The Walking Dead

The Good
Walking Dead (based on the original comic, not the TV series) stands apart from other zombie games by focusing on story telling. In a similar vein to the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, Walking Dead will put certain aspects of the game in player's hands, requiring them to make a decision. Playing as Lee, a survivor with a dark past along with his companion, a child named Clementine (who deserves credit for being one of the least annoying escort characters in a video game) the decisions players make can range from freeing trapped bystanders, deciding what person to save in an attack, rationing food to fellow survivors, and many other similar options. These consequences carry over from previous segments of the game and will affect the outcome of each episode (there are 5 episodes for individual purpose, with each taking about 1-2 hours to complete).

Thanks to a well cast group of voice actors, players will feel engrossed in a very detailed game that reflects the art style of the comic. And combined with a suspenseful story of tense group dynamics, loss, and isolation, many will find themselves playing an entire episode in one sitting, or even more to try and learn the alternate choices.

The Bad
Walking Dead is closer to a TV show or book than a traditional zombie video game. Most of the walking is only done to go from one interaction point to another, and weapons are only available during action sequences. There is no healing system, if a walker bites you during an action sequence, you are dead and must restart from the beginning of the sequence. While not entirely a bad thing, this can become tedious overtime.

And while the game is very engaging and certainly a fun adventure game, the game can feel very short. As said before, each episode can take from 1-2 hours to complete, and with only 5 available (sources claim a second season is in the works) this can get pretty short. And while 5 dollars (approximately 400 Microsoft Points) isn't much, when added up its a fairly steep price for a few hours of gameplay.

The Bottom Line
The Walking Dead is a fun adventure game, giving players the chance to take far more control of a story then most games would allow. And with its talented voice cast, easy on the eyes graphics, and intriguing story this game will peak almost anyone's interest, provided they want more of a story and less of a game.

Those looking to run, gun, and kill an army of zombies will not find that here, and may become bored with the lack of general freedom or badass-ness within the somewhat short gameplay. But for those looking for something closer to an interactive story with a lot of choices to make, The Walking Dead maybe just what they are looking for.