The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner has come out and with it came the few hours on the edge of my seat that I’ve come to know and love about this game series.
There are few things that I actually keep track of and get excited about when they release, examples include the newest Magic: The Gathering sets, Final Fantasy games (kind of, been a little disappointed lately) and after four episodes I’m glad to add The Walking Dead series to that list.
Picking up where episode three left off, our group of survivors has made its way to Savannah. Of course not everything can go right for our friends. What with people ringing bells throughout the town and a second group of survivors living nearby that are hostile, well our group has their hands full. I also found a new character to like in episode 4, Molly. If I had to sum Molly up in one word it would be: Ninja. What’s not to love about a level headed character that wears a hoodie and a hospital mask and also whose weapon of choice is a giant ice pick, the kind used for mountain climbing?
Episode four does something that hasn’t happened since the first episode, it leaves us by ourselves. After about a half an hour into the first episode Lee starts forming a group and joining up with people. Only for a few minutes did the game give a feeling of loneliness.
Episode four breaks this by having Lee get separated from the group for a part of the episode. I can’t say I’ve ever been so on edge than I was seeking the comfort of an AI, but now I can. The fact that I even got to this point of fear and solidity by playing a game leaves me with a good feeling. It tells me that over the last three episodes, this game has changed the way I view NPC’s in video games.
Truth be told, I want to avoid talking about the story too much, lest I let something slip. I said in my review of episode three that it was going to be hard to top it, but I’ve got to say that episode four does a dang good job and definitely gives it a run for its money. Just wait till you see the end.
Moving away from the story, let us talk about the gameplay of The Walking Dead Episode 4. Episode three introduced us to FPS elements that were missing in both the first and second episode. In episode four, first person shooting makes a return by putting us behind the barrel of Lee’s handgun at a few crucial moments in game. As with episode three, it isn’t an overly difficult section of the game and surely won’t turn away those who don’t enjoy the FPS genre.
Also like all the other episodes up to this point, are the crucial choices that must be made. Sometimes the choices are small and just affect the relationships with other survivors in the group, other times though they matter so much that the lives of people will be left up to you. This is what really makes these games for me, the tough choices, depth of character development and interactions.
Moving onto the graphics. Episode four of course contains the same graphics that were found in previous episodes. What has changed though is the level of care given to the graphics. In almost every other episode I’ve noticed some small complaint with the graphics of The Walking Dead, whether it be teleporting zombies, bad lip synching or some other small complaint. I can confidently say I didn’t have that problem with episode four.
As with every episode before, there are new characters introduced in episode 4 and of course with new characters comes new voice acting. Yet again like episodes before it, episode four does a magnificent job in the voice acting department. Characters are brought to life by heartfelt performances and it only helps to further pull one into the world of The Walking Dead.
The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner is a great game that rivals the previous episodes in the series. The story is amazing enough on its own to guarantee a play through, but what really drives this game is the decisions that players must make. Graphics hit the mark this time around and the voice acting is superb as always.
There really isn’t a good reason for you to not be playing The Walking Dead, if you haven’t joined in on the fun yet then I really do implore you to start.
The Walking Dead Episode 4: Around Every Corner keeps on going for 4.5 GiN gems out of 5!