From the television phenomenon to the lambda derivative product, there is only one step that Activision crosses with ease and in this case, it is The Walking Dead which passes through the grinder of the for-profit licensed game. Forget the opuses signed Telltales Games which, drawing inspiration from comic books, have managed to stand out from the simple zombie game to offer a thrilling and intimately personal gaming experience. With The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, Activision and the developers of Terminal Reality have only taken up the surface layer of the series, in other words zombies, survivors and resources, all mixed against a backdrop of deep America. And to complete the decor, or rather to please as many people as possible, the hero of the game is none other than Daryl Nixon, a character played on screen by Norman Reedus and acclaimed by viewers for his hotheaded, independent side. , a bit badass but ultimately endearing. Armed with his famous crossbow, he will try to join, with his brother Merle and a handful of survivors, Atlanta which seems to be protected by the pandemic. Those who follow the TV series diligently will notice that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct takes place before the events of Rick Grimes and his gang. Level scenario, we can not say that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct will mark the spirits. The game is above all intended to satisfy the fanboy in us.
Until death follows!
And what does the fanboy want? Rediscovering the spirit that made the AMC series popular, that is to say, surviving in the midst of the apocalypse, while helping others to form a small autonomous group where the common interest is important in survival. Almost nothing to do with The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. Your road trip to Atlanta will be an opportunity to meet survivors of varying fortunes. Help your neighbor and he will help you in return. It's pretty much the idea of the game, except that once in your group, you will decide the fate of your compatriots. Just because it's chaos outside doesn't mean you shouldn't be organized. Surviving in the world of The Walking Dead takes a lot of resources. Of course, you have to be armed because beating zombies with a hammer takes five minutes, but it immediately becomes much more complicated when a horde of about ten undead gathers in front of you. Firearms are therefore a good alternative, except that, noisy, they attract other prowlers. To be used only as a last resort. But you still need ammunition! And it is on this quest for resources that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is built. By helping a living, you get two extra arms to collect ammunition, food or gasoline. Moreover, fuel is the common thread of your adventures.
From the first minute of play, we know that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct will be missed. You just have to see the collision bug between the bucket and the backpack in the hut where your journey begins to realize it.
To reach Atlanta, you can choose between several accesses. Motorways have the particularity of saving you gas but will increase the risk of breakdowns. By making fewer stops, you will not be able to collect items necessary for your survival. On the other hand, choosing the small muddy country roads will quickly empty your diesel tank but will reduce the risk of breakdown while increasing the resources to be recovered. And of course, let's not forget the third option, this good old national that's not too expensive in gas, which won't damage the vehicle's engine too much and which offers a few pee stops to shop for ammunition, food and gasoline. Depending on the stops you have to make, you can therefore choose whether your teammates stay close to the vehicle or get involved. However, pay attention to their state of form or their aggressiveness because they can jeopardize the survival of the group according to your choices. Unfortunately, their involvement and the consequences in the game are only secondary and will not influence the game over, and we will quickly entrust them with a task without worrying too much about the result because well, the hero in the story it's Daryl!
Dead man walking
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is not a management game where you have to separate your troops, collect resources and choose one destination over another. The Terminal Reality game, to which we owe Blood Rayne or 4x4 EVO, is an FPS embellished with infiltration and memorable QTEs. Stalkers are slow creatures that are easy to kill from behind. A little stab in the head and we don't talk about it anymore. Avoid being seen or making noise because at that time they land by the dozens. Hence the interest of favoring blunt weapons rather than firearms. Crouching, crouching in the dark are two methods that have proven themselves except in the small world of The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. Although they have the brains in porridge, one would have expected a minimum of AI or instinct from the zombies. If some do not react to your presence while a fence separates you, others have a keen eye not hesitating to cross the whole street for a small hickey in the neck. The pinnacle is their ability to stay planted there, unable to climb on a car when you are posted on the roof, nor to bend down a few centimeters to avoid a plank of wood. And yet they are quite capable of breaking down a wooden door, but not a makeshift barricade. This is perhaps the main flaw of this The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct. The developers have focused on the attitude and reaction of walkers. It feels more like a bug ball than anything else. Close a metal door and the zombies will return to their original location. Retrace your steps and they'll turn around as if nothing had happened. And if despite all the glitches, you find yourself in the middle of a horde, then begins the QTE ball. There aren't many in the game, but this one will stick in your memory. Either way, you just have to aim for the head of the zombie that will bite you and press the trigger. Simple, effective.
The developers have focused on the attitude and reaction of walkers. It feels more like a bug ball than anything else."
The problem is that you will have to hit all the zombies, one by one, always with the same QTE and too bad if there are about twenty of them crawling in front of you. So to avoid this kind of sequences, either we will prefer to run relying on our compass indicating the objective to be reached, or we will use and abuse glitches, and the worst part is that it works! It will always happen that a walker spawns behind you but from a stroller you will easily manage to kill him in the back. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is not very hard and the challenge lacks interest. I would even say that the whole game lacks interest! Even visually, the title of Activision completes to make us want to play it. From the first minute of play, we know that The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct will be missed. You just have to see the collision bug between the bucket and the backpack in the hut where your journey begins to realize it. The textures are from another age, the game is sorely lacking in detail, the level-design is repetitive and even the modeling of the living dead is heartbreaking. After 10 minutes of play, we know that we will have to do with five or six different types of prowlers. As for Daryl or Merle, their modeling is barely passable. Fortunately, we are still entitled to their original voices and the official intro theme of the series. But is it really enough?
