Admit it, you think you’d be a better leader than Rick or Shane. Well now’s your chance to prove it! Telltale Games has licensed The Walking Dead for 5 episodic games, which will be released monthly starting in late April.
The games will be canonical to the comic but begin at the outset of the zombie apocalypse when Rick Grimes is still in a coma. Players control Lee Everett, a prison escapee, who becomes the de facto guardian for Clementine, a little girl orphaned by the outbreak. Clementine will serve as a moral barometer much as Rick’s son Carl does in the series. Also featured are existing characters like Glenn, Hershel Greene and his son Shawn Greene (pre-zombie), and Lilly, who is infamous in the comic but has not yet appeared in the TV series.
Fans will also notice the influence of Charlie Adlard, the artist for The Walking Dead comic. “Charlie Adlard’s work isn’t too clean and that’s something that really informed the art style. All of his work is really organic feeling and you’ll see a stray line here or there,” explained Lead Designer Sean Vanaman. “We sat down with Art Director Derek Sakai earlier on and said wouldn’t it be cool if we took the principles of 2D art and said to heck with it, we’re just going to put it right into the 3D art and see what it looks like.”
The game won’t just have the look of the comic. It will also focus on interaction with the living rather than the dead. Every choice you make will not only have an impact on that particular episode but also successive episodes. Decisions will be timed to add to the sense of urgency.
“Telltale has done a phenomenal job in making a game that meets the expectations of fans,” praised The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. “Running around with a gun isn’t what The Walking Dead is about; it’s about is how people caught in an apocalypse deal with facing their own death every day, and the horrible choices they have to make to survive. Telltale’s game series has captured the spirit of the comic books perfectly.”
While it won’t be a shooter game, which would just attract more walkers, it will have harrowing encounters with lurkers that jump out at you as you explore. Players will have full control as they move through the game’s environments, unlike Telltale Games’ Jurassic Park, which relied heavily on Quick Time Events (QTE).
Each episode will cost 400 MS Points (XBLA) or $4.99 (PSN), and $24.99 for the entire season on PC & Mac. If you pre-order @ http://www.telltalegames.com you’ll receive 10% off ($22.49) and a chance to join the cast of the game. One lucky winner will be rendered as a human who dies a horrible death and returns as a ravenous walker in Episode 4. Up to four others will be selected to become part of the undead horde.
