Walking Dead Episode 2 ‘Starved for Help’ Review: I’ve done horrible things
Telltale Games has released the second installment in their ‘Walking Dead’ series, this one titled ‘Starved for Help’. The second episode brings more depth to each of the characters and the story evolves as each of them push onward in their struggle for survival.
The second episode takes place three-months after the first zombie-related incidents, players still assume the role of Lee Everett as he guides Clementine through the the zombie-apocalypse. Though you had choices in the first game, the original episode wasn’t long enough to really explore how your actions were affecting your story-line. The second episode gives Telltale an opportunity to do so, and they do it very well.
Just as it was in the original episode, your dialogue choices will decide how your companions will feel about you, if they will help you or if they even believe you. Episode two is all about choices, not just the dialogue ones. These are the moral-testing, gut-wrenching decisions where there is no right or wrong answer. The kind of choices where you decide who you are in the game, the kind you could regret.
The true focus of this episode is reminding you that you are surviving an entire world, not just zombies. Food is scarce, people are a commodity and anything you have can be taken away or destroyed. Humans are your enemy in this episode not just the zombies. Telltale focuses on the basic human instincts that take over our conscious when put in a survival situation. It’s said that situations like these will change a man forever, and that is exactly what is happening to Lee.
What episode 2 revealed to me was that Telltale has many tricks up their sleeves and it looks like I will never be able to predict what the next episode will be like. The story-line in this episode plays out like a one-act play. Gradually setting up the scene, setting the tone for this particular moment in Lee’s life and delivering a hard dose of reality. All of this is ignited when strangers offer Lee and his companions a simple trade of food for gas.
You won’t find any extreme changes in the gameplay from the first episode. Puzzles, dialogue and searching will take up most of your time. The animation and voice-acting is on par with the series so far and the game moves the story along at a steady and suspenseful pace. With these simple ingredients already pre-set in the first episode, what I was looking for now was content and Telltale delivered.
