The Walking Dead Season Two Episode One Review.
Developer Telltale Games
Publisher Telltale Games
Platform PC, PS3, Xbox360
Release Date Out Now
Telltale’s The Walking Dead deservedly took home a whole host of Game of the Year awards (90 in total) as well as some prestigious awards for the excellent voice talent none more so than the brilliant Melisa Hutchinson (Clementine) who snapped up a BAFTA.
Melisa returns as Clementine as she steps into the lead role for Season Two, also returning are some other recognizable voices from season one including Owen Thomas, Mara Junot and the always brilliant Brian Sommer, who along with the new actors maintain the high levels of quality we have come to expect from the series.
Season Two will be released in the now familiar episodic form. Episode one picks up the story a number of months after the end of Season One and continues to expand on just what became of Clementine. If you have played season one and 400 Days then you will be happy to know that the choices you made will impact on your experiences in Season Two (providing you are playing on the same platform and have kept your save file.
You are now playing as Clementine, she has moved from the supporting role to the lead role and this opens up a lot of new opportunities to develop this character. Choice is still a big factor and you can now choose whether you want Clem to be a timid little girl or and aggressive survivor (although you don’t have the physical strength of Lee, Clem can handle herself).
As Season Two opens up you will notice that Clementine has grown up a lot since we last saw her, not just physically but mentally. While she is still a very young girl but she is now bigger and her voice is also much more mature we notice that she has changed. This change is subtle but important it is not due to a lot of time passing (in total it is no more than a year and a half) but rather due to the experiences she has had to endure. This is a girl who has seen (and done) some terrible things to survive this long, and the worst is yet to come.
Gameplay is still the same you move Clementine around within the locations interacting with objects to progress the story. The cut scenes give you ample opportunities to direct the conversations with other characters which will determine how people view and interact with you. You will see the prompt “X will remember that” pop up when you choose an answer that will either annoy or please the other characters.
As mentioned earlier you can decide how you want Clementine to be perceived, do you want to try and make use of her timid nature to bring out the paternal instincts in people or will you decide that she is enough of a bad ass now that she can go head to head with the best of them.
Being the second season the story has evolved far beyond the initial confusion around the Zombie outbreak and while the walkers are still a major threat they are more of an overall backdrop. This allows the story to focus on the way people now act and the different scenarios that brings out the best and worst in humanity.
As with all Walking Dead Games, books or TV shows it is emotionally hard going. You should never get too attached to any of the characters as death is never far away and no one is safe. Telltale’s version is no different and after the initial rays of hope in the opening scene are shockingly dashed the rest of the episode plays out with more and more of the tragedy, death and misery we are becoming accustomed to.
Overall: A strong return for the series, it is no secret that we are all massive fans of the series and have been since the very first episode of season one. This episode was very enjoyable but I do feel that there was one or two missed opportunities. Season One ended on a massive cliff hanger and the last few months have been full of debates as to what or who was seen on the hill. We got answers but the way it was revealed was a bit deflating after all our discussions and expectations, but there will be plenty more surprises in store in the upcoming episodes.
A strong start to what will be another strong season.
SCORE 4.5/5
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