reaper239

[COLOR=#add8e6]and goes kicking and screaming ot the end. so, when this was released i fully intended to write an amazing and breathtaking review full of emotion and devestatingly deep. and then the itus set in and i stopped writing reviews for the season break. sucks huh. well, now that the full impact of the story has mostly worn away i can make an honest assessment of the game, and i must say, i think my initial response was pretty spot on. for some reason i am possessed to run a marathon of reviews, and today we keep going with The Walking Dead Episode 5: No Time Left.[/COLOR]

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so, the refinement is done. the gameplay mechanics are exactly as good as you need them, and as good as they are going to get. this episode contains a culmination of all the different aspects you've played through the other episodes: quicktime, shooting, exploration, hard decisions, this is it, they all come together here. not flawlessly mind you, there are some minor hiccups that can leave you walking into a wall for five minutes, but the overall execution is superb. the action is hot, the down time is not. i've talked enough about mechanics in the other reviews, i don't need to cover it any further, this will be the last paragraph i mention it.[/COLOR]

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[COLOR=#add8e6]this game isn't about gameplay, it's about story. of course the gameplay is vital to the conveyance of that story, but it's not the central feature. games like call of duty are given story to showcase the gameplay, games like this are given gameplay to tell a story. and tell a story it does. i went back and gave the whole thing another go, and wow. the characters feel full, life like, meaty (prolly a poor choice of words for a zombie game), substantive. in each episode you see a certain degree of character development, but when you look at the whole arc you can see a real change from the Lee Everet that crawls out of that cop car in episode 1, to the lee that's searching like a madman for the girl that is his legacy at the end of the game. and it's not just lee, you watch all of the characters grow. you see the things they go through, and the choices they make, and you come to understand their motivations, whether survival, validation, continuity, love, community, you see to the heart of the issue. whatever their loved thing is, it comes to the forefront at some point in the game. you also get to see motivations changeas the reality shifts around them. in this episode, i wouldn't so much call it character growth, as character finishing. almost all the growth has occured previous to this episode, and characters are really taking the pieces that they have gained through the other episodes and tying them together, whether it's aspects of their humanity that they thought were lost and have recovered, or an intensifying of the characters desire for their loved thing, the characters come full circle in their development to the place they were when they started, but from a different perspective. give you a for instance: we first meet ben in a situation that requires a sacrifice, but he looks to someone else to make the sacrifice, however, if he survives to the end (he can die before reaching this point, and it may seem similar here, but the motivations are false, which you discover after saving him) he comes to another situation that requires a sacrifice, and he comes to the point of shouldering the responsibility to make the sacrifice. if he dies before he reaches his arcs conclusion, he dies for penance, if he survives past that, he accepts his personal sacrifice and doesn't seek penance, but instead the salvation of others. it gets super deep.[/COLOR]

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[COLOR=#add8e6]character development and story go hand in hand, you can't develop a character without a story to put them through, and you can't have a good dynamic story without characters changing and developing to the new situations in the story. to that end, the story here is wonderful. i don't mean wonderful as in, "everything is sunshine and lollipops," i mean it in the sense that the story is deep, elements are well written, the story flows and maintains continuity, the backstory is rich and fleshed out and is explored to deepen the immersion, and the characters are mortal.even if you don't want to play the game, i would suggest watching it on youtube, especially if you like the walking dead, or just generic zombie stories. even if you don't necessarily like the walking dead, the story is, in my opinion, good enough to warrant a stand alone viewing. it's hard to talk about his without spoiling, and without repeating myself, so i'll just leave it at this: the superb writing that has been present throughout the series is just as prevelant here.[/COLOR]

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[COLOR=#add8e6]the conclusion to this game is breathtaking, the characters round out nicely, the grand finale is something to talk about with friends, and the whole wraps up in a mess that leaves several questions hanging. i should explain, the mess is a good mess, it doesn't wrap up nice and neat and put a bow on it for your enjoyment, it leaves you questioning what happened, it makes you yearn for clues as to the final outcome, and it makes you crave more. the final scene is so brilliantly written i wasn't able to play it again right away. for an ending that crushes your soul in zombie laden despair, this episode get's a 10/10.[/COLOR]


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[COLOR=#add8e6]BONUS REVIEW: ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!!!!!?!!!!?!!!?!!?![/COLOR]

[COLOR=#add8e6]Reaper's Corner Vs The Walking Dead[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#add8e6]ok, so, rather than write a whole new review for the over arcing game, in which i would say a lot of the same stuff, i'll just tack it on to the end of this one. so the over all game is as superb as i made it sound. i read a bit of the comics and there is a pervading sense of doom throughout. this is something that telltale has nailed, without being overbearing about it. the doom and despair are subtle until you notice it and then you realize just how crazy things have gotten. i keep thinking back to episode 2, when you arrive on the farm, things don't seem quite right, but you can almost chalk that up to the fact that you're playing a zombie game and your nerves are getting the better of you. but as you play the sense of foreboding intensifies until it erupts into the pure insanity and depravity that marks the main arc of that chapter. but when you look back at it from outside the immersion, you realize that the sense of foreboding was engineered into the game from the beginning. it is this ability to write in highs and lows that transition seamlessly from order to chaos, and from normality to tragedy, in an instant and that can ramp up and down in the span of a single scene. it's a rollercoaster from start to finish, and one that you will want to ride again and again, 10/10.[/COLOR]


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