Telltale's The Walking Dead series has been a landmark in gaming overthe past few years, signalling a shift in mature storytelling ingaming as well as bringing with it the rise of episodic gaming. Butthere has always been a big problem of Telltale's The Walking Deadsharing the same universe as the comics it is based upon, yet neveractually making an effort to connect with them beyond a small cameofrom fan favourite Glenn in the premier episode of the first season.
The Walking Dead: Michonne sets to change this by providing gamerswith a mini-series focussed on one of the comic books most mysteriousand beloved characters; and though it never quite manages to reachthe heights that the previous two seasons have achieved, it doesprovide some brilliant steps forward for the series.
For people following the comic books, TWD: Michonne takes place after'All Out War Part Two' wherein the epic battle between Alexandria,the Hilltop and the Kingdom against Negan and the Saviours concludes.Michonne mysteriously takes off from Rick and the other survivors atAlexandria and sets out on her own, in an effort to come to termswith her inner demons following all the terrible things she has doneto survive in the apocalypse so far.
Finding her on the verge of suicide, Michonne is taken in by Pete andhis crew on their boat who believe it is safer to survive on thewater than it is on land. However when their boat is put out ofaction by a wreckage under the water Pete and Michonne get caught upin a quarrel between two young teenagers and the survivors settlementof Monroe.
In the three episode series, Michonne and Pete must help theteenagers escape with their lives from the deadly group of survivorsas they are hunted down relentlessly by Monroe's leader and hermurderous brother.
TWD: Michonne provides a story that whilst entertaining does littleto make itself stand out from typical zombie survival stories. Itdoes provide plenty of action, as well as a situation that isn'tquite as clear cut as it initially seems which certainly give theseries it's driving force but don't go in expecting quite what youwould normally anticipate from Telltales TWD games.
Being the character she is, Michonne's story has little emotionallydriven downtime. After everything she has endured she is cold, battlehardened and the complete opposite end of the spectrum from previousseries protagonists Lee and Clementine. But that doesn't mean thatTWD: Michonne doesn't have it's more emotionally driven sections.These involve Michonne and her desire to find out what happened toher children, who she has not seen or heard from since before theapocalypse began. It allows for character development she has not hadoutside of AMC's The Walking Dead, the equally good TV showadaptation that plays fast and loose with it's faithfulness to thesource material.
These sections add a whole other dimension to the typical zombieaction however, introducing elements of psychological horror which goout of their way to play on the mind of the player and provide somepretty spectacular sections of gameplay.
Speaking of gameplay, if you've played a Telltale game before youknow exactly what to expect of TWD: Michonne. There are nosignificant additions to gameplay, though it is how the game ispresented that has certainly evolved, providing one of the mostcinematic and well directed Telltale games ever produced.
The camera in TWD: Michonne often imitates handheld camera work,tracking around characters and environment as it moves through theenvironment, in comparison to the relatively static camera work inTelltale's previous games. During action sequences the game alsochanges aspect ratio from 16:9 fullscreen to letterbox format,dramatically increasing cinematic quality. There is also much fewerjarring transitions and graphical bugs that the Telltale games arewidely criticised for. Characters also have smoother, more realisticannimations in comparison to the relatively robotic movements thathave plagued Telltale games for years.
The overall presentation standard in TWD: Michonne is much higherthan any Telltale game previous to it and it goes a long way inmaking TWD: Michonne much better than it would have been relying onit's story alone.
My biggest criticisms of TWD: Michonne come in both it's length andsurprisingly it's main character. Each episode weighs in at about anhour each and that's even with exploring the environment heavily andinteracting with pretty much everything you can. These are amongTelltale's shortest episodes ever created and considering that theseries is only 3 episodes long that adds up to roughly 3 hours worthof content.
My complaint about Michonne is in reference to Telltale's 'pick yourpath' approach to telling it's story. As a long time fan of both thecomics and the TV series I have a pretty set in stone impression ofMichonne, therefore most of the options you're given to do in thegame just feel out of character for Michonne. She will always seekdominance over anyone who stands in her way, even if they have hercaptive. She is never one to dwell on mourning a loss, she is neverone to be easy on people. She is for much of the comic prettyemotionally void and speaks with her silence. The game allowing youto choose to be submissive to a group of captors is completely out ofcharacter for her and in many ways ruins her characterisation.However, as you grow to learn more about her over the course of thegame you begin to sympathise with her and understand why she is theway she is in the comics, making it easier to naturally see thingsfrom her perspective.
On the whole, The Walking Dead: Michonne is a good entry to theTelltale series, though nothing spectacular. It is vital to TWD comicbook readers, though what part it has to play in the Telltale TWDseries is yet to be seen, perhaps TWD Season 3 will hold the answerswe are looking for, but in the time I would give this a solidrecommendation.
TheWalking Dead: Michonne – 7/10
+FastPaced, Action Centric Walking Dead Tale
+EveryCharacter Is Great
+IncrediblyCinematic & Better Optimised
-FarToo Short
-SomePuzzling Actions/Dialogue Options For Michonne
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