[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”” developers=”Telltale Games” publishers=”Telltale Games” platforms=”” genres=”” release_date=”June 29, 2012″]
One would think that The Walking Dead is a reference to the zombies but in actuality the survivors are the walking dead. This is relevant on many levels including that the living are infected and don’t have to be bit, death is inevitable, and the real monsters survivors must look out for is themselves. Episode 2’s story really drives home these three points. Starting 3 months after the conclusion of Episode 1, Starved For Help continues Telltale’s expansion of The Walking Dead universe and Lee Everett’s journey as one of the walking dead.
Story is probably the main reason anyone is playing The Walking Dead game and Episode 2 picks up the pace and moves into issues not seen until Season 2 of the tv show. Right away the survivors learn that they are all infected and no matter how they die they become a zombie if their brain isn’t destroyed. This knowledge will force the player into making a tough choice towards the end of the episode possibly destroying your relationship with one character and cementing it with another. Filled with twists, some predictable and some not, Episode 2 showcases Telltale’s ability to amp up the action with a darker subplot. The story actually trumps Episode 1’s incredible start for the series leaving one to wonder what we can expect from future episodes..
Choices are tough to make. Unforeseen consequences have a tendency to bite you in the ass. In the perfect game, choices would deliver you a completely different plot. At least so far, The Walking Dead is not a perfect game. If you play both sides of the choice, you are delivered a variation of the same plot at the same place. Attitudes might be different. People might show up instead of others. Some subtle actions may be different. In the end though, you do the exact same thing and end up in the exact same place. While the story is incredible, it can be a little disheartening witnessing different choices on multiple playthroughs not meaning much especially for a game that was sold on the idea that you would be making tough choices and they would dramatically affect the story.
The episode controls the same as the first with a reticle and point and click action style quick time events. During some sequences you will wish Lee could sprint as it feels like he is crawling rather than walking. Graphics and audio are both the same with comic style art and incredible voice acting. No changes on these items were to be expected. The gore factor did get raised though with human on human violence being the major contributor.
Score: 9/10
The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved For Help raises the bar from the excellent Episode 1. It leaves the anticipation for the remaining episodes running high. Big philosophical ideas are put forth in this episode and the choices reflect those ideas despite not altering the story too much. The great thing about The Walking Dead is that those big ideas exist but if you just want to enjoy the story without too much thinking, they can be ignored easily.
