GOTY No. 4 - The Walking Dead

Many have argued that this year has been very weak for the gaming industry but I believe that considering we’re so close to a new generation of gaming, it’s an absolute testament that developers are still producing games of such a high standard for current generation machines.

Following Journey, number 4 is another downloadable title, The Walking Dead: Video Game. This point-and-click adventure deserves a mass amount of praise for the astonishing content it has provided for such a low price and the incredibly high quality delivery through the classic point-and-click medium. 

The Walking Dead is a set of downloadable titles and soon to be available on compilation disc spread across 5 episodes. Set during the same chronological period as the zombie apocalypse in the comics, this story centers around Lee Everett as he tries to survive the apocalypse and help those he encounters throughout his journey. Fans of the TV show and comics alike will absolutely adore this wonderful take on the series, with some characters overlapping in-game and some environments reminiscent of past scenarios.

You will begin noticing a theme in the games I have chosen – The Walking Dead once again just like Journey, emphasizes story and character development over gameplay. Players will naturally find themselves bonding with groups of survivors and characters they meet and then in the most unfair of circumstances Telltale Games puts players in heart-breaking scenarios where they are forced to make deep and meaningful decisions that play upon their emotions. This type of gameplay makes for a refreshing change to mindless shooting and killing and as a result, deeply invests you as a gamer.

The Walking Dead uses your decisions and changes the gaming experience based upon how you play out the story. This leaves plenty of gameplay interpretation and replay value for those of you wanting to find out what various different ways the game can pan out.

Harsh emotional tone with brilliant narrative and dialogue makes The Walking Dead: Video Game one of the most unique and mesmerizing games of 2012. Very few games can compare and it’s wonderful to see point-and-click making a come back. I keep emphasizing that we are constantly being bombarded by generic video game titles that are mind numbing at best so when a game of this kind of quality and diversity comes around, it’s difficult not to pay attention and see what the fuss is all about. The Walking Dead is a brilliant game and deserves the number 4 spot on my list.

Igor Kharin