The Walking Dead Game Review

by Blake

The Walking Dead is a graphic adventure game based on the comic book series The Walking Dead, by Robert Kirkman. The player will take control of Lee, the main character, as he fights to survive the zombie apocalypse. The opening scene of the game shows Lee in the back of a cop car as we learn he has murdered somebody. This is one of the many choices you will make during the game, will others find out about your criminal past? The future outcomes of the story are based upon your decision making during the course of the game. These decisions come in the form of sentence choices that you can make Lee say, in which you are forced to choose one. Some choices you make will carry more weight than others. The big decisions mostly center on the fate of the characters you will meet during the course of the game. If you are looking for a very tactical and intricate third-person shooter zombie survival game, this is not what you will get from this game. Instead you will get a very storyline heavy game, which is not a bad thing. 

The storyline heavy dynamic of the game allows for the player to get very in depth and personal with the characters. You begin to care about other characters as you go on your journey, you may also find yourself disliking some characters. The character development in the story is very well crafted, especially with Clementine. Clementine is a young girl (age nine) that you will meet at the beginning of the game. You are challenged to take care of Clementine, how you do so is up to you. While the gameplay is not as tactical as other games of the genre, the cinematic angles add an interesting change that sets it apart from any zombie game I have played. These camera angles are somewhat annoying though, as I found that sometimes you can miss an entire area of the map due to some confusing angles. The controls are also somewhat messed up whenever the camera angles change; you’ll find that sometimes the WASD controls will get swapped around. Also, the movement of your character, Lee, can kind of seem robotic or like he is a zombie (no pun intended). These are just some minor nuisances as you play, though. 

As the drama unfolds you will find yourself on the edge of your seat, excited to see what will happen next. The characters you meet can either help or harm, it’s up to you to choose who stays with you. Although, as I played the five part game, sometimes I felt that too many characters were being thrown at me to see who stuck, I enjoyed making some tough decisions. Finding items for certain tasks, shooting zombies, and solving some puzzle-like situations are some other gameplay mechanics involved. Overall this is a very great game. If you have about 10 hours to play all five “episodes” I would highly recommend The Walking Dead. I found myself wanting to play it again with different decisions, this way you can experience all the crazy twists and satisfying endings.

Call of Duty Ghosts Preview

Call of Duty Ghosts is Infinity Ward's upcoming installment to the very popular Call of Duty franchise. Revealed on May 21, 2013 at the big Xbox One event, COD Ghosts blew the rest of the event away with their presentation of what their plans were for their new game.  Their main focuses were on a new story, new engine, and a new multiplayer experience.

Into the Deep:

Story:

COD Ghosts starts 10 years after a catastrophic event that cripples the United States' government and economy. Ghosts, what is left of the U.S. military, fight invading forces for the mere act of survival. The developers emphasized on their creation of an emotional connection between the players and the in-game characters. With the help of the Academy Award winning writer, Stephen Gaghan, they will develop characters that are realistic so the players will feel and care for them.The enemies are technologically more powerful but you play as experienced special operation force members meant to handle worst case scenario situations. You are accompanied by a dog named Riley who you can take control of in game to help tactically take down each enemy either by having Riley attack them or using him to get their attention and lure them into a position where you can take them out yourself.

No Man's Land:

Multiplayer:

Although there is very little footage of Ghosts' multiplayer, there are a few things Infinity Ward revealed about the maps and the gameplay. The maps will be more dynamic with random or player activated events that strategically change the map and cause players to play differently. One of the new features is the ability to lean around cover. Mark Rubin, lead designer of Infinity Ward, explained that there will not be a lean button, instead the player will automatically lean around the corner when looking at the edge of a corner. Mantling over blockades will be a smooth motion and will also allow you to continue firing during the transition. Another feature they added is allowing the player to slide into cover after sprinting. All these features together will allow for a smoother and more fast paced gameplay in multiplayer.

Behind the Scenes:

Call of Duty Ghosts will be released on November 5th, 2013 on Xbox 360, PS3, PC, and Wii U. Later it will be launched with the Xbox One and PS4

Firefall Beta First Impression

Firefall is an online first/third person shooter MMORPG. It is a mixture of popular genres to appeal to all audiences. The beginning of the game you are allowed to create your own custom character. The character creation is quick and simple but it doesn't have much variety. The game starts off with a standard tutorial. After learning the basic controls, you will be introduced to the 5 classes that they call Battleframes. The assault class is the damage dealer and uses his weapons and equipment to fight, while biotech is the healer class meant to keep teammates alive while dealing some damage to the enemy. Dreadnaughts are tough tanks that can hold off strong enemies as the team fights them and the Engineer can build structures to fortify the area surrounding the players, resupply ammo and create energy barriers. The 5th class is recon which are assassins that deal damage but have low health so they fight from afar with long ranged weapons. The game does not force you into deciding one role. You are allowed to change classes everytime you are near a Battleframe station.

Although the classes are a generic MMO game, the actual gameplay is play like a modern day RPG/shooter. You can buy or craft weapons, upgrade your gear, and build experience points for your specific classes. People are always interacting with each other even when they aren't in a group. Players will find themselves fighting waves of enemies side by side with other players trying to defend resources. You will get a share of the resources based on how much damage you did to enemies around the objective.

Although this game is in Beta, it is well made other than a few bugs here in there. It will bring innovation to the genres of gaming it contains. This game has great potential and there is much hope for its success. It could be the next big thing.