by the ESRB
Undead and Kicking!
Check out all of our past reviews.
 - Game Industry News)
The Walking Dead returns with its second episode: Starved for Help. Those who have read my review of episode one know that I fell head over heels in love with it. Those feelings aren't waning anytime soon either.
Episode two opens up in a way that only these games could. The group of survivors is running out of food and have now taken to hunting to survive. During a hunt they hear screams and run to find two young students and their teacher, whose leg is caught in a bear trap. While trying to save the man, Lee realizes that drastic action must be taken as a group of Walkers can be heard making their way to your location. At this point I was given the option to either cut off the man's leg with my axe or leave him for the Walkers. Of course I used the axe to chop off the teacher's leg and got him and a student to safety.
This is why I love The Walking Dead. Tough decisions like this are littered throughout the game and there really isn't a right or wrong way to play. The vast amount of choices available makes the game into the perfect water cooler conversation. Everyone will play the game a little differently and it's always fun to compare the decisions I made to the ones my friends make.
There was one sour note I had when it comes to decisions made in the game. During episode one I sided with Kenny when the argument over his son being bitten came up. During episode two though, he acted like I was against him during the argument. Sure we were still friendly and all, but he felt it appropriate to bring up this lack of support two or three times throughout the episode. It left me annoyed at the fact the game didn't correctly remember one of my decisions from the first episode.
Episode two tackles the tough subject of running out of food. Why does this matter so much? Because the majority of zombie related media never really touches on the idea. They are mostly filled with action scenes of shotgun toting survivors, finding a place of refuge and the fear of being bitten by the infected.
It just isn't often a zombie movie or game touches on the idea of surviving long term after or during a zombie apocalypse, so it's cool to see it here.
Now let's move onto the graphics of The Walking Dead Episode 2.
Well truth be told there isn't a difference between the first and second episode. The game still retains its comic book style and appearance that was found in episode one. The style of the graphics have really grown on me in these last two games and I'm glad to see the hard cel shaded graphics make a return. I will say that I didn't run into any teleporting zombies or characters this time around.
With the addition of more characters to the survivor's group, we have even more great voice talent. Sure there isn't anyone big name in our ensemble, but they all do a great job at bringing to life their characters and making the game more believable than it already is, with no weak links.
In conclusion, The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starved for Help keeps the game going strong. If you haven't jumped in on these games yet, then you're missing out on a great adventure in storytelling that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
The Walking Dead Episode 2: Starving for Help earns 4.5 GiN Gems out of 5!
Billy loves nothing more than leveling and grinding through a good RPG. And he knows that Time Waster is not a negative term when it comes to games. : billum256@yahoo.com.
Billy White, Telltale Games, Telltale Games, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Mac