[diego]

Interactive movies were all the rage in 90s, and then, after the quiet time, Quantic Dream proved you don't need "real" actors, adding some quick time events to accompany it.

And now it's clear - Telltale made a 100% interactive movie. Back to the Future is "Gabriel Knight" compared to The Walking Dead, although the latter seems to be a better "game".

Good:

Telltale continues to do wonders with their engine - better graphics, old hardware requirements. Beautifully nailed "comic-feel" with cel-shading, and finally not that many character models recycling (well, apart from the zombies but that doesn't count). GREAT main character's voice, resembling Ben in Full Throttle. As for the story, i'm no expert since i haven't been watching the show, neither read the comic, but it's a usual zombie invasion fare, with a little drama on top of it. Suspense and horror are nicely done, reminded me of such classics as "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer "...

Bad:

Puzzles are not that important for an interactive movie but - for the majority of it player is merely a spectator, pressing keys or mouse button from time to time. Even an inventory and using things is fully automated - you just pick up an object which goes to "non-interactive" inventory, and the object presents itself once it is usable on a hot-spot. I have no troubles with using the keyboard, but it wouldn't hurt to have fully mouse controls as well. Action sequences could use a little variety - tapping Q and quick-clicking oh a hot-spot is all there is to it. Often, you need to stab the zombie several times in a row, although, there's one occasion where it seemed over the top and ruined the emotional scene. Since it's just one episode, i can't complain for the story or character development, which seemed nice for a 2-hour game. Maybe because of a short play time, the game doesn't offer to skip dialogues, cutscenes (even those we've already seen), to move quickly between the screens or save the game.