The Walking Dead: Season Two

the choices in the first game didn't matter either but they managed to write a story that felt like things were rolling out in a way where I was pretty responsible. in this game they don't even try to pretend like your choices matter. whenever I saved someone only for them to immediately die anyways an hour later I just rolled my eyes. this game sux

The Walking Dead is based on Robert Kirkman's award-winning zombie apocalypse comic series (which also has a TV show). Developer Telltale Games specialise in episodic adventure games. Previous titles like Tales of Monkey Island stayed faithful to the point-and-click adventure style of game. Back To the Future had a larger emphasis on the story in comparison to Monkey Island, and Walking Dead lies further in that extreme.

Due to the emphasis on story, those looking for a challenging game should avoid it because they won't find it here. You need to view the software as an interactive story, rather than a game to fully enjoy it. The good news is that the emphasis on story really pays off, because it's really well done. Obviously, it becomes hard to review since you can't delve into the story too much, since that would be spoiling the experience.

The game opens with Clementine surviving with Omar and Christa from Season 1. Soon Clementine is on her own before being rescued by a couple of guys that take her back to their residence. The group that live there has been through similar hardships as Clementine, and have family and trust issues like her previous companions.

You don’t get to know many of the characters because they are soon killed off, but the ones that stay with you create interesting conflicts. This really works well since the decisions the game presents to you feel like they have a significant impact on the individuals and on the group.

The choices you have are really just an illusion of choice. If the choices did make an impact on the game, the entire story would be different which isn't really feasible for developers to achieve. It's mainly “you're damned if you do, damned if you don't” sort of choices. For example, you may be presented with a scenario where two characters are in danger. It's your choice who to attempt to save, but someone has to die.

Your choices do affect the dialogue since characters will respond better to you if you have done them favours. The dynamic within the group of survivors is in such a way that your choice will please one individual but upset another. The group is together because they want to survive but not necessarily due to strong relationships. There's plenty of friction which leads to some drama, and it really feels like your decisions are really fuelling the arguments within.

For me, this is where the narrative really shines. The game is constantly trying to guilt trip you for your actions and really hammers home the consequences, really tugging on your heartstrings. It's all testament to how well written the game is; that it can really play with your emotions.

Along the course of the game, there are places where you must find an item or learn something about your surroundings in order for the game to progress. The camera is often too zoomed in, walking feels slow and clunky, and some of the areas feel pointless as all you do is go to the only interactive object to progress.

You can control Clementine using the WASD keys, and mouse click to make your selection. It's also compatible with a controller, using the control stick to move and face buttons for interaction.

The conversations usually have limited time to respond, which partially helps the conversation to have a more realistic flow, but also forces you to make a quick decision under pressure. Saying nothing at all can also be an option.

Quick-time action sequences are used to deal with zombie attacks which can be quite violent. Here you will hammer the Q key, and sometimes press E to finalise the scene. If you die, you are brought back to the last check-point which are saved at regular, logical intervals.

The game is split over 5 episodes, and after each one, your choices are summarised and you are shown statistics of everyone else's choices which makes for an interesting reading.

In the first couple of episodes, Clementine shows naivety because there were some situations where I wanted to do something to increase my safety but it wasn’t an option, and the fact that Clementine didn’t do that action causes her to be in danger.

I thought the final episode was a bit dull in the first half. It opens with an action sequence; with a gun fight, but it wasn't believable that somehow everyone managed to avoid the shots and hide behind cover. The episode also took a while to get going, mainly just slow sequences and dialogue. When the conflict starts happening, that’s when it gets good and very emotional.

If you are looking for a great story/experience, Telltale's The Walking Dead is highly recommended as long as you can tolerate the themes within. It's not for those that want a traditional game, since the action is more visual, rather than involving; but it's a shame if you overlook it and miss out on the experience. It’s a few hours shorter than Season 1 at only 8.5 hours, but this is a decent length. I held the original game in very high regard and this does a great job at continuing the Clementine story.

I'll be honest, Season Two was probably one of the most disappointing games I played, mainly because the first season was actually a well-developed story with likable and interesting characters and it was fun playing in college with my friends. Season Two actually starts somewhat decent, but then gets worse and worse as it goes on. Its only natural Clementine would return and of course without Lee she is forced to live on her own, only to run into more survivors, except instead of being likable assholes like the first season, the survivors in this one are just plain assholes and idiots who are unlikable. I know everyone in this game seems to like Luke but I just didn't care for Luke he seemed too whiny and insecure. I mean lets go through all the characters, Bonnie is a two faced liar, Luke is just whiny and insecure, Sarah is annoying and acts like a complete idiot, Carlos is generic, Rebecca is an asshole for no reason and when she stops being an asshole still manages to be unlikable, Alvin doesn't have enough development and is also a tad generic, Nick is just a reckless asshole, Mike is a two faced asshole, Jane is just an unstable bitch, and Peter is just incredibly underdeveloped.

