The Walking Dead: Season Two

My involvement in the world of 'The Walking Dead' has substantially increased since the last game I played. I've read over a hundred and twenty of the graphic novels, I've seen almost every episode of the TV show and I've become substantially invested in the whole franchise on top of just being really into zombies and the whole zombie apocalypse thing. Because zombie apocalypse is best apocalypse, and don't you forget that +Tasneem Salim. But it was due to all this love for the whole zombie thing that I was rather surprised about how I felt when I finished the second season of the 'Walking Dead' videogame.

Man, this game is so similar to the last one I could just copy paste my review of the last season and be done with it. But I won't, even though I'm lazy. The Walking Dead: Season Two is the second game in the 'Walking Dead' series that is currently being developed and published by Telltale Games who have derived their work from the graphic novels and TV show of the same name. The game was published at the tail end of 2013 with the last episode not coming out until the middle of 2014, and can be fond on pretty much all major consoles of the current and previous generation with the exception of Nintendo products. I played the game on the PC and on Steam because you know, PC master race and everything, but it doesn't really matter with this game which platform you play it on. The market has also changed a bit since the last one came out, the whole episodic game as a format is now pretty acceptable and trustworthy if a solid developer is backing it and isn't a point I can discuss at length anymore.

Joking aside, this game really is very similar to the previous season and in fact every other Telltale games on a technical level, which is both a good and a bad thing. The voice acting in the game and the art style used to render the graphics is still spot on and of a definate high quality. The lines just like the previous games will haunt you for years to come and the graphic novel art style will ensure that this game will still look good years down the line. The same issues are still here from the previous game though, you see the same zombies from the last game over and over again, there are still some continuity errors in transitions from a cut scene to the game itself but I still feel this is a minor issue in an otherwise great game. But these minor things are more annoying the second time around for anyone who played the last game.

The narrative is still the strongest point of the game and just like the last game it does not dissapoint, but the narrative here is definitely weaker than the last game. There were a number of momments that definitely had me snorting in disbelief at what was going on in front of me and I'm pretty sure you will to at those scenes since the only reason for anything in them to make sense is the fact that the writers wanted it to happen. The impact of choices this game I thought was more significant than the last one though. There are a number of very divergent endings and paths that lead to those endings and I was really glad to see that when the first game had a much more narrow end to it. This is a point that worries me though not for this game but for the next one, with such a huge difference between each ending there is going to have to be some substantial work going into the next game to actually reflect this and I am positive that is any more writers magic shows up to disappear any of these differences you are going to have to ton of pissed off gamers.  I understand, that the the company has to have some control on the narrative to actually put together something that people love. But you have to be clear about the level of control you are giving when you market the game and unlike Telltalle stop falsely telling people that they have the ability have a meaningful impact on the narrative through their choices.

Clementine easily carried the plot of this game as its main protagonist.

I for one am fairly sure I won't actually be getting the third season of the 'Walking Dead' game because of this fear that the narrative is going to mishandled through shortcuts similar to the ones I saw this game, but also because I don't really trust the developers as much as I did after the first 'Walking Dead' game. The biggest factor in this decision though is the 400 days DLC that came out right before this game though was a massive breach of trust in my opinion. It was touted as a must have and impactful part of the game for the second season, however, the only thing it turned out to be was an overpriced series of short stories that have only the most marginal impact you can possibly imagine on the second season. I felt betrayed to be honest, I would not have minded if the marketing around it was clear, hell I most likely would have bought it even at its high price (comparative to the game) but the lack of honesty really hurt my trust as a consumer. Now, before you get all mad and write some rage comments, or go write an article on PC gamer like Jody Macgregor about how it doesn't matter that the choices don't have an impact since its all about the morality of your choices, I'd like to just shoot that down here. I'm just going to side step the meaningless point of talking about what is a good or bad moral choice. This is simply about the fact that the morality of a choice in only matters because of the consequences of those actions whether immediate or long term, given the context that these are choices made in a game if they don't carry a weight in the game it doesn't matter if I chose to be moral or not as the choice is not there and the entire exercise is a sham.

This baby, much like my hope to have an impact on the plot was always destined for sadness.

On its own I can definitely recommend getting the second season of the 'Walking Dead'. You will be a little lost with out playing the first one though. Despite all my griping about the game and how I won't be getting the next season in the series I can still safely recommend that you get this game. The story is still really strong and compelling and will drive you to tears just as much as the last game, although the lack of any real choice might equally drive you to tears when you are on your third play through and its all the same. The game also looks and sounds just as good as the last game. But, the lack of any new technical updates might be viewed as a minus by some people. Like I told +Ahmed Jadaa, I rate this game ten out of ten, but I won't be buying again.