We've Been Here Before -   If you’ve read all of my reviews for The Walking Dead, I’m sure you’ll say that I copy and paste the same review every time by changing a few words around in the titles and just repeating what I said before. I’ve tried to do my best to not repeat what I’ve done before but improving upon what I did well in the previous review and expanding just as Telltale did with their virtual version of the Walking Dead.

Wrapping Up the Season’s Story - With the end of the first season, you should expect there to be some emotional and action packed moments in this video game zombie-drama. That’s exactly what you get. Without really spoiling anything, you are left with a major decision that you had to face before to get what you want. The episode disperses major plot decisions far enough apart from each other to make this last episode tie the bow on my favorite game of the year.

Finally Some Real Zombie Action - From quick decision making to keeping zombies at bay, episode five’s gameplay felt the most polished of the first season, finally giving a true gaming experience to what has seemed to be an interactive adventure. Using first-person shooter and platforming mechanics in this click-based adventure title, everything melded into what I would imagine for this kind of game.

Emotional Yet Perfect Quick-Time Events - *SPOILER ALERT* From the last scene between Lee & Clementine to the horror on the rooftops, each quick-time event was super emotional yet perfect. Jumping into the bell tower after cutting off Lee’s forearm is not a stress-free experience even for a gamer set with his next tough decision being whether he is going to have Mac & Cheese or some frozen diner. *END SPOILERS*

I’ve played a lot more emotional video games this year than I have in the past and The Walking Dead has to be one of the most emotional I’ve ever played. With the loss of several virtual friends, you can’t feel great after playing the last episode especially wondering what will be left for that one character.

Your Decisions Do Matter - Last night, I was stuck in the middle of writing this review. I just couldn’t figure out what else needed to be added in to give a good proclamation for why The Walking Dead is my favorite game of the year. Then it hit me while I was listening to a podcast: your plot decisions made through actually do affect how the story ends.

The first game that I came across that I thought allowed for my decisions to actually make a difference was Fallout 3. After nuking Megaton and running rampant on the rest of the capital wasteland, my decisions really didn’t matter as there were only three true conclusions with a few characters dying at different intervals. The season’s end may have about the same conclusion for everyone else but the journey separated and makes multiple playthroughs of the entire game worth it.

/LOADING_ERROR

Can’t Load the Zombies - As per usual, I came across something that really bugged me and horrendous bugged me the entire time I played the episode. Thought it had nothing to do with in-game mechanics, I just couldn’t get the game to load. After downloading the episode five update on Steam a dozen times with the same result, I just wasn’t able to open the game.

Since my Steam version wasn’t loading, I had to get another copy of the game to finish this review. I tried to get into contact with Telltale to see if they were expecting this but I never got any emails or at replies on Twitter back. It’s really frustrating because I wasn’t able to finish my story arch the way I wanted to with the story I started from episode one. Despite all this though, The Walking Dead is easily my favorite game this year.

Despite how queasy your stomach may get, the stylization of the game kept things almost impersonal from how gamers can relate to the characters but it’s close enough to showing realistic models to make you understand the trials and tribulations the characters have to bear. Despite who you are or what kinds of games you play, you need to play Telltale’s The Walking Dead.