The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner

So with Episode 5's release date immanently approaching I thought it was best to play catch-up and finally review Episode 4 'Around Every Corner'. After the sensationally tense and emotionally wrecking Episode 3 that killed off half the cast and then introduced several new characters I naturally started the episode with my expectations through the roof in more ways than one. I couldn't wait to find out who the walkie-talkie guy was and why he was so interested in Clementine and Lee. I was interested to see where Kenny's character would go next and I was ready for several jaw-dropping moments. Sadly while Episode 4 is packed with these moments, it's middle half feels like filler and the story doesn't quite hit those emotional highpoints you were expecting until the end. So while it's in no way bad or even mediocre (in fact, most of it is rather good) you can't help but compare it to previous episodes and see it as a bit of a disappointment, especially when you have to wait a whole month for the next episode!

Clementine is the sweetest character in gaming, PERIOD. So sweet that this zombie wants to gobble her up!

Episode 4 starts about an hour after where Ep 3 left off, with the group having just abandoned the train and entering Savannah to look for a boat. Naturally things go awry immediately and they get ambushed by a horde of zombies and have to hide in the garden of an abandoned house. In the midst of all this chaos one of the new characters bites the dust in a rather abrupt fashion with little to no fanfare at all. We don't even see the death on-screen (although you do see 'the remains' later) and I wonder why the writers introduced a character late into Ep 3 only to kill him/her (not saying because of spoilers) immediately afterwards at the beginning of Ep 4? I mean it's almost like they introduced him/her only to give a bit of exposition to Lee and then swiftly got rid of him for shock value? Hmmmm.... Now while I understand WHY they did it, I didn't feel anything because I had only just met his/her character and hadn't had time to connect to him/her in the slightest. Episode 3 had one shocking death after the other and it mattered because I had grown to love the characters over the previous Episodes, killing him/her off here robbed the moment of any emotional value or weight. In fact the lack of fanfare suggest's the writers didn't even care about his/her character either, and it felt out of place with the rest of the episode. I hate to call it lazy script writing, but that's what it is. Thankfully what follows is classic WD, with plenty of unpleasant situations being thrown onto the player. At the realisation that I had to dig up a dead dog in order to get into the house I audibly sighed 'Oh god...' before doing the dirty work and then having to kill a starved kid zombie in the attic just felt wrong, afterwords I had to bury the poor soul next to his dead dog in the garden! After the house is properly searched and cleared of any threats Lee and Kenny go to the harbour to find a boat...only to find it utterly deserted and ransacked of anything worthwhile. They're also greeted with a giant barricade made out of zombie corpses, some of whom are still undead having been pierced on spikes to act as scarecrows to warn off any survivors hoping to get past the barrier. What's past the barrier? Well it's very spoilerific but let's just say it's not pretty...In fact anything after this point is serious spoiler territory so let's just say there are a few new characters introduced (honestly the cast of survivors are on a revolving door at this point, it's almost like the writers said 'CRAP! WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF CHARACTERS TO KILL OFF! WE NEED MORE CHARACTERS TO SATISIFY OUR BLOOD LUST!!!'), several new locales to be explored and lots AND lots of tense action moments. As a penultimate episode this is clearly setting up things for Ep 5 (aka the finale) so I will not criticize the Ep for not paying off on a lot of it's many dangling threads but let's just say that your questions at the end of Ep 3 will not by answered in Ep 4, much to my disappointment. They're saving everything for the last Ep and most of this episode feels like filler. Entertaining filler sure, but filler nonetheless. There are a few good moments here and there but you're essentially on a damn fetch quest the whole time with no real juicy plot moments to satisfy my need for intense drama. The last 15 minutes though......ohhhhh boy!

This is a really unnerving moment, poor kid.

As far as gameplay goes Episode 4 is the most action packed entry of the series to date, and with the exception of a few small puzzles here and there most of it is Lee becoming a full on zombie badass, with the zombie death counter hitting record highs at the Ep's climax in particular. Of course the satisfaction in terms of gameplay goes up a bit (when is killing zombies NOT fun?) but I should stress that this is still a point and click adventure game, all you're doing is pressing a button that is labelled 'kill zombie' a few times. Which is probably another reason why this Episode feels slightly underwhelming seen as most of it is action and it therefore the game relies on it's almost non-existent gameplay mechanics and it feels dull compared to, say, having meaningful conversations with the great cast. That's not to say there aren't any difficult choices to make or really nice convo's in the Ep, it just means that they take a back-seat to the some of the action taking place. And that's why the episodes conclusion is fantastic, because it's like they packed all the shocking moments, consequences and tense reveals til' the last 15 minutes and gave us a few filler action tasks to do beforehand. Again that's not to say I didn't LIKE those filler action tasks, it's just that it can't compare to the more dialogue focused aspects of the game that featured prominently in the previous eps. 

Even THEY can't believe the twist at the end!

I can't spoil the last 15 minutes but let's just say the Episode did it's job of making me hyped for the finale! And in true Walking Dead fashion it is SHOCKING and you'll never see it coming! But as it stands I'll give Episode 4 'Around Every Corner' an 8/10. Not quite as good as previous instalments, but that's only because it set's the stage for what is surely going to be an amazing pay-off to an amazing entertainment experience. The characters are still amazing (Clementine in particular), the voice acting is still stellar and the narrative continues to be one of the most compelling stories in gaming. I must stress to anyone that hasn't got it yet (again), BUY AND PLAY THIS NOW!