Opinion: The Walking Dead: Episodic Video Game - I’m Not the Hero I’d Imagined

Editor’s note: There won’t be any spoilers, so you can read through care free, or worry; I’m not the boss of you.

The Walking Dead Video Game(Xbox, PS3, PC, MAC & iOS)  is a story driven point and click game made by Telltale Games. Much like the comics and popular HBO television series, the game tells the tale of survivors of a zombie break out and the daily struggles they must go through for survival and maybe the hope of a happy ending.

Now I should mention, I’ve read a few of the comics and am thoroughly enjoying the TV show but the game has left me in two minds; I’ve enjoyed my play through more than most games, but it’s also inadvertently shown me I’m not the hero I’d imagined.

In the game you take the role of Lee Everett a man on his way to jail for reasons to be found out. The game revolves around lots of conversation arcs and making split second decisions that affect who lives and dies and has reverberations for the rest of the game. This in essence is what makes the game so stand out, that your play through will be different to mine, someone by your side in your play through may have died 4 hours ago in mine. It’s these choices that give the game a sense of realism unlike your run of the mill Rambo style shooter and will linger with you long after.

Guns don't kill people; children do.

 

If you make bad decisions the characters affected will hold it against you and may not help you out down the line. It’s rare a game will hold a grudge and resent you, but of course it makes it all the more involving and makes you want to do your best.

Sadly, for me, my best wasn’t good enough and I made a whole load of bad decisions, in general every new character I met soon had little faith in me or outright thought I was an arsehole!

This is when I realised I wasn’t cut out for the game, I’m not denying I am an arsehole, I simply don’t want it pointed out to me in something I use to relax with (video games).

At the end of each (roughly 3 hour) episode, the game displays the statistics of the choices that most people chose and as it’s turns out there was only 9% of all the people playing who were as fucked up at decision making as me. This has real world implications; I drive a car which is capable of decimating lives for example, I should probably pull over to finish writing this.

In summation, I shouldn’t be allowed to make any real life decisions or even try to sway your opinion on anything, though you should definitely check this out if you’re a fan of franchise or otherwise, just do so at your own peril, you could also be a useless arsehole. There’s an irony in a game making me not want to leave the house, even though it’s not to play it!

 

Editor’s note: I also got the worst ending on Black Ops II, somebody stop me!