The Walking Dead as a family activity

[Kakistos153]

I've heard amazing things about the walking dead so i bought it on steam when it was on sale recently. I have an internet cap that means I have to really consider which of my purchases I will download in any given month so my question is this.

I would like to be more inclusive of my fiancée in my hobby and from what I've read about walking dead its more of an adventure-y, hands off kind of experience. would it be a horribly boring experience for her sit and play with me? We really enjoyed the TV series together and while i know its not the same thing i think the branding would be enough to get her to give it a try. She wouldn't be interested in actually controlling or anything. But from what i've heard about the game i think she would greatly enjoy the story aspects. so yeah, would this be a terribly boring chore for her or is there more choices and less action in the game?

If walking dead isn't suitable for this purpose does anyone have any suggestions of what could be?

 

[tippy2k2]

There is plenty of choice and the story aspect of the game is THE reason it is being called Game of the Year by so many...

...however, one of the major points in these choices is "choice under pressure". What this means for you is that the game forces you to make the decisions incredibly quick. There were a few times where I barely had time to read all the choices before I had to make up my mind. There are a lot of slower choices but most of the ones that REALLY affect the game are the ones where the game doesn't allow you to think, which would make it kind of tricky to discuss with someone what you should do.

 

[Smertnik]

Well, it's more of a interactive movie anyway. There's not much actual gameplay involved, you just choose dialogue options, do some QTEs here and there and use items in an obvious way. So yeah, the game is probably just as enjoyable to watch as to play, the only difference being that you lose that bit of a personal touch by not being able to make the dialogue and story choices yourself (although none of them affect the story in the long run anyway).

 

[Smooth Operator]

Actually it's probably best played with family because it's such a movie experience, and the gameplay part blows so you can let others deal with it.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I'd reckon it'd be a pretty entertaining as a joint experience.

The game in it's entirety even feels like a TV series with recaps and everything.

 

[aguspal]

Well, considerating than when I tried this "game" and realized its just yet another one of those that try to be more of an interactive film that as a videogame is horribly and boring as sin, I also showed it to my family and we all laughted at its horribleness. (AND this is despisted the fact than the love the TV show. Even THEN, they thougt the game was boring as fuck).


So I guess thats actually a good point for you, TWD.

 

[Kakistos153]

Excellent feedback guys. Really appreciate everyones input. I'll give this experiment a shot. I'll let you all know how it goes. Whether it ends up being something we really enjoy together or something we end up enjoying laughing at together.

 

[Abomination]

I played it with my girlfriend, though she wanted to watch as she gets really jumpy with most zombie games. It is one of the few games where the audience will enjoy the experience almost as much as the player.

 

[Ashhearth]

Seeing as a my friends and i all played it together making collective decisions about what we were going to do next and we all loved it I would say it works just fine. I would suggest even trading off who plays which chapter so you both get to play.

 

[Kakistos153]

Oh, While we're on the subject. would L.A. Noire suit for the same purpose? Also seems like its not really a gameplay intensive game.

 

[tofulove]

imo the walking dead would be horrible for kids. its to fucked up and depressing, also the quick time events in the game are not really good for groups, you cant all come to a census on what to say when you have 5 seconds to pick.

 

[LetalisK]

Oh, While we're on the subject. would L.A. Noire suit for the same purpose? Also seems like its not really a gameplay intensive game.

My wife and I played that together. It was quite fun, actually. Though, if either one of you are the type that is always "Oh, oh! No, go there! It's right there! No, the other way dumby!" all the time it will get irritating at the crime scenes.

 

[tippy2k2]

I absolutely hated LA Noire so my opinion will be slightly skewed...

I don't think it would work very well either. There's really no "investigating" the crime scenes; there's just you walking around picking everything up and the game tells you if it matters or not. There is minimal game-play so that's not really going to be an issue. I thought the interrogation process and the "fingering the perp" stuff was just plain broken so that's not very fun either...

If you had to play one of those two, I'd go with Walking Dead. $10 today for the series on XBLA is a freaking steal (I know you own it already but I'm advertising it anyway!) and the more I think about it, the more I realize that the crucial choices gives you a bit of time (and you can just pause it I suppose if the two of you need to arm wrestle or something to figure out who's opinion you should go with).

 

[Woodsey]

Oh, While we're on the subject. would L.A. Noire suit for the same purpose? Also seems like its not really a gameplay intensive game.

No. It's tortuous to play and it's tortuous to watch and listen to.

 

[Savagezion]

I absolutely hated LA Noire so my opinion will be slightly skewed...

I don't think it would work very well either. There's really no "investigating" the crime scenes; there's just you walking around picking everything up and the game tells you if it matters or not. There is minimal game-play so that's not really going to be an issue. I thought the interrogation process and the "fingering the perp" stuff was just plain broken

First, Walking Dead does the same thing as far as clues go pretty much. What is cool about Walking Dead is seeing not only how your group turns out but also seeing what other people did when they played at the end of every episode. It's interesting to see that the majority of players chose X over Y and how much disparity is between them.

LA Noire is more interesting if you take in the story. It has more hours invested in it though. But the cases are intriguing and the NPC dialogue is really good. LA Noire lends itself to spectator input more than Walking Dead goes.

I would say both are great choices.