Tracking the success of Telltale Games is like watching a pendulum. First they were doing well with Sam and Max and Monkey Island, and then they swung the other way with Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. With The Walking Dead, this is easily their biggest property yet considering the success of the AMC series and comic. Since we’re only up to episode 3, I’ll write up another analysis when it all wraps up. However, there is enough available for me to examine now.
For spoiler’s sake I’m going to do my best to avoid anything major, but there will be some plot elements discussed.
The first thing that was smart on Telltale’s part was not trying to directly copy the TV show or comic with a side-story of the same cast. Instead the game plays out like a companion piece: taking place in the same universe but with a different set of characters. Players control Lee Everett: a recently convicted murderer who was being taken to prison when all crap breaks loose. Early on Lee befriends a little girl named Clementine and they decide to team up to survive the end of the world.
The gameplay of TWD is bound to be a polarizing experience for both adventure game fans and fans of Telltale’s previous works. Each episode is broken up into chapters based on the events of the episode. Some chapters may consist of the player just talking to the other survivors, solving a puzzle or two, or getting into a fight.
Puzzle solving is pretty basic, thanks to a limited # of interactive objects and items in each chapter. At certain points, the game uses QTEs when Lee gets into a struggle. Other than that, there isn’t much to the gameplay. The real star of TWD is the story and writing, and how the developers tried to create a “choose your own adventure” story.
Throughout each episode, the player has to make a # of decisions that affect the story. Some of the decisions give the player plenty of time to think on, while others only last a few seconds requiring a snap decision. One of the best parts about the writing in the game is how the designers avoided strict good and evil choices. When the world is overrun with the undead, it’s hard to define anything under a moral spectrum.
Many of your choices will come back to haunt Lee, both in later chapters and in future episodes. The game does a good job of keeping the player on their toes and you’ll never know which character’s number is up or when one of your choices comes back to bite you. The voice acting was also great, but there were some times where a character’s tone would abruptly change, due to them referencing a past event. It was a little awkward when I was having a civil conversation to then have the character bark at me for something I did earlier.
As a great touch, at the end of an episode you can view how other people decided on major decisions and how it compared to your choices. The strong writing and voice acting really pull you into the story and make you love/hate the various members of your group. TWD is easily TellTale’s most ambitious title yet, but I do have a few nitpicks so far with the first three episodes.
As mentioned earlier, the gameplay remained basic throughout the first three episodes. On one hand this is good for people new to the genre, but for those looking for either a bit more action or challenging puzzles, they will be disappointed. It was hard sometimes to pick out interaction points based on the environment, but turning on the option to see them solved this problem.
But my biggest issue and the one that is keeping the game from absolute greatness in my eyes, is how divorced the gameplay was from the storytelling. No matter what choices you make, they will not have an effect on the gameplay. You’ll still be going to the same areas, performing the same puzzles and getting into the same QTE segments. This was made even more of a shame by the fact that when it came time to decide a character’s fate, the situation still remains largely unchanged.
One point that was the best in terms of narrative and the worse for gameplay was when the player had to decide how to ration off the remaining supplies. Forcing the player to decide who deserves to eat when there isn’t enough to go around. From a narrative point of view this was a brilliant scene, but none of it actually affected how the game played out.
I know that what I’m asking for is definitely a tall task, but I would have loved for the game to change based on my decisions.
Make some puzzles easier or harder based on what I did, or even change what puzzles was available. In the end these problems don’t make TWD a bad game, but there just enough to keep a great game, from being a phenomenal game.
TWD is a perfect example of using a licensed property correctly. With easily some of the best writing I’ve seen in a game; I can’t wait to see how it all comes together for the conclusion.
