The walking dead review

There are always one of two games in every gamers lives that make a lasting impact emotionally. From games like Mario to Resident evil or the final fantasy series each has made some sort of emotional connection with its player. For me that game was the amazing Shenmue series. That was until the walking dead.

Publisher telltale games said from the get go they aimed to make the walking dead a game where every choice made you think, grow attached to the characters, strengthen or destroy your bond with then from the choices you make throughout the game. Did they deliver? Damn right they did, if unfortunately a little slower than hoped.

This gap between release of episodes is the only bad thing i have to say about the whole walking dead experience, and it is just that an experience. Telltale had originally said they would be releasing episodes monthly, t was more two monthly. At first this was infuriating for many people, especially the European players as we had to wait even longer that our friends around the world. But you know what it was well worth the wait.

The game is no technical masterpiece, the graphics are the usual cartoon style you saw in back to the future, Jurassic park and quite similar to the borderlands games. Not amazing by any means, but to be honest the graphics go with the style of game nicely. The atmosphere is one of tension and suspense, towns swarming with walkers, dark enclosed buildings offering little shelter from the outside world.

The controls are easy and fluid, but at times can punish you if your not quite paying attention. The sounds also further the gloomy, impending doom atmosphere. the noise coming from a door being banged on or a shuffling of feet really makes you think about going close to it.

That's what makes this a special game, its not your usual run and gun tripe pumped out every other week. You don't run about blasting countless hoards of the undead with your ray gun and max ammo drops. There is no running through shopping centers with a chainsaw on a stick, decapitating zombie after zombie like Chuck Norris with roid rage. 

The game casts you playing as Lee Everett, on your way to jail for murder, when suddenly you are thrown into the middle of an Apocalypse. And not the good kind either, one where you have to make hard choices and sacrifices to keep you and your friends alive, or not so alive. Mainly a young girl known as clementine whose parents have gone away somewhere and not returned. Lee takes her under his wing, and its your job to keep her safe if you can.

The game is slow paced and often punishing, one slip of the tongue and your nice new shiny best buddy is getting chomped on like a pork scratching in a pub. Every choice you make has an adverse effect on group members, siding with one will often upset another. And that's where this game makes you develop a bond with the other characters. Are you the kill on sight, anything to survive kinda guy. Or are you compassionate and willing to forgive and give people a chance.

There are often a lot of shocking events throughout the course of the game. some as a direct result of you the player and some not. Many a time will you make a choice and instantly think i wish i hadn't done that. this gives the game a lot of replay factor. The main story of the game obviously stays pretty much the same but the choices made determine who will be with you at the end if anyone

The loss of characters you have grown to care about can at times be a heart wrenching experience and one that will stay with you through out the game and even after that. Your willingness to do whatever it takes to protect Clementine will grow as you're character changes through the decisions you make and people you save or lose. Ultimately as fans of the TV show will know anyone can go at any time so you always have to have your wits about you because you never know who might be next

In conclusion, while this game isn't a graphical powerhouse the atmosphere, emotion and sense of doom you have throughout more than makes up for that. The way it sucks you in and always makes you ask questions of yourself and your morals is second to none. The attachment you build to characters only to have it ripped away in brutal fashion leaves a lasting scar other games do not. If you like adventure a great storyline then you need to pick up this game........ASAP!!!!

Rating 92% The walking dead isn't just a game its an experience

American nightmare, or just a nightmare?

 Being my second reviewed game and being a huge fan of the first I wish I could give this game a glowing/damning review, but with Alan wake: American nightmare it just cant be done as its neither or

Having been a big fan of the first game i was really looking forward to what this game had to offer. New bad guy, New setting, but in every place it could have and should have improved it did little if not less than its predecessor. The only reason it gets away with this is because its not effectively a full game its an xbox arcade title that's found its way to the PC

Chances are anyone who enjoyed the dark and spooky setting of the first game will be disappointing here as AN is far from as atmospheric and tense as the original game. Ammo is everywhere making the game overly easy, the NPC's are boring and poorly acted and the story feels rushed and lacks in suspense. While the antagonist Mr Scratch is amusing at times he is not the spooky evil old ghostly woman from the first game and as a result has zero scare factor

The maps to the game are decent enough and can be fun to explore but get repetitive quickly as you return to them more than you want to, making the game a bit of a chore later on. That's not to say they are poor as the do differ a little every time you visit and there are still weapons and manuscripts to be found, though that is about all

Remedy have included some new weapons to the game which are nice and feel powerful enough to enjoy. The downside to this is that the game being as short as it is you do not get chance to enjoy them as much as you might like, and due to the everlasting supplies of ammo the game once again becomes that little bit less tense

There are new enemies replacing some of the old ones, but while they are a little different they are effectively the same as the rest of the standard axe wielding enemies but with out the axe

The few places this game earns itself some brownie points are the little details like the radio shows you can listen too and the TVs scattered around that you can watch. Gone are the Night springs shows and are replaced by videos Mr Scratch leaves for you, which gives a nice little insight into the kind of person he is. While not are eerie as they once were they still give the game its quirky edge that keeps if entertaining.

