Before I played this I had a small penis, no girlfriend and no will to live. None of these things have changed, but the game is pretty good.

This review contains spoilers, which shouldn't matter because I'm hoping this and other negative reviews will save you from wasting your time on this "game."

What a dreadful experience this was. I played it as part of a gaming challenge so unfortunately I had to sit through all five episodes.

Because sitting through it is what you do as it's more a movie than a game. A row of cutscenes with quick-time events interspersed with short moments where you get to walk around and do adventure-like things such as looking at stuff. These segments do not require much thinking nor tell you anything interesting about the world beyond that "it's a chair" when looking at a chair.

The story, and especially the dialogues, aren't any better as they are riddled with cliches. All the characters in your group of survivors are one-dimensional and stay that way despite the horrible things happening to them.

Like the gruesome events at the homestead of those seemingly friendly farmers offering food? (If you've seen any horror movie or X-Files episode involving rural people you will immediately know what they are.) You'd think an experience like that would shock the group, maybe even traumatize some, and would become a bonding experience or at least raise some questions about who to trust in the future but nope, it barely gets mentioned at all.

Or take Kenny, the mustached trucker hat wearing man. His whole shtick is yelling about "I'm going to protect muh family whatever it takes". Well, he loses them all (whatever you do, you can't actually "tailor" the story despite what Telltale claims) and is then barely fazed by it.

He doesn't get depressed, bitter, or anything, he just stays the same. Sure, the event gets mentioned once or twice when talking to him but only as an aside. Conversations never become meaningful as the main character only knows how to respond with platitudes like "We'll get through it, we have to" and "Yeah, things are looking bad right now."

Not that the other characters know how to express what they're really thinking or feeling. They either spout some incredibly generic lines (with lots of cursing and "tough guy" talk), or respond nonchalantly to dodge a subject. It's all very shallow stuff.

Speaking of shallowness, the only thing the choices you're forced into do is determine the order in which people will die or otherwise leave the group. There are no branching paths, or options that become (in)accessible because of an earlier decision. Hell, you don't even get awesome glowing scars like in Mass Effect if you choose to kill some people. Nope, it all doesn't matter.

Finally the game has plenty of animation glitches. Character models suddenly popping into a certain stance, people floating above the ground and hands clipping through objects. Why does this happen in a game where every scene is completely scripted?

I remember the hype when this game came out, and I see the overwhelmingly positive reviews it still has now, but I don't get it. There are much better games out there, and also much better movies.

A gripping story that has you on your seat from beginning to the end!

Telltale's The Walking Dead consists of 5 episodes, each taking around 2 hours to complete. There is also the extra DLC, 400 Days that takes around an hour and half. This game is best enjoyed after watching a few seasons of the TV show or reading a decent amount of the comics. That being said, for my playthrough, I only read the comics after playing this game.

This game is not based on the TV show or comics and doesn't adapt their story. It's an original story. And it is fantastic.

Now if you are looking to play a game, you are going to be disappointed. This is very story focused. It's a Point & Click adventure with a very strong story, but very little in terms of gameplay. It mostly consists of finding items, choosing different dialogue and quick time events. The gameplay itself is not engaging. You will not be wow'd by it.

What is does have is a very strong art style. The game very much looks like a comic book, with strong shading and draw lines. This has become a staple for all Telltale games, and sadly the early Walking Dead games haven't aged as well as some of the other games, such as The Wolf Among Us or Batman.

The story is fantastic throughout. It has amazing voice acting, story beats, and some characters can die depending on what choices you make. It feels like less of a game and more like watching a fairly long TV show. But it is a high quality TV show mind you.

I recommend you give this one a shot. It's an emotional tale that really pulls at your heartstrings.