Fans of AMCs hit TV spectacular The Walking Dead will be accustomed to an action-packed, gun-toting zombie slaughter-fest show, but for anyone who hasnt played Telltales episodic instalments may be surprised to learn that violence and zombie-killing is not a main ingredient to the game. Instead it utilises the more powerful aspect of the show; drama. The creators of The Walking Dead TV show have admitted to the series not primarily being about zombies, but rather about the characters who have been thrown into this world with no warning, as well as how they will survive and interact with each other. This is very much Telltales forte. Gameplay is reduced to conversations and quick time events, and honestly thats what makes it such a good game. Every dialogue option is timed so players must be quick to say the right thing in any given situation, as one misspoken conversation can have disastrous consequences further down the line. Each episode remembers your previous actions and choices, and will punish or reward you for them later in the game, which is why everything is so deliciously dramatic. A lot of thought needs to be placed into each response otherwise your greatest ally could end up hating your guts and leaving you to fend for yourself. Quick time events as a whole are not greatly received in gaming anymore - generally they are aspects of action games where the playable action takes a significant backseat to letting you essentially control a cutscene by flailing on a command for a few seconds. In The Walking Dead however, you spend so much time carefully picking your words that you dont see the quick time events coming. Meaning that when they are upon you, you are frantically bashing those buttons out of surprise if nothing else, just to stay alive and save any number of people in peril. The Walking Dead has done well for achieving so much out of so little, enough to garner a second series, which is also doing extremely well. It's an emotional roller coaster ride like no other, and if you can complete the finale without getting choked up, then you might just be a zombie too.
