Review: The Walking Dead: Season 2

The Walking Dead: Season 2 is a game that is more like a choose-your-own-adventure book than a game, with some aspects of an adventure game, for the PC, Mac, PS3, PS4, 360, Vita, Android, and Xbox One. It was developed by Telltale Games. The games was released in five episodes, from December 2013, to August 2014.

 

Clementine, in her naturally state of almost getting killed.

I feel somewhat odd reviewing this, since I played it spread out over half a year, while most people now will play it all at once, though it is interesting to think about what in the game stuck in my mind for over half a year.

The Walking Dead: Season 2 takes place in Georgia after a zombie apocalypse, and follows Clementine, one of the main characters of the first season. A year after the conclusion of the first season, Clementine falls in with another group of survivors, who have their own set of problems which Clementine will have to deal with in order to survive.

Season 2 is not a very hands-on game. You control Clementine as she goes from one conversation to the next, with the occasional break where you get to move Clementine around, pick up a few things, and go back to talking to people. The conversations Clementine has, which take up most of the game, are a series of timed multiple choice responses to whatever someone is talking to Clem about, and if you do not pick one of the two to four choices available Clem will remain silent, which is also a viable option. Like in real life giving different answers will lead to different responses, and sometimes your answers will affect how people act towards Clementine later in the game. On rare occasions you also have to deal with quick time events, or moments where you have to make a quick decision that might affect the story.

I am pretty sure the only reason there are parts where you can control Clementine is so you have a chance to quit the game if you need to. It is not like you do anything challenging in those parts.

A rare instance of doing something besides talking.

Given how The Walking Dead eschews gameplay for storytelling, the lack of story is disappointing. There is no overarching goal, Clementine and the supporting cast stumble out of one bad situation and into another with the vague plan of surviving. There is only one repeating story arc: the group finds what looks like a respite, and it all goes to shit. All that does is lead to cynicism, and disinterest in accomplishing anything, and all that really keeps you going is the desperate hope to see Clementine safe.

The game tries to make it look like every choice you make and every response you say are important and affect the game, and that is a big lie. At most you will get people acting nicer or meaner to Clem after saying something, and they might stay nice later down the road, but for big important moments the game takes control away from you. And the no matter what you do the cast always gets stupid and antagonistic at the worst time.

Oh look, they're in trouble again.

I did like the cast, from Angry Pregnant Lady, to Idiot, to Generic Leader Guy, to Wimpy Husband, to Other Guy, but I did not love them. They were the main reason I cared about my choices, no matter how two dimensional the cast was, it was still upsetting to seem them hurt Clem. Clem herself was enjoyable, which is helped by you deciding how she should act. Eventually though it was difficult to care about any of the cast, because most of the time they only served to get killed at some point for drama. Clem herself is the only guaranteed safe one, but the story was not about her, it was more about the guy you pick up the second part, he actually has a story arc.

There is a feature that records some of your decisions and compares them to other players. A neat concept, but for some reason it makes the game unable to start unless you are connected to the internet. That is not fair, especially for something that could be removed without affecting the game at all.

The novelty of The Walking Dead series has worn off. It is fun to see the cast Clementine interacts with change somewhat depending on what you do, and the characters, walking cannon fodder that they are, do grow on you. But the lack of meaningful decisions, the directionless story, the disposable cast, and little real gameplay, has finally grown too unpleasant. Tragedy and drama are not decent substitutes for good gameplay. I would recommend playing Season 2 once for the story, but I would not bother replaying it.