While episode 1 of this wonderful series played out as an introduction to Lee and his survival partners this 2nd installment takes an extremely dark twist. This time the focus is on survival as people are hungry and desperate and the lines of civility and savagery begin to blur. The zombies take a back seat in this one as it focuses more on human predators and the need for the camp to have a definitive leader.
As if tensions with the zombies isn’t bad enough, Lee has to find a way to make his antsy comrades get along; he is forced to take a side or take the reins himself as tempers bubble over. Lilly the military vet with the angry father got a little more run in character development and while Clementine is still sweet and innocent she is made to see things that no little girl should ever see.
It got to a point where my attempts to guard Clementine from the evil growing around her became too hard to do and as it got thicker and thicker it became impossible to do. The scariest part of this episode dealt with a mysterious dairy that allowed the refugees some sanctuary. It was a mental game of whether or not to trust the people living there or choose instead to side with the badnits who regularly tried to steal their supplies.
If you haven’t hopped on to this series I would urge you to do so now as the story seems to be getting better and better – this last one being nothing short of amazing. I was scared, repulsed, disgusted and even disappointed with Lee’s friends as the story went on and for such a short game to bring about that level of emotion I have to say that it is superb.
A few complaints…
I am not sure if it’s my Playstation (I seriously doubt it) but the game’s tendency to lock up and load on certain scenes instead of a smooth transition was a bit annoying. There were times when I was in the middle of an action sequence and just because the scene switches I would get a 3 second freeze before it resumed on the other end.
It was also a bit of a mystery as to how I should continue my game to start Episode 2; there should be more of a straightforward method from the start screen as opposed to loading up my game; having it read episode 1; then having to scroll to the right to start episode 2. If people are playing it through like I am, we naturally want to just pick it up and continue instead of turning the page to the next chapter after purchasing it. Please fix this Telltale Games.
Last but not least… the darkness… my telebvision is optimized for gaming to where I can run some of the most contrasted, black-level killing games and still see what is going on but this episode of The Walking Dead had me clicking around int he dark on some scenes (the barn) in order to guess at what was there. It shouldn’t take away from the beautiful grit and dirt being added to the aged survivors to up the levels a bit on the dark scenes but this was very minor in the grand scheme of things.
Should you buy it?
If you are a fan of The Walking Dead comic books, show, or anything, then you should 100% have this game. It not only brings about the true survival horror atmosphere that many major titles are unable to capture, but it really showcases what good writing means to a video game. Just buy it already – this episode was awesome!
GOD KING GRADE: (A) ★★★★★
