The Walking Dead Season Two
Playstation 3
I have recently reviewed the first game in the Walking Dead series, and if you paid attention you would have noticed that I gave it an A+. I found the game utterly immersing, with fabulous characters, shocking moments, and one of the most gut wrenching endings I have ever seen in a video game.
Naturally, the sequel has big shoes to fill. While the first game focused on Lee and his father/daughter relationship with Clementine, this game focuses solely on Clementine as she sets out on her own.
I don't know if your decisions in the first game affect how things play out in the beginning of the sequel, but my game started with Clementine in the company of Christa and Omid. Without spoiling too much, in true Walking Dead fashion, the shit hits the fan fairly quickly and Clementine finds herself all by her lonesome.
One of the first things you will notice about the game is how fine tuned the controls and actions have become. The first title consisted mainly of pointing and clicking, followed by an occasional button mashing sequence. This game has taken a much more in depth approach. Small quick time events are the norm here and require faster reflexes and more of an effort from you to complete your tasks. For those who hate quick time events, nothing is really overly difficult here, so don't fret. The events do add to the illusion that you are Clementine and are playing this game and doing things along with her.
While the game play is a little bit more immersive, not much else has changed. The graphics are still solid. The voice acting and the music and sound effects really make you feel like a part of this world. The choices you make still affect what happens in the game, and how people view you. The basics are still pretty much the same.
If you are familiar with the first game, you know that the true draw of the game is in its storyline. Once again, Telltale games has hit it out of the park. This game is a little bit more action oriented than the first. The basic idea of the story is that Clementine is bitten by a hungry dog, and stumbles upon a group of survivors that thinks she has been bitten by a walker. They imprison her to see if she will turn, and Clem is forced to sneak out and tend to her own injuries. Obviously, she doesn't change, so the group accepts her into the fold.
Clem quickly learns that something is bothering this group, and an encounter with a menacing figure that shows up while everyone is gone convinces her that this group of survivors is on the run from... another group of survivors. This group hightails it out of there, with the other group in hot pursuit.
On the run, Clem encounters old pal (or nemesis, depending on how you played the first game) Kenny, and her group merges with his. The hostile survivors catch up and take them all prisoner, and the rest of the game focuses on Clem and the survivors battling it out with their captors. There is a power struggle for leadership between Kenny and some of the others in the group, and eventually you are forced to make a very hard decision.
Gone is the timid Clementine from the first game. She knows what it takes to survive, and isn't afraid to stand up to and fight with her enemies, whether it be walkers or fellow humans. A minor complaint may be that she has grown up a little TOO fast compared to the first game. Not only is she a badass, but the group also often looks to her for leadership and to make decisions in the group. What is she, like ten? That seemed a little unrealistic to me. I mean, it is a game about zombies so it isn't going to be realistic. But you know what I mean.
There are many references to Lee in the Walking Dead 2, and these tend to be the most emotional moments of this game. Obviously, Clem's bond with Lee is something that she will carry with her all her life. No one else is really able to fill that void. Another minor complaint of mine is that you don't really feel any personal attachment to anyone in the game. Lee is #1 in our hearts (and in Clementine's) and that bond is not replaced in this game. That emotional attachment, that gut wrench that I experienced at the end of the first game is never duplicated here.
Yes, there are some shocking moments and gruesome unexpected deaths. But did I ever tear up at any point in the game? No. This is a good game. A really good game. But great? That is debatable. No doubt that I had a lot of fun playing this, but it just wasn't same without that emotional attachment. There is so much action, and you spend too much time playing for yourself and fearing for your own life to really let anyone else in. Plus the cast is filled with a bunch of unlikable characters that I had a hard time bonding with. Even Kenny was kind of a sad sack in this game.
If you played the DLC for the first game (400 Days) you will notice a few familiar faces as well as a very familiar location in this game. Only one of the characters really plays a big role, however. That's a little bit of a disappointment to me, since 400 Days did such a good job giving us back story for some of these characters, and then they only make small cameos here. I expected more!
I feel like I should have more to say about this game, but I really don't. If you liked the first game, you will like this. If you didn't you won't. This title did have big shoes to fill after the first game, and in most cases it performed admirably. It just lacked that little extra something that really would have put it over the top for me. I liked this game, and had a lot of fun with it. Perhaps my expectations were a little too high after the first game, and I expected heart wrenching greatness once again.
Telltale Games did a lot of things right here, but I just can't emphasize that lack of emotional attachment I felt while playing the game. I disliked so many of the characters that when given the choice between saving them or letting them die, I always let them die. And I didn't think twice about it.
But really, that is the only bad thing I can say about the game. Once you pick this up you will not want to stop playing. The story is solid and constantly leaves you guessing what is going to happen next. There is a constant underlying fear and dread that permeates throughout the very core of the game. Clementine is constantly in danger, and you begin to fear for her own life as you would a close friend.
While this is certainly a good game, I hesitate to say it is great. If you have played the original, you will definitely want to play this. If you haven't played the original - what is wrong with you?? Play that, and then play this. Just be forewarned that after the greatness of the first game, its follow up leaves a certain something to be desired.
Overall:
B+
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