Horror

The End

HIGH The walkie-talkie resolution wasn't a total disaster.

LOW The conflict in the final scene felt too staged.

WTF Where's the obvious dialogue option in the alley?

World War Z and The Walking Dead take a similar conceptual approach to the zombie apocalypse, but have fundamentally different views on human society. The basically optimistic World War Z suggests that social problems are a surface malady that the zombie apocalypse would strip away, letting the moral strength of mankind ultimately show through triumphantly. The Walking Dead, on the other hand, sees social order and altruism as artifice, a contortion of natural human behavior that falls apart once the zombies consume the social mass that held it in place.

It's a special 1/5 British edition of the Gamecritics.com podcast. This week we tackle Wreck-It Ralph, Thanksgiving shout outs, and what we've been playing during our long hibernation. Featuring Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, Richard Naik, and special guest host Sinan "Redcoat" Kubba.

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Like many people who played Telltale's episodic game, The Walking Dead, I had read and enjoyed many of the comics beforehand. I appreciated that they took the subject seriously. I don't mean that in the sense of a John Romero film, where the zombies themselves are rather silly but serve to illustrate serious social questions. Rather, like World War Z, The Walking Dead decides on a set of rules about zombies and a premise about people, and unflinchingly follows those principles into the abyss.

Vampires are traditionally lithe, powerful, and disquieting entities. I recently had the opportunity to play a new action game featuring said creatures, and sadly, it only managed to convince me that it was the last of those things.

Survival horror games aren't what they used to be. Once upon a time, they were about survival and horror. It makes sense. It's what the genre is called, after all. These titles would encompass qualities of mystery and exploration as the player fought to stay alive with every step. Over the years, they've increasingly become about action, gunfights, and an overload of cheap jump scares. I prefer the former, despite a plethora of the latter.

I'm still between review games at the moment, so I started playing Silent Hill: Book of Memories on Vita. I liked the demo and I'm a big fan of dungeon crawlers and Roguelikes when they're done well, so despite all of the negative talk I heard, I decided to go for it. I'm about ten levels into the campaign so far, and I think it's actually pretty good—but that statement needs some qualification.

No Sympathy for this Devil

HIGH Finally figuring out how to get that woman to climb into the bath so I can electrocute her!

LOW Why is Satan's son involved in a boss fight?

WTF Whoever edited these kill videos may have a slight gore fetish...

This week, we discuss our favorite scary games, and then have a mega discussion of The Walking Dead: Episode 4! With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Richard "Defender Against The Robot Uprising" Naik, Dylan Collins and special guest Jeffrey Matulef.

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How Did You Not See That There???

HIGH Seeing Clem's training from Episode Three pay off.

LOW Doing the wrong actions and dying because of the goofy controls.

WTF You really think you can carry that in a backpack?!?