The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct [Game Review]

Before this review let me state this first, I am a big fan of the Walking Dead series from first starting with the comics to the tv show produced by AMC. Robert Kirkman to me has a great mind and ideas writing about the post apocalypse and if in fact if there were ever zombies from an outbreak from chemical warfare. I have many comic book series favorites, but The Walking dead has been the most interesting story thus far regardless of the slowness between comics and even the TV Show.

The first game The Walking Dead decided to make was titled “ The Walking Dead” by TellTale games and for me to date was the best story that I could imagine coming from a game due to its great story and placing the decision making into your hands. The decisions were tough at times because you had to make the decision on who lives or dies and what to say to someone that may affect the gameplay environment down the road.

The game also tugged at my heartstrings at the very end ( I will not spoil to those who have not yet played the story yet) and made me break down as a human being because this game made you feel for these characters on what they were going through their trials and tribulations.

I thought as soon as this game was out and the rave reviews that the previous game got that The Walking Dead would continue on this path and the skies the limit, but I was dead wrong. Their newest installment of their games titled “The Walking Dead: Survival instincts” falls very short of what the first game had made a name for itself. The basis of this game was focused on the Dixon brothers, Daryl and Merle and their prequel story to making it to Atlanta. The idea of this game could have been bigger, but to me Activision tried to make something that Telltale games already made, but in a FPS manner.

The two games seemed similar alone due to the decision making as you did in the first game, but now in order to make certain decisions like finding survivors you have to do something for them to join you. Each character you meet during this game have certain abilities and skills that will help you on your way to meet each objective. This time with the decision making they made it more in depth than what TellTalle games presented. I think TellTale did it better because it was it was short and to the point, but made you think of what to say because the output later could affect you down the road.

This game took it kind of far with the idea of finding gas ,which roads to take (depending on what road you took would deplete your gas and also give the chances of your vehicle to break down) if you wanted to find supplies or not, if you wanted to help survivors or not and this not even the objective of the story. The idea seemed realistic, but did not perform it well enough to make it seem useful in the game. What I did like about this game was that the extra add-ons they give you if you have certain characters in your group that survive such as unlimited ammo or if beating the game getting certain weapons which give it kind of a sense more play ability.

The tasks seemed easy that you get from finding the survivors or from other people, but they are not due to Zombies that are infested in each level. I kind of liked at first the fact of it being challenging, but when it came to controlling and the A.I. combined it became harder than it should have been. The controlling itself seemed very off and jumbled when getting into contact with the zombies such as the mini game. The mini game they have is when a zombie tries to hold on you, you have to use your other thumbstick and maneuver until it tells you to hit a button to stab the zombie in the head. This is no easy task since the zombies fuss around with you and getting the right movements and the combination of the attack button need to be mastered.

I also felt that with the controlling that the layouts that were presented were horrible. I do not understand in console video games that they do not decide to move over to button mapping. Games like the new installment of Devil May Cry by Ninja Theory gave that ability for you to button map the way you would like your controller to be set up as if I was playing it on a PC which to me made the experience a heck of a lot better. In this game they decided to use your trigger buttons as the main source of attacks which made it hard to get used to when you are so used to the normal FPS lay-out.

The gameplay itself felt like they tried to mix Assassins Creed and Dishonored which to me would have been a great mix if Activision did it well. I felt that when I pressed certain buttons to perform an action that there was a massive lag between them and by the time I tried again I was ending up zombie food. Fighting the zombies themselves seemed to be awkward because trying to attack them with melee times felt as if they did no damage and took more swings than it should have to bring them down. To be honest, there is really no point to use any power weapon that they gave you like pistols or rifles because the zombies have heightened senses that could hear and even smell you if you got close or even used a gun. It was pointless to even have these type of weapons because it was better to use melee weapons to keep quiet to complete objectives.

The game itself felt also too linear because you really didn’t have an option of a free roam and you had to stick within the boundaries the game gave you. Personally who ever came up with this idea had a good idea, but this came should of baked a little more and made this into a Grand Theft Auto feel with the ideas of free roam, getting to objectives, scavenging, doing side missions and even adding the ability to upgrade the skills of your character from the kills you made, objectives you completed, or even finding hidden things to make it more challenging. They had the idea of that, but whomever put this together really didn’t have a good idea of what they wanted from this game.

Also this game should have been a third person because I would of loved to see the world around me of what the post apocalypse could look like if the zombies took over or even given me the ability to climb and be more stealthy and do better stealth kills than just coming up behind them tapping them on the shoulder and stabbing them in the head. I also would of enjoyed the idea of letting me choose the road to drive and me driving myself to experience it breaking down and trying to fight my way to a safe place.

The graphics themselves felt childish for me as if I was playing a game that I could of easily downloaded from a website such games like Slenderman and just played for free. Sadly enough the Slender Man Beta graphics looked better than this finished game which tells you something. I feel as if Activision graphics and the engines they use feel so old generation that this game could have been easily passed as an early generation console game. The zombies looked as if they were from the show, but not many of them. Some of them looked too plain and didn’t look decrepit enough.

The other major downfall to this game was that there was no Co-op or multiplayer which would of the game a little more fun to what was placed on this disc. I really would of liked if they would of made a multiplayer that would have had you either to choose to be a zombie or a human and fight it out and then the humans becoming infected and turn into zombies until the last human was turned or time ran out.

With all my idea’s alone, AMC’s The Walking Dead: Survival instincts could have been better yet should have been something more than something that felt rushed and slaps The Walking Dead brand on it and thinks that you’re a fanboy you will pick it up because it has the name on it. Robert Kirkman should be ashamed of what Activision created for his fan base that look and felt rushed and should part ways and let Activision do what they do best and that’s making Tony Hawk Games.

I personally would not waste money to buy this game, but if you are a fan of the series and like the nostalgia I would pick it up, but personally this game is more of a rent than a buy.

Pros
-The voice acting between Michael Rooker and Norman Reedus felt great as if I was watching the show. They could have been a little better, but did what they could on the misguided route that Activision portrayed
-The extra add-ons they give when completing or having certain people survive make it interesting to try and attempt and play.

Cons
-Graphics felt old generation and should have been polished better for next generation standards
-Controlling felt offbeat and needs a re-tune, but unfortunately they do not give you the ability to remap; Plus their suggested layouts are just as bad as the default.
-The game-play itself felt disconnected with the delays of buttons while interacting or attacking.
-Zombies felt stronger and heightened higher in senses than they should have been
-Too linear should have been an open world hence the post-apocalyptic fate of the world and having to survive.
-Activision should of sat in and took notes from the creators of Grand theft Auto, The new Tomb Raider and even older games like Dead Island or the Left For Dead Series.

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The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct [Game Review]

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