The Walking Dead "All That Remains"

    Once again Telltale Games gives us the wonderful gift of The Walking Dead. I cannot even describe how excited I am about this game. When they released Season 1, I could barely contain myself. I eagerly awaited every episode of the game and I was absolutely obsessed with the release dates. I heard that Season 2 was going to be released on December 29th and yet again I found myself anxiously awaiting it's arrival.
    There have been two previous installments to The Walking Dead game. Those are Season 1 and 400 Days. Season 1 starts us off when the zombie apocalypse actually happens and 400 Days puts us , well, 400 Days into the the epidemic. The game is not so much action packed as it is choice based. This game is in a league of it's own as far as game play. You are forced to make choices to every situation and conversation that you encounter in the game. Some of these choices aren't that big of a deal while some are more heavy... and when I say heavy I mean downright depressing. Let's just say there will be blood.
    Season 2 starts us off as Clementine. For those of you haven't played the previous seasons, Clementine was a main character of the first season. We all know that nothing is moral or right in The Walking Dead and the story of Clementine is no different. She's a little girl in a messed up world and she experiences a lot of horrible things. The very beginning is already filled with traumatizing moments that make you sick to your stomach.
    The reason I love the Walking Dead is because of the emotional tug is has on me. I am completely enveloped by the story and I seem to feel everything she feels. When she is in a hopeless situation, I feel hopeless. When  a zombie attacks and I'm forced to think on my feet my heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest. What's also incredibly interesting in this story is the way the human survivors act and treat each other. This is something The Walking Dead focuses on, much more than the zombies, is the crumble of society and how humans will turn into savages in order to survive. There is never a boring moment in this game.
   Telltale games is ingenious for coming up with this episode system. Every episode is about 2 hours long of game play and then you are forced to wait for the next episode. And of course every episode ends with a huge cliffhanger.
   I definitely rate "All That Remains" a 10 out of 10. It is nothing less than amazing. This game however, is not for the light of heart. You will be forced to sit in on some horrifying experiences and you will be forced to who you make a connection with, what you do to survive, and who lives or dies.
    I can't wait for the next one!!!

Gone Home...

     I enter the game as Katie Greenbriar. I have just returned from studying abroad in Europe and am expecting to come home to a warm welcome from my family. Upon arriving it appears as if no one is home. It's raining cats and dogs and the door is locked. Where did everyone go? Why the hell is no one here for me? What's going on here?!?

    It is here that my adventure begins. Gone Home is a first person exploratory adventure game. It set in 1995 . You can tell by looking at all the pictures of everyone with their perms and big bangs. There is even a salon ticket that you find for Katie's mom that lists the charges for a perm, shampoo set, and manicure. The house is also littered with cassette tapes (do those even exist anymore?) You get free range of the Greenbriar home, which is a mansion that the family inherited from a dead uncle. The house is filled with secrets and family history that hides itself in scattered notes and messages. The object of the game is to explore the house and find out where everyone went.

    The game is a lot like Amnesia: The Dark Descent in the sense of exploring every object, nook, and cranny. Gone Home is even a little creepy. Not creepy in the sense that there are monsters stalking you but creepy in the sense of flickering lights and a thunderstorm happening outside. The house itself even creaks and moans and there are some areas that are a little unsettling when you find them. The story of Gone Home is not scary at all, just a little bittersweet.

    Notes and letters litter the house in every room. It would seem as if the family was a little untidy with all the trash laying around. On every single one of these notes the story unravels a little more and you start to find out what is really going on with the family, and lets just say this family has A LOT of secrets. What makes this personal however, is that these secrets are very real and could happen to anyone. 

    Along with these notes you also stumble upon the occasional tape of Riot Grrl music. It seemed like an odd choice for the game since it was so melancholy, but the music gives the game a sense of teenage rebellion and angst. I definitely listened to Bratmobile when I was a teenager and angsty. It was nice to have a change from the constant sound of rain and thunder for a while.

    I would highly recommend this game. Even though there isn't much action it keeps you locked in and motivated to keep playing. The game doesn't drag on or lag in any spots. The beauty of the home and the secrets of your family will keep you interested until the very end. It's a touching experience to uncover all the mysteries of the Greenbriar home. I'd say The Fullbright Company wins with this one!

Beyond Two Souls

So let's talk about Beyond Two Souls for a moment. I know that this game came out a few months ago and I bought it the second it came out on the shelves. I actually preordered it through Gamestop (who knows how much good that actually does.) I was extremely excited to play this game because I loved Heavy Rain. There isn't a game like Heavy Rain out there so when I heard the creators of that game were coming out with this, I was eager to play.
     I have to admit that the story was gripping in the beginning. You get to grow up with a girl, named Jodie, that has a very special gift, or some would say, a curse. She is tied to an entity that lives in the spirit realm. This makes her the subject of research to a paranormal lab. Now this isn't the whole story, but you have to play the game yourself to experience all that this story has to offer.
    The game jumps around a bit. One second you're Jodie as a little girl, the next you're young adult Jodie. The life of this girl is a terrible one and is plagued with so much heartbreak and abuse that you can't help but feel sorry for her. So many bad things happen to Jodie, at certain times it gets to the point where your screaming "For God's sake! Will someone give this girl a break??!" The game however, does give you some heartwarming moments that grant relief from all the suffering she goes through.
    As I said, the story itself was gripping, as for the gameplay, that's another story. The gameplay is almost non-existent. You do get some combat here and there, but as for the entire game it's more like watching a movie. Unlike Heavy Rain where you actually had some mystery solving to do, Beyond Two Souls does not really offer even a puzzle to solve. I found myself growing bored and not wanting to play. Honestly the only thing that kept me going was to see the ending.
    The ending is where I can say the game truly shined. It was haunting, and your choices weighed heavy as to who would live or die. The choices at the end were hard to make and it was a little unsettling to watch some of the events play out.  The cool part about the ending is that you have the option of getting one out of 11 endings. The endings are obviously based upon the choices you make throughout the game via Silent Hill style.
    Overall I would not recommend this game for someone who likes a lot of action. If you like an emotional story and choice based scenarios, then this is the game for you. Jodie's character is truly memorable as well as the entity that is bound to her. While this video game lacks in action and puzzle solving, it does make up for it in story-telling. Just be prepared in knowing that you are going to be watching cutscenes most of the time.

Happy gaming!

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