April 29, 2012 - The long awaited video game version of the classic graphic novel “the Walking Dead” was relesed this week on the Xbox platform. The game is based on characters from the original graphic novel, with a new story line and not aligned with the TV series. A trailer for the game can be seen at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtkkHAmgYWs .TellTale has long been known as a premier story game series developer, and they have brought out a new type of story game.

Walking Dead Video Game - TellTale Games

 

Utilizing the graphic style of the graphic novel, the new original story brings a high level of game play. The game uses the familiar dialog selection and action control that is indicative of TellTale story games. However, this game is reactive, meaning that the choices you make in the game not only direct the game play, but also the interaction with the other characters in the game, and the way they treat your character. This makes the game more interesting that traditional point & clik games.

The pace of the game is good without lagging, which is a challenge for a story game that needs to build tension with surprise elements. The sound track enhances the game action without giving away the options int eh game and leading the player to make decisions.

As the story follows the style of the graphic novel, it does not allow the player to change the point of view or camera position in the game. This feature, found in some other games, may enhance the game play, but does not detract from the current play.

Overall, the game is well constructed and engaging. The decision based game play and its interaction on the secondary characters and story line is very innovative and bring a new dimension to story based gaming. The game is a definite buy recommendation for those who enjoyed the graphic novel.

Acknowledgement - we would like to thank Microsoft for providing the Xbox360S platform that was used for the review.