The Walking Dead (PC) Review

Developer: Telltale Games

I kinda heard TWD was a TV series, then I found out it was a comic series, and THEN I realized that this game can be stand-alone and doesn't have to be tied to the other two works.  I got it during Steam's Summer sales for like $15... I think.  Anyways, I'm pretty sure I paid for the whole season so when future episodes come out, I don't have to pay additional costs per episode.  I don't know, it just said PURCHASE WALKING DEAD so I hope I'm not getting ripped by only buying the released two episodes.

Story: You start out as this guy named Lee Everett in a cop car and I'm thinking 'WTF, I'm a criminal?'  Old man cop tells some stories of his arrests and then like a bad elderly driver, he hits a zombie no matter how fast I tell him to avoid.  So after blacking out, Lee looks around to see the cop in a pool of blood and checks to see any signs of life.  Turns out the old man turned into a zombie and then went after Lee... BUT NOT WITHOUT BLASTING THE COP'S BRAINS OUT.  Searching for help leads to a little girl called Clementine who's stuck at home trying to escape from her zombified babysitter.  Exploring the house would let Lee know that her parents are dead and Clem doesn't know yet.  After smashing the babysitter's brains out, Lee and Clem set out to escape and try to find a safer place to live.

Characters: The characters are definitely the stars of this drama that would make you feel invested in the story.  Clem makes you feel like you want to protect her (well... most people would), a military old fart makes you want to leave him dying of a heart attack, and a guy who is supposed to be your buddy slowly turns unpleasant.

Lee Everett: A former teacher at the University of Georgia.  Lost his job after news broke out about a crime implying the involvement of his wife.  Did he kill his wife or beat her?  No one knows... yet.  The player is left in the dark until halfway through episode 1, which explains why Lee may act strangely as he does.

Music: Does its job to building suspense and maintaining the mood of the game.

Graphics: Nice and clean as the art style has stylistic features of a comic book.  Cel-shading makes the game appealing to anyone.

Gameplay: Pretty much like an interactive movie.  You can play with the mouse and keyboard or with a gamepad.  Personally, I use the game pad to move Lee around better because of the odd angles sometimes. The mouse is better for quickly aiming the cursor on the target you want to kill.  Dialogue and actions are meant to be decided within a time limit taking only seconds to do.  I have a habit to check out every single little item that can be picked up in hopes that it'll come useful later.  There's an option to turn off the hints so the mystery is tighter.

The claim that the story adapts to my choices have yet to fully taken shape.  The first two episodes are out, but I feel like there's only the illusion of making choices to go completely different paths.  For example, I could let the kid die and let the teenager live, but the teenager still dies and WTF, THIS ISN'T WHAT I ORDERED.  Another life and death choice is more permanent, but I haven't tested it out yet.  There's still a couple more episodes to be released, so maybe the small details will pay off.  The neat little thing is that at the end of each episode, the player's choices are displayed against what other people have picked.  I was in the middle with the first, but the second episode had me in the majority.  Replay value is questionable because you have to play the whole game once and not try to make multiple story saves otherwise if there is an illusion of an adaptable storyline, then that illusion is broken and the player will keep thinking that nothing significantly changes.

Overall: TWD is a must-buy on sale for the drama unfolding.  If you like games like Heavy Rain where it's interactive, then you will like TWD on PC.  There's no need to understand the TV and comic series to enjoy the video game version.  High expectations are to be had as players' emotions get tugged, choices make you feel good or regret doing so, and you wish you could redo some of the things over again if you wanted to.  Replay is strong depending on your imagination.

Hakuouki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom PSP Review

Warning: Spoilers ahead, don't say I didn't tell you so...

I was super happy when I learned that Aksys made something out of the otome survey, which was bringing over Hakuoki.  I love Kazuki Yone's art and the whole idea of Shinsengumi romance bought me.  So I will review the game and then delve a bit into the 3 routes I have played.

Gameplay: There isn't much controller-heavy gameplay going on aside from pushing buttons to get around the UI.  To avoid killing the X button, pressing "Start" will make the dialogue progress however fast the player wants.  There is also the standard "Skip" feature for read dialogue or all dialogue.  The UI is simple to navigate and there isn't much to talk about.  The game relies more on choosing critical points of the story more than choosing dialogue choices to boost affection.  There's only about a maximum of 6-8 romance points which are gathered from the little batches of dialogue opportunities the player gets.  Despite being labeled as an otome game, it caters to the female audience's cravings for romance and bishounen men without too much romantic fluff.  The three routes I've played gives me the impression that all routes begin their romantic turning points in the second half of the game after Chapter 3.  Translation is expected to be flawed in some places, notably spelling errors such as "donno" with "dunno" and "fine" with "find" (in the context of pursuing someone).  Last minor problem is the dialogue choices.  It's a good thing Hakuoki has a quick-load feature, otherwise it would be frustrating.  Some of the dialogue choices are deceptive such as simple "Yes" and "No" which can drastically change the effect.  Many times I thought one answer was right, but it ended up pissing off the guy.  Didn't like how the endings for each guy hangs in the balance of giving blood or not (except for Sano).

Story: Chizuru (default name) Yukimura arrived in Kyoto to search for her missing doctor of a father.  When night fell, she was attacked by a group of bloodthirsty men craving for blood.  Luckily for her, Saito Hajime and Okita Souji came to the rescue.  Too bad the problem is that the Shinsengumi views her as liability to revealing the secret behind the bloodthirsty soldies.  Bound and trapped at their headquarters, Chizuru tries to tell the men that she's not a "guy" as once mistaken, but a girl and almost all the guys are in awe.  Eventually, she was free to wander anywhere so she can search for her father, the only reason why she could be free in the first place.