The Walking Dead (PS3, Xbox360, PC)

[EvilBoris]

I got round to play the first episode the other day, it was very cool. Not that point and clicky, but maintaining relationships through your actions and dialogue seems genuinely engaging.

[BaronSqwelch]

Another great episode...actual emotion dragged from my blackened heart by a game!!!

Not a fan of the shooty part tho, my brains natural reaction to gun recoil is to nudge the stick up a touch but with no invert option that made me miss more! Amazing how hard it is to get my thumb to recognise "up = up" controls!

Blu rays of s2 of the show to watch tomorrow now too!

[Plough Boy]

Just played Episode 4.
Didn't find the choices in this as hard as the last one.
More excellent narrative though and set up brilliantly for the final episode.
It can't come soon enough.
Bought this on a whim originally and am so glad I did.

[Dogg Thang]

On FSW's recommendation, I have been playing this and loving it. I don't really know the show or the comics - watched just one episode of the TV show and, for some reason I still don't quite understand (because it seemed good), felt little compulsion to watch more. That doesn't seem to have affected my enjoyment of the game at all.

It's really about experiencing the narrative more than a "game" in many ways and I think they've really nailed it. It's like this was what people were aiming for years ago with the interactive stories and they never quite worked and yet now we're seeing it actually come together in games like this and Silent Hill Shattered Memories. I love it.

I'm in episode 2 now and they seriously upped the ante in that one. Even in just the first section of that, I was really hit hard by some of the moments like

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cutting off that guy's leg

. Who would have thought a game could have such an emotional connection? Well me, I guess, after SH2 but it has still been a very rare thing in games since. The storytelling here is excellent and I love how the choices you make affect future conversations (although Kenny has had the odd psycho moment where he's my buddy due to one thing I did, then hates me for something else).

Really excellent game and I'm looking forward to going through the whole thing. I think only the first three episodes are available for iOS so far so I'm hoping the others come soon.

[Dogg Thang]

Finished ep3 last night and thought it was astounding. After the twisted revelations of ep2, I didn't think the game could get any bleaker. Man was I wrong. I was left with a sense of total hopelessness that was really quite deep inside me, a pretty major achievement for a game. No idea when ep4 will arrive on the iOS version but I really hope I'm not waiting too long.

[analog dog]

Yeah episode 3 has stuff in that I would've never expected in a video game. Some of the the choices it asks you to make are crushing.

[mainvein]

did episode 2 the other night and it was fantasatic, looking forward to 3 now. also on a side note did anyone watch the tv show the other night? had the missus in tears!

[noobish hat]

Can't wait for episode 5 of the game! Should be out within the next week or 2, surely?

About the show, is the short haired woman, who was getting close to Daryl, is she dead or not? And how did she keep her hair so short?

[Dogg Thang]

I finished episode 4 on iOS last night. Probably my least favourite of the episodes. Felt it got a bit gamey - searching for items, even a crank handle. That didn't quite suit. Also seemed like the animation wasn't as good. Still enjoyable though and had a couple of excellent moments. Particularly loved the bit with the

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boy on the attic.

Overall, I have loved the episodes and can't wait for episode 5. Is it too much to hope for a happy ending?

The characters are excellent. Considering they did a spin-off of popular material with all-new characters, they have done an amazing job. Some of these should make it into the comic.

[noobish hat]

I'm hoping for a second series with completely new set of characters and locations, possibly with a couple of crossover storylines, find out what happened to people who left the group or whatever.

[crocky-chocky]

^ Agree with Noobish on that.

I've loved this too, even though my zombie tolerance is reaching its limits. This is barely about them, I guess...more about the characters, which are almost all brilliant. Even the pricks!

Episode 4 was my least favourite though, and I felt the story didn't quite capitalise on some of the nice ideas.

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Crawford being lost to the walkers felt a bit cheap

, and there could have been more done with

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the general creepyness of the new location

...Though that's maybe for episode 5, and they did managed to convey the feeling of

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being watched

pretty nicely.

The hunt for a

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quarter

was a bit of a videogamey obstacle too, nearly as bad as episode 3's

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'get Kenny to move out of his seat using a bottle o' booze so you can reach the map'

puzzle.