And that's the problem most of the characters are either underdeveloped are just complete unlikable assholes or generic. The first episode focuses on establishing these new characters but hardly anything happens, yeah I know it has the whole dog scene, but I honestly didn't give two shits about the dog because it was clearly rabid and unpredictable and never felt bad for the dog. The second episode was probably the best and established Carter who is a cool enough villain and they build up to an epic end plus they bring Kenny back, even if he was an asshole in the first season who I hated. The third episode just feels dragged out as the survivors try to fit in with Carver's camp and the only exciting thing in the whole episode is the escape at the end, although I'll admit the way Kenny deals with Carter at the end of this is pretty gruesome. The fourth episode also is a whole lot of padding with nothing happen, yeah it tries to establish Jane and does give Luke a little development plus Kenny's depression and recklessness begins but most of 4 is just traveling between areas and gathering supplies and its just too short, but really 4 just sets up episode 5 and feels mostly like filler, plus without Carver is just felt like it had no villain or conflict anymore. Then 5 just was a mixed bag that tries to awkwardly tie things up and it kills off a ton of characters and basically forces you to choose between 3 endings. That's really the problem by the end of episode 2 there are only 2 characters with Clementine since everyone else is already dead or abandoned you so a stupid conflict basically emerges and you either have to kill Kenny or Jane both of who become unstable assholes, but I feel Jane is just a bitch who lies, uses her friends, and is unreliable plus she basically admits that she set the situation up to get Kenny hurt so yeah even if Kenny isn't the best, Jane is way worse.

Then that brings us to the ending, which is okay, its more or less is a set up for season 3, and hey I guess its an improvement over the first game which really only had 1 main ending, this all 3 endings are different, but they really aren't dramatically different and your choices really don't matter because you'll always be able to choose from these 3 endings no matter what and it'll always be with the same people. Overall season 2 just feels like filler, nothing important really happens, the characters just don't get enough development and their are too many, plus they all act like morons. Even Kenny's return feels a bit underwhelming and he only really gets 1 or 2 badass moments then mopes like a bitch. None of your choices matter and everyone who is destined to die can never be saved. The first season just had a much stronger story and characters and I felt like you actually were working towards something, in this you are just going along with random survivors and get tangled up in their drama which really only lasts until the 3rd episode then the final 2 episodes you are just roaming around doing nothing until the game decides to force you to kill someone and ends. Don't get me wrong it this season has moments, like I said I really enjoyed episode 2 and Carver was a great villain, and I actually expected the season to revolve around Carver but instead he only lasts for one more episode and most of the survivors in this really don't get much development since they either are killed off too quick or abandon your group.

A gigantic let-down after the first season. Telltale's biggest sore spot is its refusal to play with the formula, having very obvious engine shortcomings and many titles feeling the same with only differences in IP. Even the first Walking Dead meaningfully subverted the QTE a few times, but I posit that there is no game that highlights their issues as a studio than this one. Outside of the times where it meaningfully continues the story are stretches of tedium where the party is stranded in a space for too long with no thematic development, a character reveal that undercuts what has been presented thus far, and an over-reliance on cheap walk cycles to tell the story that betray the visual medium. The artifice of the choices on offer is also in full force, leading to repetition across the board. A suitably gritty ending cannot save it.

Let me just get this out of the way: No, this is nowhere near as good as the first season as a whole. In the end, it's still worth going through in my opinion, though there are some definite issues (and no, the illusion of choice is not one of them. Yes, Telltale's insistence that choices truly matter is annoying but if that seriously ruins everything else... I dunno, I don't get it).

And to be honest, it's apparent that it will have issues during the first five minutes. There's this thing going around mainstream pop culture called GameofThronesitis, whose sole symptom is people thinking that killing off characters at the drop of a hat is inherently good writing. Not to say that killing off characters shouldn't be a part of this whatsoever, but the game opens up with Omid getting shot by some random stranger that we never see again for the sake of Clementine suffering. Come the fuck on. A good deal of the other deaths in this at least have some weight behind them, but this just felt forced as hell (and Christa getting separated almost immediately afterwards doesn't help).

Its more of the same Telltale formula really.

Clementine is a better protagonist as Lee as far as im concerned. Lee always felt too me like the representation of the player on the game, so in that way its difficult to get attached to him. Clementine shows more her personality and personal growth throughout the whole series. In turn this means that there is less choice in the game, but thats a trade off i accept. The series has always been about the illusion of choice over real choice. Anyway the episodes are still great, filled with bleak moments and some happy ones as well. I feel that the ration of action to quiet moments has been heavily increased, and the individual episodes tend to be shorter because of that.

The season starts a bit weak, but episode 5 is by far the best i have played in the series and ends it on a good point. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first season, and i actually may prefer this one slightly.