The Walking Dead - The Game goes back to the zombie genre's roots, and turns the zombies into sources of horror instead of gun targets - that is what I think might be the most important aspect of this game, since there are no hordes a la Left 4 Dead to gun down.
And that is important I think to know. The story that plays out is very character driven, and it is more important to interact the right way with the right person than finding a Big F_cking Gun to mow down zombies with.
The protagonist: As in many other games, it is not possible to make your own character - you play as the former university teacher Lee Everett, starting out on his way to prison. This is in some ways a weak point - the game doesn't become so much of an RPG as an interactive film, but luckily, Lee is interesting enough so you don't loose interest in him.
Gameplay: Playing the game on a PC is a breeze - a lot of effort has gone into making sure you only need the movement keys and the mouse to play the game - the inventory is only accessed when needed and everything is lined up in a very straightforward way, from responses to actions.
Here I should also mention that people listens to what you say (or not say in some cases) and remembers it. This is a quite simple way of getting the player involved, especially when people starts referring to what you have said earlier.
Script: Since each episode provides about 2 hours of gameplay, here is the really great strength of the game: in a very short time, you get to know the people around you, and when something happens you CARE. Some very intelligent writing has gone into the game to make sure you will get a very real, and very genuine feeling out of it.
Rating: The game is rated M, and in such a game, it would be almost mandatory to include a couple of steaming sex scenes, but they are very absent. This is actually part of the game's appeal - there is no forced love scene with someone you don't really want to get involved in - but there IS blood. And a lot of it.
Graphics: Since the game is based on the comics, it has taken on graphics that resembles that. This is kind of cool, but sometimes, this is taken a little too far, when you see drawn lines as shadows where there shouldn't be any.
Sound and voice acting: Pretty standard. The voice acting could be a little better, but it works.
All in all, this is a great game and the big shame is that the first season is only five chapters long. But there is hope - apparently, there's already a season 2 in the making.
