The Walking Dead Season Two: Ep 2 – A House Divided

8.25 Overall Score
Story: 9/10
Graphics: 9/10
Performance: 7/10

Gripping story continues | Responses given mean more

Tech problems remain | Not as much action | Waiting for the next episode

Game Info

GAME NAME: The Walking Dead Season Two: Episode 2 – A House Divided

DEVELOPER(S): Telltale Games

PUBLISHER(S): Telltale Games

PLATFORM(S): PlayStation Vita

RELEASE DATE(S): April 22, 2014

Who wants more infected zombies all up in their business?  If you experienced the first episode of The Walking Dead Season Two, the answer is you.  You do.  And since episode two was released at the same time as episode one on the PlayStation Vita, you get to experience it right away, you lucky duck you.

(The review below will contain story spoilers, though attempts were made to keep them vague.)

bridge

Episode Two – A House Divided starts you off right where you were at the end of episode one, reeling from the walker attack and the aftermath of your decision on who to try to save. Starting on a down note shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone and I like how they put you right back into the world.  After you make your way back to your people with tales of your survival, you finally get a chance to get to know your brand new friend Sarah as the rest of the crew goes out searching for whoever went out searching for you.  Soon after you are left home alone, you get a visitor to you cabin in the form of the new creepy bad guy.  As you accompany him through his tour of the dwelling, you get to decide if you want to lie to him or tell the truth about quite a few things.  All this will again affect how he reacts back to you and how other characters will react later.

Once your crew returns, it’s time to make like Willie Nelson and get on the road again.  After a pretty tense sequence on a railroad bridge, you find yourself at yet another new potential home, but this one comes with a nice surprise for Clementine.  You spend the rest of the episode getting to know the survivors from this new area, until a threat causes more trauma for our new and old friends.

zombiepole

A House Divided is a pretty dialog heavy episode.  There are really only a few action sequences to become involved in here, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Just be aware that if you’re looking for the action from episode one, you may be disappointed.  Thankfully, the story is interesting enough to hold the episode together.  It seemed to me like more and more of the answers you gave actually meant something and influenced people’s opinion of you.  There’s really not much to figure out in terms of puzzles until the very end, so keep that in mind as well.

The technical hiccups that were present in Episode One return here in all their stuttering glory.  I had less patience for them this time around, but it’s not a game killer.  Touch controls are also the same, which had me using the touch screen only when I had to aim at something I was about to kill.  The sound and graphics package is still at the top of its game.  Every new character has been wonderfully cast again and you get the real TV show storytelling treatment.

clemluke

THE RECOMMENDATION

You played Episode One of Season Two, so you’re obviously going to play Episode Two.  Just be prepared for more dialog, less action, and the same jumpiness between scenes.  Also be prepared for a difficult wait for Episode Three, because things are getting good.

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Author: Shaun Zimmerman View all posts by
Still waiting for the Commodore 128... Find me on Twitter @Zimm108

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