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The Walking Dead: Episode 05 - No Time Left
After four episodes of The Walking Dead I was looking forward to the fifth instalment with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. As much as I wanted to see the conclusion to the tale, I knew that happy endings are few and far between in this zombie infested gameworld. Anyone that played the previous games will know that Lee has his work cut out for him in this finale.
The subtitle for this episode is "No Time Left" and nothing could be more fitting. After being bit in the last episode Lee is running out of time to rescue Clementine from the mysterious stranger that kidnapped her. As such, this episode is paced much faster than the previous ones and is also over much sooner. The game wastes no time in forcing you to make some tough choices and one of the earliest scenes is also one of the most gruesome ones I have seen in the series. As this is the final episode, you can expect to see all the loose plot threads wrapped up but don't expect to always be pleased with the results. The sole purpose of this episode is to rescue Clementine but there are still a few chances to reconnect with other survivors. It is a pity that some characters suddenly act very uncharacteristic but I guess this is a side effect from allowing choices from previous episodes to carry over. Obviously not everyone made the same choices so some of the events might seem more natural to certain players than others. Speaking of choices, this was also the episode that made it most clear that all those life or death choices you have had to make in the past didn't have quite as big an impact as it seemed at the time. This series has been lauded for the choices given to players but when I went back to check on whether choosing different paths would change the game dramatically I was somewhat disappointed. I guess Telltale should be applauded for managing to create such a great illusion of choice while keeping the actual plot fairly linear. I'm obviously not going to spoil anything about the plot but as far as finales go, this episode manages to satisfy. There are some great action sequences that don't feel quite as out of character as the ones in the previous episode but there are also some very dramatic conversations that had me on the edge of my seat. As for the ending, while I didn't burst out in tears like many other players claim they did, I definitely felt the emotional impact. Once again I have to give credit to the voice actors for managing to infuse their characters with such heartfelt emotion. In this episode in particular all the characters have their chance to shine with some very touching dialogue. The music deserves praise as well for perfectly complimenting the action and of course the visuals still make excellent use of the graphic novel style. The "stranger" feels a bit like he was shoehorned in at the last moment to create some drama for this episode but this doesn't detract from the overall experience. If you have played the previous episodes then I am sure that you will not want to pass on this one. While it would have been nice to see previous choices make a bigger overall impact on the story, Telltale has done a fine job with the license and I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us.
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System Requirements
TAGS: The Walking Dead, Episode 5, Lee, Kenny, Clementine,
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