Platform: PC

Developer: Telltale Games

Publisher: Telltale Games

Release Date: December 17th, 2013

Genre: Point-and-Click

Nerd Rating: 7.5 out of 10!

When I heard that Telltale Games’ was making a sequel to The Walking Dead, I was absolutely ecstatic! The Walking Dead is my highest rated reviewed game since I started here at Nerd Bacon, and it even made it onto my Top 10 Video Games list! One of the things I greatly praised in my review of The Walking Dead was the fact that your choices mattered, and that is was one of the only games to ever affect me on an emotional level in the way that it did. I left that game not only mourning dead characters, but also really caring about the ones who lived, which is why I was so excited to hear that I would be playing as Clementine in The Walking Dead: Season 2.

While it sounded great in theory, I actually didn’t enjoy playing as Clementine that much. During The Walking Dead, I had come to care about Clementine so much and even felt as some sort of father to the fictional character (it’s scary how good Telltale’s writing is). The transition from “father” who had to protect Clementine, to actually being Clementine and looking after herself (myself?) is part of the reason why I think I didn’t enjoy this game as much. Being Clementine greatly changed the emotional connection to her and the writers did everything they could to differentiate between Season 1 Clementine and Season 2 Clementine.

Another reason I feel as though The Walking Dead: Season 2 suffered compared to Season 1 is that the illusion of choice is, for the most part, gone. As I was playing through Season 2, I felt as though I was questioning myself as to whether or not the choices actually mattered far more then I did in the previous title. It seems that no matter who I chose to save, or what actions I chose to take, the end result was more or less always the same (I confirmed this theory by watching and reading about the other choices that I did not take).

When it comes to gameplay and art-style, The Walking Dead: Season 2 really did not change much of anything from the previous title, which is in no way a bad thing. I am a strong believer in “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” when it comes to video games, as I mentioned in my review of Hitman: Absolution, and The Walking Dead gameplay and art-style were in no way broken. Most people, myself included, would argue that the choice-driven gameplay and the simplistic art-style are what gave The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead: Season 2 their charm. The Walking Dead: Season 2 also brings back the feature from the previous title where the game will show you the statistics of how many people made the same choices as you, which is pretty cool for comparison.

Two of my smaller (but still important) issues with The Walking Dead: Season 2 are the un-skippable ending credits during each episode, and the music that accompanies them. I feel that The Walking Dead: Season 2 is made around the idea to be replayable, but the game does not allow you to skip the ending credits of any episode, and they are pretty long as well. The only way to avoid these ending credits are to force-close the game and re-open it. The music that accompanies these ending credits are decent, but they get repetitive because, if they aren’t the same for each episode, then they are awfully similar.

While The Walking Dead: Season 2 can’t even hold a flame to its predecessor, it’s still an overall good game and I would recommend it if you enjoyed the first title or if you enjoy point-and-click titles (play the first game first). Telltale Games has announced that they are indeed making a Season 3, and I definitely plan to check it out. I am ashamed that I can’t give this title a better score, as I really loved its predecessor, but I hope that Telltale Games redeems the series with Season 3.