The Games Shed Blog: The Walking Dead (Video Game): Episode 1

Now don't hate me when I say this, but I first fell in love with The Walking Dead TV series, not the comic book.

I'm not a comic book reader, nor particularly a TV watcher, however, what little TV I had watched must've contained some pretty powerful advertising to make me hunt down this TV show.

The TV show, which spawned from the 2003 comic, had dubious beginnings for me. Something about it seemed familiar... a man wakes up in hospital, alone, abandoned, confused & helpless in a zombie filled city, roaming the streets and happening upon helpful strangers scattered about like gun-wielding guardian angels.

Hmm.. whatever could it remind me of... OH YES! 28 Days Later, and not a sniff of shame about it either.

For those who are unsure, 28 Days later was released a year before the comic was first published - go have a watch. It's great.

Anyway, I kept up with the series and became utterly hooked on it, so when the video game of it (the comic that is... of which the TV show was based)was finally released on to the PSN I finally decided to un-box my replacement PS3 which Sony had delivered me two months earlier.

I at first only downloaded the free trial, after all, the game was made by Telltale Games - the folks responsible for squeezing out a metaphorical turd of a Back to the Future game.

Within minutes I realised I was going to enjoy the game - it felt like Quantic Dream's 'Heavy Rain', the dark, moody surroundings, the investigative nature of it all.

*Spoiler Alert - Skip this paragraph if you do not want to know the next scene*

As I'm starting to settle into the controller handling and mull over a voice-mail which my protagonist had just played BAM! Zombie Attack!

I'm being chased around a blood soaked kitchen by the undead babysitter. She's one tough cookie, taking a head-bounce off a cooker, a boot to the face and several hammer blows to the head.

The trial ends a few minutes later after helping out a stranded pair of chaps.

The full game comes in 5 separate parts, with one part being available to download each month from April 2012.

I was happy enough with the trial to splash £3.99 on the download for Episode 1, however, if you are a tad smarter than me you can buy all 5 episodes now at a discounted rate (Although you will only be able to download one episode per month still).