The Walking Dead - Episode 1 | Review (iOS)
When I got the opportunity to review The Walking Dead - Episode 1 on the iOS platform, I have to admit I wasn’t overly excited. I was worried that playing a game that was made for the PC and consoles wasn’t going to be a very good leap over to iOS platforms. But I am happy to report that I was dead wrong. Aside from a few hiccups here and there, The Walking Dead - Episode 1 is one of the best games available for iOS.
If you’re not familiar with The Walking Dead, you are either living under a rock, or you just don’t care about entertainment. The game closely follows the comic series and gives the user the opportunity to make deciding choices throughout the game. These choices ultimately will decide your fate, and others throughout the course of the game. If you’ve played the Back To The Future games, then you’ll be pretty familiar with these action sequences in the game. Decisions on situations and items can be made with just a tap of your iPad or iPhone’s screen. TellTale Games states that these decisions are remembered throughout all five episodes so you have to make your decision wisely. Seems easy, but when you’re under the stress of a zombie coming at you, or any other kind of life making decision, you only have a few moments to make your decision. This truly makes the game more “human” as it makes you think what you, yourself would do in a situation like this. It’s like prep for the zombie apocalypse.
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What really stands out in The Walking Dead - Episode 1 is the storyline. As soon as you begin your game with Lee, you are hooked with his character, his interactions with characters such as Clementine a young first grade girl who is as smart as they come, and of course life and death situations around every faucet of the game. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout. You really get engaged with Lee’s character, the relationships he encounters, and the overall storyline of the game. It also helps that the voice acting is superb. This helps make the characters more real, and life-like.
The artwork in The Walking Dead - Episode 1 is superb as well. Playing through the game is like a gigantic comic book. It’s really well done. Performance aside from a few frames clipping here and there transitioning between load sequences, is nicely done as well. You’ll find yourself playing this game and forget that it is a game, and not the television show or series. It’s that well done. The combination of the voice acting, animation/artwork, and the gameplay really give this game the over the top feel that it needs.
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Although the first episode is rather short (I finished in about 2 or 3 hours) it made me thirsty for more and I can’t wait to play the second episode. But with that said, the game as a whole has a ton of replay value. Because your decisions are remembered throughout the game, you can feel free to start over with a new save and make the choices you didn’t want to make, or intended to make the second playthrough. The slightest answer or move can change the entire course of the game. With that in mind I’m sure I’ll have plenty of decisions to make within the game before the next episode comes out.
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The Walking Dead - Episode 1 is a really great game. It’s ported over nearly flawlessly for the iOS and will help those casual gamers that don’t have a console get tied into the series just as well. It has it’s limitations with some clipping every once in awhile and moving around can get just a little tricky without an analog stick and controller, but these limitations don’t stop the game from being great. I enjoyed this game very much, and I cannot wait until Episode 2 is released for iOS so I can continue my story to see what zombie lies around the corner. The Walking Dead - Episode 1 is available on iOS now for $4.99 and is of course available as well on XBLA, PC, and PSN. Episodes 1 & 2 are already available on consoles and PC, and of course to be followed on iOS.
