Review

Developed by:Telltale Games Published by:Telltale Games Genre(s):
  • Adventure
  • Platform:
  • Handhelds
  • Microsoft
  • Nintendo
  • PC
  • Sony
  • Cost:$24.99 (For Full Season) ESRB Rating:MATURE Players:1 Release date:December 17, 2013 Reviewed on:PC Episode Release Date:June 22, 2014
    9.3

    The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 4: Amid The Ruins

    If you’ve played the pervious episode, then the phrase “out of the frying pan and into the fire” should be meaningful. Things aren’t going so well for Clementine’s group. Starved, broken, filthy, miserable – these are all understatements when it comes to describing their state of being. I honestly don’t know why I thought things would get better in “Amid the Ruins”…

    The setting for this episode is so fitting for what takes place. After fleeing from Carver’s “community”, our ragtag group of survivors find themselves in a dire predicament. They’ve become separated from one another, zombies are everywhere, and several of them are severely wounded. Even if they all were able to meet up, they’d have no shelter or food and the weather has taken a turn for the worse (fall is quickly becoming winter). Oh and there’s a baby on the way. Yup, things can’t possibly get any worse right?

    Of course they can. In a world where humans feed on one another, dead or otherwise, things can always get worse. Yet, it should come to no surprise that Amid the Ruins isn’t necessarily about the current situation itself. The focus remains on the group and how they are or aren’t able to cope with what’s going on. Who’s going to betray the group in an effort to keep themselves alive? How far will someone go to save those they barely know? Will those who’re grieving take out their frustrations on the others or will they simply shut down, no longer able to deal? Interesting enough, these questions are not just aimed at Clem, but also at the player controlling her. As the proverbial glue that’s holding these strangers together, how you respond to this crisis is certainly important.

    Though there is a lot going on, Amid the Ruins is ironically a calm episode. There aren’t many twists and turns plot-wise or random action segments to worry about. Stuff happens of course, but most of the episode is filled with dialog. This isn’t an issue mind you as it’s good to have lulls every now and then. What I did have a problem with, though, was how everyone leaned on Clementine. This is nothing new; I’ve complained about this very thing when I reviewed previous episodes. But Amid the Ruins really took things to an unbelievable level. There is one part of the story where the group intentionally splits up to search for shelter. One stayed in the area to check out a local observation deck while the other trekked towards an old museum. I happened to go with the characters that were searching nearby before being told to find out what was keeping the second group. Walking down the path towards them I noticed a sign that read “museum – a mile away”… So then, because the adults were too busy, she was sent to by herself to a place that was a decent ways away, in an unfamiliar area, to check on adults who might have been attacked by zombies? That just doesn’t make sense.

    The silliness of an argument about what makes sense in a game featuring zombies does not escape me. Nor does the fact that the player is controlling a child and the only way to see what’s going on is by putting the player in the middle of the action. And to be fair, you didn’t actually have to walk the entire mile; the game loaded her at the museum after taking a few steps. Still, it’s hard to get over the fact that the adults were putting so much faith in someone who isn’t even a tween yet. The idea was to realistically show what people would do if zombies walked the earth. I don’t believe that adults (with guns) would send a child (armed with a pocket knife) to check on other adults (with guns) by herself when they could do it. There was one scene where Clem was asked to talk to a sad adult to get them to help deliver a baby. The men and women were too afraid to ask themselves so they sent in the little girl. Somehow, her life experience in dealing with those who are grieving would be a benefit when it came to comforting someone much older than her – a plausible statement, but not really believable given the circumstances.

    Again, I understand why these plot choices were made. And to be honest, it doesn’t hurt my overall enjoyment of the episode; most people won’t even bother thinking about these things as the rest of the game is so great. At the end of the day, Amid the Ruins did help to push the story along in meaningful ways. It isn’t as good as some of the previous episodes but it was able to accomplish its goal in setting up the final – “No Going Back” can’t get here soon enough!

    Gameplay:

    9

    Not as good as some of the previous episodes, but good nonetheless.

    Graphics:

    10

    The same as always: Great!

    Sound:

    10

    Same as the graphics.

    Replay Value:

    8

    Most will want to see their story through to the end before starting over. Once all of the episodes are out I can see this score going up.

    Final Score:

    9.3

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