Last year’s entry in the The Walking Dead franchise from Telltale Games had a lot going for it, but technical issues and weak attempts at gunplay kept The Walking Dead: Season One from getting above The Darkness II on my year-end Game of the Year list. Beyond that, I simply wanted more effective face-stabbing and awesome supply recovery missions between my moments of pathos for my fellow survivors. It’s no surprise, of course, that Activision’s newest title, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, fit the bill exactly.
The game stars Daryl, brother of Merle and star from the TV show for The Walking Dead that I’ve seen an advertisement for once. In a shocking scene that opens the game, Daryl experiences a moment filled with as much visceral pathos as the watershed moment in Episode 3 of TellTale’s game. This is in no small part due to Norman Reedus’s virtuosic voice acting, which could probably lead to a long VO career if he wasn’t currently working on the amazing-sounding “Pawn Shop Chronicles,” coming to the silver screen later this year. All the other characters are shockingly human in their short-sightedness and blandness, and the fact that you can lose them on one of the game’s many survival missions evokes incredible storytelling.
However, it’s not only the characterization that the game nails; the gameplay is top-notch. Shooting a zombie in the head feels incredibly satisfying due to the difficulty in actually hitting. Zombie behavior is erratic because they’re not human and act strangely; the whole scenario is incredibly stressful in a way I found very, very satisfying. The survival mechanics in sending your fellow survivors to collect gas or food for you are satisfying as well, as it places importance in your side-characters beyond simple little things like emotions.
Of course, I’d be remiss to not mention the incredible grappling system; when a zombie grabs you, you enter a grappling minigame that requires you to effectively stab a zombie in the head. The aiming reticle swims away from the head you’re aiming for so intensely while you frantically slap the right trigger in an attempt to plunge your hunting knife through zombie skull. It’s easily the most difficult challenge I’ve faced in a video game since I gazed into the maw of Fez’s endgame. By far, this mechanic is the definitive part of this unbelievable game, and the game plays to its strengths by having you grapple with walker after walker when confronted with a horde.
The mechanics and storytelling wouldn’t be the same without the game’s presentation. This game is so filled with personality that I would post this review in Comic Sans, should the Giant Bomb text editor allow it. While sweat pours down Daryl’s face in unbelievable motion, most of the game adopts a rudimentary comic-book like graphical texture that compliments the game’s more cartoon-like moments. The voice acting is spot-on throughout, nailing the southern atmosphere of the show I didn’t ever see.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct reveals what can happen when one marries the storytelling and graphical presentation of TellTale’s game with the intense mechanics of a game like Modern Warfare 3 or Dark Souls. It’s a masterpiece of modern design, and the experience was worth far more than the two dollars I spent at the RedBox to play it for an hour. And, no, I didn’t finish it; the incredible grapple mechanics stopped me in my tracks. But I still had such an incredible experience playing the game that I can’t recommend it any higher. I may have been too weak to survive the zombie hordes, but maybe you won’t be.