The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 4 - Amid the Ruins is the penultimate chapter of the season and, as in the case of Season 1 and The Wolf Among Us unfortunately also the weakest of all so far. A strange narrative pace prevents the game reaches the same level of excellence of its predecessors. Check out the full review below.
Episode 4 Persists ...The Curse
The story begins right where Episode 3 - In Harm's Way ended with a horde of zombies surrounding Clementine and her friends. The group ends and spreading the episode follows the protagonist while it tries to survive without supplies and shelter. The goal, at least to start, is to find the rest of his lost teammates.
As mentioned earlier, the pace of the narrative is awkward. Although a central theme which extends to the episode as a whole, individual scenes are loose without much connection with one another. All are there for Clemetine interact with each member of your group, but in no time the dialogue gives more depth to the characters.
Of course, it would not be The Walking Dead if one does not die, but the way it happens is so hasty that the loss of these characters is not valued. Can’t feel how this affects the other group, except for a brief moment. Bad things happen, people react to it, but then forget and continue what they were doing. It's weird and does not match what we saw these characters so far.
But what draws the most attention is how the developers limit the options of Clementine dialogue, something that is not common in the series. Throughout the series, the full range of possible reactions of the character in a particular scene, it was presented in the form of dialogue options (obviously respecting what would be plausible for each situation).
However, in Amid the Ruins, at various times the reactions of Clementine become limited, not exploring all the ways that young survivor would behave. In a game that is totally based on the choices made by the player to direct the narrative, this error is glaring and almost totally breaks the interest.
The Return of Exploration
Mechanically, Walking Dead continues to maintain the same style of its predecessors. This time, however, Telltale has chosen to put more scenes of exploitation where the player is free to interact with the environment. In recent times, the developer had chosen not to put so many scenes like this in their games, making everything in the game to flow more naturally. Now see them again Amid the Ruins seems a backward step unnecessary, especially when navigating through these environments is extremely slow.
Graphic and Sound
Graphically the game remains the same level as the previous. The cartoony style does not take away the seriousness that brings the narrative, and there are few cases where there is a drop in frames per second. Generally this only occurs in exchanges of scenes or when many zombies are present.
As for the sound, the performance of the entire cast remains splendid, combined with a soundtrack that can create the climate that the episode is proposed.
Conclusion
The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 4 - Amid the Ruins is a weak episode compared to the rest of the season and the series as a whole. Dubious decisions in terms of narrative, along with scenes that make the game out of its normal pace, create an experience below the standard of quality that is associated with the series. Now is hope that the developer can compose himself in the last episode to close the season in a dignified manner.
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