrific (no black & white, sorry), and most of the voice acting is above average. Its also quite vulgar at times, which can be a little oft-putting but is certainly more realistic than the TV show, where folks are besieged by zombies on a daily basis but never get to yell HOLY SHIT WERE FUCKED! It also keeps you moving; there are five or six major locations in the game, which isnt bad for something that you can probably beat in an hour or so if you dont dilly-dally or waste your time on an objective that cant be solved until a seemingly unrelated event is complete.
It feels odd writing up a review for 1/5th of a game, but I assume that development is not complete on the later installments and thus hopefully they can use this and other reviews in order to figure out whats working and what needs improvement. Eventually all 5 episodes will be collected into one, and itd be great to see it get more in-depth and exciting to play as it went on (like a normal game would). Jurassic Park (I never played BTTF, sorry) was unfortunately level throughout chapter 4 was just as difficult and complicated as chapter 1, and the gameplay never varied. Hopefully its not too late for them to look at this first release almost as a sort of beta and really knock it out of the park for the last 2-3 installments. Its a good game and it plays well (though the cursor felt a bit jerky on the Xbox), but it doesnt seem like its fully maximizing its potential with either the choice system or the puzzle mechanics (nothing is more complicated than opening a car door to get a pick). And Id also like to see them give me more of a reason to replay it there are a lot of games out there and not nearly enough free time to play them. Convince me why I should run through Lees story again instead of loading up Skyrim!
