Zombies are super popular right now. They’re in all sorts of movies, both new and old. And there are tons of zombies in video games, from Resident Evil to Dead Rising. Even TV shows are getting into the zombie craze. One of the most popular of these shows is cable channel AMC’s The Walking Dead. Now TellTale Games has combined the TV show and video games with their Walking Dead episodic point-and-click adventure downloadable for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. Me personally, I don’t know anything about The Walking Dead. But my brother Jeff loves the TV show and zombie stuff in general, so I let him have a go at reviewing this one (360 version reviewed here).

TellTale’s take on The Walking Dead mixes classic point-and-click adventure elements along with some new and exciting features. Going into this game I expected classic TellTale game elements such as collecting a number of items and then combining them to solve a problem, but in The Walking Dead there is more of a panicky feel as you solve problems quickly by using the few items that are around. In a zombie apocalypse you won’t be combining items in strange ways to solve problems, you’ll be looking for guns, ammo, or blunt objects to dispatch zombies quickly and this is exactly the kinds of things you will be looking for in The Walking Dead. One of my favorite things about this aspect of the game is the few “quick-time” scenarios. Now these aren’t the “Press X to survive” kind of scenes. These scenes have you face-to-face with an immediate issue, such as a ravenous zombie, and you have to quickly look around and use the few things around you to survive.

One of the things I was really surprised about when I played this game was the introduction of important choices. These choices can drastically change how the game plays out or just change how you interact with certain characters. This really makes you feel like your game experience is unique and that your choices matter. Although I really liked this feature of the game, I did find some problems with it. The game puts you in several moral dilemmas very early in the game. At such an early point in the game I had not really connected with the other characters so the drastic choices I was making did not feel as important. There was also a time issue with a lot of the dialogue choices. In other games with important choices, such as Mass Effect, the game gives you as much time as you want making the choice, but in The Walking Dead you have around five seconds to choose between four dialogue options. These problems are just my opinion on this game feature, and overall I still liked it.

Although The Walking Dead has a very different feel from a game like Sam & Max, I think TellTale did a very good job at capturing the feel from the show while keeping the same control style as their other games. At first glance the game seems a little cartoony, but after playing it for a few minutes you get right into the blood and gore of the television series. The game has original characters with a cameo by one of the television characters.

Kid Factor

The Walking Dead is rated M for Mature with ESRB descriptors of Strong Language, Blood and Gore, and Intense Violence. Characters curse every now and then with spoken voice, about as much as in the show. People get hurt in the game, but zombies take the brunt of the gory violence. Just like the show, The Walking Dead game is best for older players.

But if you do have little ones, TellTale Games makes other great point-and-click adventure games that they would love, too. My favorite is Wallace and Gromit’s Grand Adventures. And Teens would love the crazy humor in the Sam & Max titles. (Kid Factor by Cary Woodham)

Tags: Reader Reviews!