In conclusion, the game is still a decent game and worth a play if your a fan of the original. The problem is it feels more like an add on to the first game only lacking a lot of the things which made the first one as good as it was. The game is very short and can be finished in a few hours, though has a little more life if your willing to explore. All in all the game is not bad and not good its average and only really worth the effort if 

Rating 65% Worth a play if your a fan of the previous

The season finale lands today, its about time....

Finally the concluding episode of The walking dead game is released for euro gamers tomorrow. Find out what i made of it and the game as a whole. Get the ups and downs out of the game and the highs and lows. Is this game a solid gold or a another plated wannabe......

ZombieU Good, bad or just plain ugly

ZombieU Mixed reactions......

Ive been looking forward to this game for days, weeks, months.... A popular site rated it 4.5/10 and another 

6.3/10 pretty low scores as far as i can see. Pretty depressing if i do say so myself. Ill be reviewing the game in the next two weeks so stay  tuned........

Black ops 2 review

Once again its that time again, big explosions, more guns, cities in ruins and even people taking to sleeping on the streets just to get a dose of it. Yes I'm talking about the new Call of duty, Black ops 2. To some gamers its just another day, to other gamers its what the resurrection of Christ is to those with religion. To me its less than two weeks to ZombieU (coming soon) 

So with ZombieU released in the UK on the 30th I needed some kind of fix and having smashed Dishonored (play this game, NOW) in two days, I bit the bullet and rented Black ops 2. I say rented because to be honest ill be bored to death of it in a week, and I'm not overly keen on been ruthlessly slaughtered time and time again by annoying little kids with the social life of a door.

With that the main reason i played this was for the zombies mode, which on the original BO was intense, enjoyable and great as it was infuriating. So lets start there. With only one real map right now, split into sections, tranzit mode is your best offering at some fun. Playing the separate sections on the original mode sucks, the maps are tiny and the secrets are none existent. So tranzit mode is the way forward. 

This mode starts you off in a dirty little bus station, with none other than a bus to transport you to one of the other maps as you see fit. All the original things are there, the mystery box, perks, etc... The map has various secrets, like a stroll through a corn field to find a room from an original zombies map. Ill let you find it yourself. 

Zombies is once again fun, if only for a while. Treyarch have tried to make this bigger and badder but in doing so have ruined the feel of the game. The secrets take too long to complete. The little gremlin things seriously piss you off. Lets hope they release more maps shortly.

The campaign mode is enjoyable, although short. Its presented well and the usual cinematic stuff from the previous games. In fact this game has a story that much resembles Modern warfare 2, but with a few little twists. Antagonist Raul Mendez blots to take over the world blah blah blah....... Crash, boom, bang, enter Alex Mason and son David jumping from the past to the future as the story progresses.

The Graphics are pretty much the usual and look pretty good. The explosions look good, the characters also look nice but they aren't going to make you stand up and say wow. Mainly because you have seen it all before, BO2 does little to improve on its  predecessor. Definitely not the jump that Battlefield 3 was from  Bad company.

Then we come to the multi-player  mode. What is there to say that you don't already know. You log on, level up and kill other players, job done. There are some nice maps that have been well thought out and some poor maps that you will come to detest, but isnt that always the case. 

My experience with online play has always been a little on the irritating side as I prefer the more realistic shooter and not the run and gun arcade feel of the Call of duty series. Still there is fun to be had if you can put up with the usual flaws, the leveling will take you a while and the variation in maps should last you until the first map packs are available. 

So all in all my verdict for this game is a simple one. If you liked any of the previous Cod's you will like this too as its the exact same as the rest. The story is short, but fun. Zombies is mediocre and becomes boring fast. Multi-player is where the game will stand out to series fans, and is enjoyable if that's your thing. My advice is rather than throwing away £40 on the game, rent it first and see what you think. Im glad i did. 

RATING 77% 

More of the same!!