REVIEW: The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

What could have been a quality game full of real survival scenarios you might expect in The Walking Dead universe, Survival Instinct doesn't deliver whatsoever.

Developer: Terminal Reality | Publisher: Activision | Genre: First-Person Shooter

PS3 | Xbox 360 | Wii U | Windows PC

It's always a shame when an idea as ambitious as this is completely ruined through lack of key features and gameplay mechanics, which if done correctly, would have made Survival Instinct a game worth playing. Unfortunately, there's practically no substance and leaves you more than disappointed.

Set before the events of The Walking Dead, Survival Instinct follows the story of Daryl Dixon as he comes to term with the recent zombie outbreak, all whilst trying to locate his brother Merle. Obviously, there's a few hick ups along the way as well as encounters with fellow survivors, but nothing so intriguing you'll be itching to carry on playing. The core narrative is nothing to boast about, leading to skipping cutscenes all together. review1

Right from the start, you'll be tested on your survival skills by taking out a few zombies here and there, making yourself familiar with the simple game mechanics and such. Zombies are generally slow, but can be a nuisance if they're in a pack and chasing you relentlessly, which they do - you might find yourself dying more times than initially anticipated. Of course, you can choose to sneak around, check corners before proceeding, and crouching.

Zombies unaware of your presence can be approached from behind, in which you'll be able to pull of a silent kill - this involves impaling your trusty knife through their skull. Rule #1 of zombie survival: destroy the brain, right? This is a nice touch but the novelty soon wears off. There are zombies literally everywhere you go, but there's no real satisfaction from killing them - there needs to be more incentive such as an XP/level up system or just more of a reason to keep on mowing down the undead.

The entire game plays out like this: get in vehicle, travel through the 'world map', break down, scavenge car parts and supplies, go back on road, rinse and repeat. It becomes boring very quick - perhaps Terminal Reality themselves got a little tired of making the game due to the fact environments are re-used for the breakdown sequences. If you break down near the start of the game, you explore the area for whatever is required, but further into the game you might find yourself doing the same in the exact same environment you were in earlier. That's physically impossible - it just goes to show how much this game was rushed and not thoroughly tested.

If you're going to play a game based on The Walking Dead, do yourself a favour and get stuck into Telltale's games. Survival Instinct offers a weak storyline with predictible and boring gameplay, giving a bad name for licensed games. So much could have been done to make Survival Instinct something truly special - perhaps an open-world game with genuine survival mechanics, instead we have a hugely disappointing cash grab.

3/10

REVIEW: The Walking Dead Season 1

Through a series of unimaginable events, this game will really test your decision making for the good or worse.

Developer: Telltale Games | Publisher: Telltale Games | Genre: Point N Click Adventure

PS3 | PS4 | PS Vita | Xbox 360 | Xbox One | Windows PC | Mac  | iOS | Kindle Fire HDX | Android

Combining an excellent narrative with some pretty tough decisions that play on the harshest of human emotion, Telltale games have created something truly unique and enticing. 

Even if you're not into The Walking Dead franchise, this game is still definitely worth playing through at least once - it manages to draw you into the narrative with full force and truly gives you an idea of what it would be like to live in a Zombie apocalypse and the very particular decisions you as a person would have to make in order to survive, protect your friends, and avoid being eaten to death. REVIEW1

You take the role of Lee Everett who is actually on his way to jail after conviction through the Atlanta, Georgia authorities - its on this little road trip we see glimpses of something sinister going off, whether it be the subtle hints such as Helicopters flying past rapidly or the swarm of Police forces racing the other way. Eventually, the Sheriff crashes his car into a Walker causing the game to really begin - from then on, its up to you to make sense of the new world and simply survive.

There are a total of 5 episodes in season 1, which are styled much like the TV show itself as well as taking graphical influences from the original comic book series - each character, environment, and setting are true to the imagery seen in the comics which makes you truly feel you're in the game itself - we don't see this style in many games but when we do, it's usually very well done and Telltale Games did a fantastic job of achieving a unique atmosphere and overall look through this art style.

Throughout the game, you are proposed with numerous questions which will really make you think - what would be best for me? What would be best for the group as a whole? And so on, most decisions affect the final outcome in certain scenarios, which makes for massive replay value, especially if you're deeply into the narrative and want to view all possible situations. 

Finding examples without spoilers is definitely difficult, but there is one part in which you must choose which character can survive and which can't as you only have time to save one person, and with the added timer you are put under even more pressure, making for often rash decisions which you could even regret further down the line.

Whether you're playing on a PC or console, the control scheme is very user friendly - there is a cursor which has different actions assigned to a certain button, which can change depending where you hover the cursor, for example if you're examining a corpse, one button might give you the option to search further, whilst the other will simply take a better look and will describe the certain thing or object in detail. 

At its core, the game relies on your decisions and your reactions to particular events, however there's a sense of puzzle solving too as a lot of moments in the game does require some genuine brain work - for example you could be searching for a specific item that is inaccessible due to a horde of Walkers blocking the way, so it would become your goal to work around that. It's gameplay like this that goes back to games such as Broken Sword or Monkey Island, which are not bad influences at all.

The Walking Dead Season 1 will more than likely be most enjoyed by fans of the series, but anyone can get into it and have a blast playing through each episode - it's recommended to play the series more than once and choosing different decisions each time to really get your money's worth. An excellent game to play whilst you're waiting for that next episode of the actual TV show.

8/10

NEWS: The Walking Dead - Game of the Year Edition Highly Possible

Just as the latest season starts of AMC's The Walking Dead, a special GOTY edition of the episodes becomes a huge possibility.

The ESRB (The Entertainment Software Ratings Board) have listed a Game of the Year (GOTY) edition of The Walking Dead - the episodic narrative following Lee Everett and his experiences during the outbreak.

It's safe to assume this particular version will include all five episodes, along with the 400 days DLC.

According to the ESRB website, the GOTY edition will be available on Macintosh, Windows PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.

Although the PS Vita already has access to a package containing all of the content mentioned earlier, so it wouldn't be too suprising to see a release on Ios/Android devices.

In relation to The Walking Dead game, Telltale games announced earlier this year season 2 would be released sometime during Autumn 2013.