Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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Overview
TellTale Games comes out with another Walking Dead video game and, to be honest, it leaves you with a been there, done that, type of feeling.
Play Through Time: 1 Hour and 23 Minutes
Characters & Story (with Commentary)
For those familiar with TellTale’s Walking Dead series, you may recognize the pattern here. A main character, one which happens to be Black, who is having issues with things that happened in their past, which could have been preventable, and is having some trouble with the direction of their future. In this case, Michonne (Samira Wiley) is our lead, and the problems in her past are the two children she abandoned.
But what is a Walking Dead game without a group which you both want to save and sometimes sacrifice to save your own skin? This time around, the person you may want to save is Pete (Malik Yoba), a nice gentleman who is perhaps a bit more optimistic and a do-gooder than most times call for, and the ones you might be willing to sacrifice are Samantha (Devery Jacobs) and her brother Greg (Booboo Stewart). Two people who youth and accusations may get you on their side, but the trouble they cause you may not seem worth it. Especially since they lead Norma (Cissy Jones), her violent brother Randall (Derek Phillips), and Zachary (Parry Shen) to think you collaborated with those two in robbing Norma’s community. Leading to many interrogations where you got to decide whether to let the kids suffer for their actions, ease it somewhat, or take on all the pain they may deserve.
Highlights
They Added Button Combinations: The only thing which makes this game stand out, in comparison to the other Walking Dead games is that they added a three button combination for one scene.
PTSD: One thing the main series of The Walking Dead, meaning the one featuring Clementine and Lee, lacked was given us a bit of their lives before the zombie apocalypse and really showing how much their struggle to survive weighed on them past dealing with people they need to survive. With Michonne though, we see how troubled her mind has become because of her two daughters getting abandoned, and it affects her actions and interactions with people. Pushing you to care and want to be violent when someone brings up the topic just as much as you may want to shy away from it for it just feels like something you don’t wanna get into.
Low Points
Same Scenarios, Different Character: Outside of that, though, it is pretty much everything you are used to but now featuring Michonne. Meaning you get the same button mash or die scenarios; 4 choices, if you include silence, which sometimes feels important, but you can’t really tell until you probably want to reverse your decision; and, in general, while the people you are interacting with are different, the vibe and situations you are put in largely feel the same from previous games. You got some group lead by a psycho you likely get the opportunity to kill, you got some annoying ass kids you can either forgive for the headache they put you through or let them die, and the ones you want to save, well you just got to deal with the fact you can’t save everyone.
Final Thought(s): Rental
A part of me honestly wants to label this as “Video Watching” for I feel, at this point, the shallow feel like you are making real decisions which choice by choice could drastically change things is waning. The novelty, to me anyway, is slowly drifting away and while Michonne’s backstory presents something new for the series, the journey which lies ahead feels too familiar and doesn’t bring not a bit of excitement. To the point that if it wasn’t for how frustrating it is to watch someone pick decisions which make no sense to you, I would just watch someone play to know if I’m really missing anything or not. As of now, though, I wouldn’t say to buy this. If a friend already downloaded it, pat them on the back and tell them you are sorry for their loss of hard earned money and ask if you could start a save of your own.
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