9 Short Sentences That Ruin Major Video Games

6. The Walking Dead Only Offers The Illusion Of Choice

The Walking Dead garnered much adulation from critics and fans alike; giving the player control over one character (a man named Lee) and allowing them to dictate their way through the zombie apocalypse, dealing with issues and making quick-fire choices, perfectly creating heat of the moment situations. It's interesting to debate just how much control we had as the player though. No matter what choices are made, the game will always follow a linear path; the story will continue on for everyone, you're basically just changing pieces of dialogue. That's okay; after all, it would be impossible for Telltale to tell a story while also creating a near infinite number of possible scenarios. The problem lies in the way that the game gives you the illusion of choice; often, the monumentally tough decision you made minutes ago will suddenly be completely irrelevant. For example, one moment in the first episode of Season One tasks you with saving Duck (a kid) or Shawn (the son of Hershal from the TV Series) from a group of walkers. You can opt to save either but no matter your choice, Shawn will die and Duck will be saved. The resulting dialogue may differ slightly (not saving Duck will earn you some angry words from his father, Kenny) but ultimately, your choice is disregarded. There's plenty more examples of this throughout the two seasons of the game but for the sake of spoilers, we won't go into them deeply. Ultimately, the game is about the journey and not the result. It's about how you build relationships with the supporting cast and how you treat them as the lead character. Still, it can often feel like you're banging your head against the wall, with Telltale offering you one path before snatching it away moments later; saving a character's life will usually result in them hanging around silently with the group until they die two episodes later anyway. Undoubtedly, it's a great series but your enjoyment may be marred by the underlying issues which seem to make everything you do irrelevant.