Playing games
‘The Walking Dead’: A short but intense trip to the zombie uprising
“The Walking Dead”
You may call it an irrational fear (or a wildly active imagination), but the idea of the dead rising to walk the streets, attacking the living and consuming their flesh sends a deep chill through my spine.
In the wake of the zombielike attacks making recent headlines in New Jersey (bit.ly/ LgooYP) and Miami (bit.ly/ M9XIbj), I reluctantly (and finally) sat down to play the first episode of “The Walking Dead.” Better known for fun and upbeat episodic adventure games — “Back to the Future” and “Tales of Monkey Island” — developer Telltale Games dug deep into my psyche with my second biggest fear: the zombie apocalypse.
Loosely tied around the events in the comic books by Robert Kirkman and AMC’s TV show version with the same title, “The Walking Dead” follows our lead protagonist, Lee Everett, with a child survivor, Clementine, whom he finds hiding alone in her parents’ home. Lee and Clementine seek help and must rely on strangers for their survival from the undead.
Through the comics and the TV show — I’m a fan of both — we are passive observers. Telltale Games strikes a hauntingly sustained chord with our morals and consciousness through its video game, making us an active participant in the zombie uprising and forcing upon us the difficult decision of who should live and die. Whether you like or distrust a certain stranger, they might be key to your survival.
The controls are rudimentary: The standard WASD keyboard control moves Lee through the bounded scenery with a mouse-click to interact with marked objects. The camera angles are stiff, which makes navigation difficult. Mild action sequences have the player quickly tap a series of keys or direct a flashing crosshair to attack.
“The Walking Dead” isn’t exactly as intense as my personal favorite zombie game, “Left 4 Dead.” It’s more akin to my favorite series of children’s gamebooks, “Choose Your Own Adventure.” Your dialogue responses or actions affect the survivalists’ attitudes and perceptions of you.
Though this is the first of five episodes, “The Walking Dead” is heading in the right direction. I’m looking forward to see what happens to Lee and his group of survivors. The short first episode — which has about two hours’ worth of playtime — creates a doomed but entertaining atmosphere. If only there were more action sequences to engage the player and compel screams of terror.