The Walking Dead Episode 3 is, in my humble opinion, now the finest example of video-game storytelling. Telltale Games has now over three episodes crafted a beautiful experience that so far is not afraid to pull punches and continues to deliver a series of shocking moments in the rather short run-time of episode three. If 'A New Day' introduced the cast of characters and offered a few glimpses at what life in the zombie apocalypse was like, and 'Starved For Help' offered a few grisly moments and some genuine edge-of-your-seat scenes, then 'Long Road Ahead' barely starts before piling a series of awful situations on the player.
I started episode one as a Lee Everett who was (for the most part) a nice and caring man. Clementine, the young girl in my possession really provided a moral compass for me as a player and I tried my best to keep her from harms way. In episode two I found myself conflicted a number of times over what to do in certain no-win scenario's and it really tested who I felt I was portraying. Ultimately though, I stood my ground (bar a few shaky moments) and continued to put Clementine first while also trying to be as nice to the supporting characters as possible, even if they were a bit on edge most of the time. Episode three however, completely and utterly broke me, to the point where I was willing to kill another character at a certain moment in the story. While there is no one scene that was more tense or gut-wrenching than the stuff that we got at the end of episode two, it's the sheer amount of slaughter and tragedy that hits you one after the other that really puts the nail in the coffin for you emotionally. I was at points nearly in tears during some (almost horrifyingly real) scenes and the harsh reality of life in the zombie apocalypse is amplified by the interactivity of the game. Now it doesn't feel like I'm playing a character, it feels like I'm playing myself, with Lee serving as my avatar. I project onto him my emotions and as a result, the choices I made almost made me hate myself because I knew that in that situation I would have done the same thing. It's some tense stuff, let me tell you! While the game definitely feels more linear this time around, the dialogue choices do change the opinion of people in the now shrunken group which is a nice bit of flavour. The fact that whatever you do cannot change the fate of certain characters makes it feel even more brutal in my opinion. Normally this would be a complaint, but the sheer strength of the narrative being told here makes up for it. The fantastic characterisation, extremely tense moments, shocking reveals and brutality of this episode (even with little to no gore on display) makes this episode worthy of a 10/10 in the story department. Fanf@ckingtastic!
The gameplay in episode three is a bit more prominent than last time around but don't be fooled, this is still a very gameplay-lite experience. The quick-time events are still tense but let's face it, it's all button mashing. The fetch quests are extremely simple (but it does take you a while to find everything you need to proceed in the story) and the dialogue wheels remain the same. The only new addition this time is the shooting mechanic where you fire awkwardly from Lee's sniper-rifle, and it's a damn good thing that it get's dropped quickly because the controlling of your sight feels wonky and quite frankly it's a bit sh*t. This is the Walking Dead, not Call Of Duty. But at least there is variety (of a sort) in what you do this time, episode two could barely be called a game: 5/10.
As far as presentation goes, 'Long Road Ahead' still has that same vibrant comic-booky feel as the other two, and the facial animations on the characters are still great. As I said before, it feels like you're playing an awesome interactive graphic novel. Unfortunately episode three is the buggiest episode yet, with many glitches occurring throughout both of my playthroughs of the game. It's unacceptable and breaks the immersion of the game unfortunately. As for fixing them, quitting to the main menu and reloading your save SHOULD eliminate all of your problems, but it's still an inconvenience for the player. Despite the somewhat disappointing glitches, the sound in the game more than makes up for it, with all of the voice actors bringing their A-game to the table in terms of performances. Members of your group break down, argue, cuss, and chat realistically, and it's their performance that makes the game what it is. The score is perfectly implemented, and doesn't get in the way to much for you to notice it. It doesn't matter how buggy the game is, the great voice actors enthral you past these annoyances: 8/10.
The Walking Dead isn't a perfect GAME, but sure damn well is a masterpiece as far as interactive storytelling goes. This is seriously starting to become my game of the year, and I think everyone who owns an iphone/ipad/PC/Xbox/PS3 should play this awesome series. At five euros or 400 MS points you're getting more than your money's worth, and if you don't mind me saying, it's f*cking jaw-dropping: 10/10.
No comments:
Post a Comment