The continuing Dead

The Walking dead (a Telltale game) season 2 started this week. Much was made of the first season and could the second season's beginning live up to the ending of season 1? Spoilers ahead

Firstly, lets cover 400 days. This was a between seasons episode set to tie together season 1 and 2. It is yet to be seen what kind of impact this will have on the coming season and besides, I can't really remember much of 400 days and I was a little disappointed it wasn't touched upon in the 'previously in walking dead' at the start of the new season.

Okay, that's out of the way, on with the game. The stroy continues to be engrossing and heart wrenching. Clem can no longer seem to get a steady relationship going with anyone, or anything (be back to that later) like she did with Lee because something always goes wrong. It is true that this happened in the first season though with every other character you met apart from Lee and Clementine but it just makes it seems so much worse when you're just a little girl, going from one disaster to another.

This episode starts with a bang, literally, as Omid is shot, and it doesn't take long for you (being as Clem) to lose Christa too and wind up alone. Then there's a dog, and this for me is one of the shortest times I've had to get attached to something and be so upset when you had to put it down. Why can't the dog share, the greedy so and so. It should be mentioned that the dog bites you, which is why you have to kill him, because this is important.

Naturally, a bite when zombies are around doesn't look good, who wouldn't think a zombie would have done it? (apart from someone with eyes when it's apparent that a humans bite and a dog bite look totally different, but I'll let this pass). So, when you get rescued from facing certain death from a group of walkers as you're nearly fainting from the bite, it doesn't take long for said rescuers to get freaked out, and lock you in a shed. To be fair, they promise to try to make you better in the morning if you're not a) a walker or, b) actually dead.

My description there seems a little harsh, because as I was playing this I was think 'yeah, fair enough, makes sense', but that's not Clem's idea. So off you go, to break into the house, listen in on private conversations, steal from the people that are trying to, sort of, help you, and manipulate a little girl. All in a night's work.

So off you go back to the shed for another sad scene where Clem stitches up her own arm in complete agony, which naturally, you control. But silly old Clem didn't put the panel back that she had to remove to get out and a walker, ironically, crawls in. The house empties though to saves you, and on doctors orders says you're probably not going to turn now (i thought you had to wait overnight?) so it's fine to come in. It's made clear you have friends and enemies in the house, and another sad moment arrives when you're explaining Lee's death to new buddy Luke.

The next morning, you go out fishing, (by which they seem to mean, empty fish traps, so not really fishing then) with angry uncle/nephew duo Pete and nick. Nick is a guy who almost accidentally killed you when he first met you, and Pete is a friendly older man man who seems to want to put Nick down at every opportunity, though playing through it makes you feel like he deserves it. However, they come across some scene where a group of walkers have mowed down, probably by a guy named Carver, though they won't really talk much about him, or them as the case may be (and probably is). More walkers soon come though, and friendly old pete gets bit, while Nick somehow doesn't. Then the big ending comes, who do you help save? The friendly, useful guy who has been bit. Or the useless ingrate who hasn't? I'll leave that to you.

So, it's pretty great, despite the fact that the same technical bugs still exist from the first season. It's too early to tell what's going to happen and if it will be as good as season one, which I am concerned about as before the walking dead, Telltale had made mostly mediocre games, and now they've got 4 IP's to work on, so maybe they're stretching themselves to thin and will end up letting themselves down. I'm sure everyone would hope not, but how can we know? let's just cross our fingers and hope.