SPOILERS FOR "THE WALKING DEAD: SURVIVAL INSTINCT"
There's probably another blog about this somewhere, but I don't care, I can't find it at this second and I'm lazy. Anyways, as we all know, "The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct" has been out for a couple of days now. I sat through the entire 3 hour gameplay online, and I've got a few opinions on it, and I'd like to hear everyone else's.
My thoughts on what I watched for the game (KEEP IN MIND I DID NOT PLAY IT, though I did sit through four hours of gameplay, so I can't say I've had the full imersion, but I've had part of it):
Let's start with the pros:
I thought it was a cool concept; the sneak-up execution of walkers, the travelling/scavenging/roadblocks themes, the melee-based combat, etc. It definitely had some good points to it. I really liked the idea of distracting the walkers, and the walkers themselves were probably the most realistic zombies I've seen in a game in a while. They react to sound, you can only kill them with headshots; they were surprisingly similar to the walkers in the TV series. I loved how the gunshots act like a dinner bell for them, that was a refreshing change from normal zombie fps games. The few instances it slowed down for dialouge allowed me to relish the Daryl/Merle interactions, as well as the brief Daryl/Anna friendship thing, I don't know what you'd call that.
Now onto the not-so-pros:
To begin with, the storyline was frustrating. I found it as repetative as Left 4 Dead; go here, do this, and keep going to the evac center. The plot seemed very slow-moving, and lacked character development. I found it really difficult to care about characters in this game- in fact, by the time I got to part 5 of the gameplay, I was hoping they would just kill them all. There was very little dialouge, which dissapointed me quite a bit - I was really looking forward to the possibility of getting re-aquainted with our "Season 1 Daryl", but that didn't really happen. The whole "Dixon dad" storyline didn't mix with the TV series either. Merle's outrage at Daryl letting their father get bitten was odd, because he did beat both of them and was apparently a terrible father- Daryl's reaction to his death was odd as well. I mentioned I liked the Daryl/Merle interaction- but it was also lacking. It seems like nobody really knows how to deal with the Dixon brothers as soon as they get on screen with one another. They have to have one of them run off, apparently. I thought we'd be seeing a lot more of Merle in SI but, apparently I was wrong. Another thing that frustrated me from a character standpoint was the "tag-along" survivors. I mean, after you talk to them the first time, they don't change at all. They do nothing but tag-along. They have no story purpose, you don't care about them, they're just there as one-dimensional characters for you to send out to get supplies. If I had gone out and bought the game, I probably would've sent them out with a pointy stick to get ammo in the middle of a herd attack. Back to the plot, the whole run-and-gun thing seemed tiresome and the scenery was quite repetative at some points. The ending was lackluster and anti-climactic, and though I did like the way they tied it off with Merle and Daryl's discussion, it felt too short. The cut-scenes all felt too brief, now that I think about it. I won't even make any comments about the graphics, because we all knew how those were going to look - none of us were surprised. But I will mention that I think it's pretty amazing Daryl can drink a bottle of powerade without taking off the cap.
Also, I might be the only one to say this, but I found the Candace Jenner/Andrea and Amy's parents easter eggs random and poorly executed- thrown in simply to remind us that we are in the TV series universe - but something made me frustrated as I noticed these. For instance, apparently there is only one female CDC doctor in all of Georgia that matters to anyone (that easter egg felt especially forced). Also, either Daryl's a complete idiot and can't put two and two together to make four or Activision didn't think the Amy/Andrea's parents thing through. You'd think Daryl would mention that little bit of informationto them upon meeting them. "Hey, um, I guess I met your dad and let him fly away on a helicopter with a bitten pilotm, oh and your mom's dead"... or something. I don't know. Another weird thing for me; their father was so adamant about finding them, and then changes his mind to take the helicopter out? Didn't make sense to me.
CONCLUSION:
I believe the game has some strong points and is a decent zombie fps game, with interesting (though some poorly executed) concepts. I wish they'd included more Daryl/Merle interactions as well as some more character development and dialouge in general. Though the storyline was lacking and the ending was anticlimatic and let me down as a spectator, you can tell hard work went into the game. All in all, I felt this game was way too rushed, and its release was premature. With better graphics, a stronger story and characters, and some more tweaking when it came to the systems without the game, it could've been a great game... but now I have the feeling that it doesn't really live up to what Kirkman advertised.
What are your thoughts on the game?