No more waiting! It's arrived. All the navel gazing style dissection of the trailer no longer has to suffice to feed our appetite. The Walking Dead Telltale game, season 2, episode one, is here. And all is good in game land, for it is, like, awesome and stuff.
The Walking Dead franchise has been a major boon for the creative explorations of the interactive fan base crowd. Elsewhere on this site, we've looked at the booming role of the Walking Dead fanfiction . The Telltale game provides another, more structured, but still interactive experience with the world that Robert Kirkman created.
Fans of season one will certainly remember Clementine. She was kind of the object of the first season. The subject, if you will, the acting protagonist, Lee, was largely driven by his desire to protect her. However, as such fans will know, Lee is gone, and now Clementine has to fend for herself. Thus she has graduated to protagonist of season two. When we meet back up with her in season two, we already see how she has had to grow up, forced to make the hard decisions to survive the zombie apocalypse.
This great game continues to breathe new life into the adventure game genre. In the process, its winning season one strategy, that avoids lapsing into pedantic puzzle solving, continues with the emphasis being upon dynamic of interactive story telling. And these aren't empty choices.
The results of character's choices resonate throughout the game. They lead to practical and often unexpected consequences. Not only do those consequences reverberate from episode to episode, but it appears choices from last season may yet affect options in this new season.
All this is not to say that there are no changes in season two. And most of them are definitely improvements. The technical improvements are particularly noteworthy. I found the graphics much improved in the second season; they are more richly detailed. Frame rates are also improved, being more stable. Clementine walks about at a much advanced clip, now. A welcomed addition, when gripped in on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense.
If there's one thing about which I'm not thrilled, it would be with some of the dialogue options; they struck me as too often too dichotomous. It seems that Clementine either has to be a child or a badass. She's either excessively innocent or excessively confrontational. At least, that's how it seemed to me. I don't think that's getting the most out of the opportunities. I'll be keeping an eye on that situation as the season progresses.
The other side of the coin, though, is that it is an interesting change in the game dynamic to have the options made available by a young girl protagonist. Certainly playing Lee didn't provide the opportunity to be coyly manipulative, as is possible with Clementine.
And, I'm happy to report, that Telltales' strongest strong suit remains firmly in place here in the first episode of season two. I'm referring of course to the moral complexities confronting the protagonist. For instance, are you prepared to make Clementine a dead cold killer right from the get-go?
Many early players have done just that: often to their surprise and ambivalence. What will be the consequences? Not to be too pun-ish about it, but only future episodes will tell the tale. This confrontation with the morally challenging, I believe, explains the great success of the Walking Dead Telltale games. I suspect the challenges are even going to become greater as we go on. It's a bright future for gamers everywhere. At least, provided you're not actually inside of the zombie apocalypse...and all that.
The Walking Dead franchise has been a major boon for the creative explorations of the interactive fan base crowd. Elsewhere on this site, we've looked at the booming role of the Walking Dead fanfiction . The Telltale game provides another, more structured, but still interactive experience with the world that Robert Kirkman created.
Fans of season one will certainly remember Clementine. She was kind of the object of the first season. The subject, if you will, the acting protagonist, Lee, was largely driven by his desire to protect her. However, as such fans will know, Lee is gone, and now Clementine has to fend for herself. Thus she has graduated to protagonist of season two. When we meet back up with her in season two, we already see how she has had to grow up, forced to make the hard decisions to survive the zombie apocalypse.
This great game continues to breathe new life into the adventure game genre. In the process, its winning season one strategy, that avoids lapsing into pedantic puzzle solving, continues with the emphasis being upon dynamic of interactive story telling. And these aren't empty choices.
The results of character's choices resonate throughout the game. They lead to practical and often unexpected consequences. Not only do those consequences reverberate from episode to episode, but it appears choices from last season may yet affect options in this new season.
All this is not to say that there are no changes in season two. And most of them are definitely improvements. The technical improvements are particularly noteworthy. I found the graphics much improved in the second season; they are more richly detailed. Frame rates are also improved, being more stable. Clementine walks about at a much advanced clip, now. A welcomed addition, when gripped in on-the-edge-of-your-seat suspense.
If there's one thing about which I'm not thrilled, it would be with some of the dialogue options; they struck me as too often too dichotomous. It seems that Clementine either has to be a child or a badass. She's either excessively innocent or excessively confrontational. At least, that's how it seemed to me. I don't think that's getting the most out of the opportunities. I'll be keeping an eye on that situation as the season progresses.
The other side of the coin, though, is that it is an interesting change in the game dynamic to have the options made available by a young girl protagonist. Certainly playing Lee didn't provide the opportunity to be coyly manipulative, as is possible with Clementine.
And, I'm happy to report, that Telltales' strongest strong suit remains firmly in place here in the first episode of season two. I'm referring of course to the moral complexities confronting the protagonist. For instance, are you prepared to make Clementine a dead cold killer right from the get-go?
Many early players have done just that: often to their surprise and ambivalence. What will be the consequences? Not to be too pun-ish about it, but only future episodes will tell the tale. This confrontation with the morally challenging, I believe, explains the great success of the Walking Dead Telltale games. I suspect the challenges are even going to become greater as we go on. It's a bright future for gamers everywhere. At least, provided you're not actually inside of the zombie apocalypse...and all that.
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When you're keen to have the scoop on all the Walking Dead news , you should check out Mickey Jhonny's posts at the Pretty Much Dead Alhave a look aty blog. Gaming enthusiasts will want to have a look at his review of the best games for PC that is entirely free!
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