Some story moments have been the most gobsmacking I've seen in a videogame. I was actually aghast when

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Carly got shot

. Clementine is just delightful too.

One of my games of the year for sure.

[Dogg Thang]

Next week, 21st, for ep 5 on all formats apparently. Really looking forward to it.

[BaronSqwelch]

Just finished the last episode! Great stuff...tho I found the set up at the end a little far fetched!

I also cant believe only

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36% of people (inc me) let Clem leave without shooting Lee! Surely she had seen and done enough killing by then?? Especially as she had just seen her zombie parents, how can you expect her to kill her "dad"!!

The fact I genuinely thought of the characters like that sums up how good this was! Hopefully the next season is not too long in coming!

[noobish hat]

Yep, finished this the day it came out too. I was very interested to see how it would end in terms of the next series continuing the same story (especially given what happened to Lee). After seeing the ending to episode 5, I can only assume that series two will

->Open Spoiler<-

continue the story of the remaining characters, with Clem as the player character. I think that would be a hugely interesting twist to the game, since not only Clem's physical abilities would change everything, but also can you imagine how different her choices and dialogue options would be? I'll be disappointed if they simply introduce a new adult character to play as, given the potential that playing as Clem promises.

The revelation about the identity of the kidnapper was also brilliantly done, and got me thinking about who the kidnapper would have been in other people's games. In my game, he was the father of the family whose food I 'stole' from the abandoned car way back at the end of episode 2 I think it was. His wife and daughter died, and he wanted revenge against Lee and to take Clem away from him (because he thought Lee was too dangerous). Who was the kidnapper if you didn't take the food? Did the game force you to take the food even if you chose to leave it? The way the kidnapper was revealed only at the last minute, he could be anybody in that one scene. Anybody get anything different to me? Kenny also died in my game. Did anybody have him survive? At the end of my game, Lee told Clem to go meet the couple (anybody else creeped out by the bloke? I wouldn't leave a kid with him...)

Actually I didn't play it myself, I watched my friend play it. It's better written and acted than the TV show! I think I may buy it when it comes out on disc and then play through it myself. I didn't agree with some stuff my friend did, so it will be interesting to see what will happen when I do it my own way.

[Synthesthesia]

Yep, finished this the day it came out too. I was very interested to see how it would end in terms of the next series continuing the same story (especially given what happened to Lee). After seeing the ending to episode 5, I can only assume that series two will

->Open Spoiler<-

continue the story of the remaining characters, with Clem as the player character. I think that would be a hugely interesting twist to the game, since not only Clem's physical abilities would change everything, but also can you imagine how different her choices and dialogue options would be? I'll be disappointed if they simply introduce a new adult character to play as, given the potential that playing as Clem promises.

The revelation about the identity of the kidnapper was also brilliantly done, and got me thinking about who the kidnapper would have been in other people's games. In my game, he was the father of the family whose food I 'stole' from the abandoned car way back at the end of episode 2 I think it was. His wife and daughter died, and he wanted revenge against Lee and to take Clem away from him (because he thought Lee was too dangerous). Who was the kidnapper if you didn't take the food? Did the game force you to take the food even if you chose to leave it? The way the kidnapper was revealed only at the last minute, he could be anybody in that one scene. Anybody get anything different to me? Kenny also died in my game. Did anybody have him survive? At the end of my game, Lee told Clem to go meet the couple (anybody else creeped out by the bloke? I wouldn't leave a kid with him...)

Actually I didn't play it myself, I watched my friend play it. It's better written and acted than the TV show! I think I may buy it when it comes out on disc and then play through it myself. I didn't agree with some stuff my friend did, so it will be interesting to see what will happen when I do it my own way.

Massively agree with playing as

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Clem.

It'd be brilliant.

->Open Spoiler<-

The ending of this was so sad, I was genuinely upset and had to make some effort to keep myself from letting loose a few tears! I haven't had that since Toy Story 3, and for a totally different reason. Amazing. But I wish you could have saved Lee somehow, and I'm pretty sure that any characters that die for you have to die by the end of the game no matter what choices you made, which is a little disappointing, but I can understand the technical challenge that all those differing variables might throw up.

Definitely a contender for game of the year for me.