The Walking Dead: Season 2 – Episode 2: A House Divided Review

The Walking Dead: Season 2 – Episode 2: 

A House Divided Review

Early in the second episode of Telltale’s The Walking Dead: Season 2, Clementine engages in a conversation with a new character. It’s a difficult conversation, with each choice you make carrying a weight that will likely not be revealed for a while yet, but there is a definite sinister tone to the dialogue. And then, with only a few carefully chosen words, everything you took for granted in the previous episode is brought into question, and the story goes in an unexpected new direction.

And all from one, brief conversation.

Telltale once again manages to craft a story that is never quite what you think it is going to be. The game leaves an obvious set of connections for you to make, then shows you the logic in your thinking. Are the people you are with really your friends, or has circumstance tricked you into thinking that? Are you fooling yourself, or are they fooling you? Will you stand by them? Should you stand by them?

The ability to raise subtle questions like these is the work of master storytellers, and Telltale is at the top of its game in A House Divided. Your choices are packed with potential consequences, many of which won’t fully play out until future episodes, especially the choices that result in the ominous note that the character “will remember” notification

However, some decisions are so immediately impactful that you may not want to make a decision at all. It isn’t about choosing the right or wrong answer, it’s about choosing sides. No matter what, there will be fallout.

The game also never lets you forget who it is that will pay the price for those choices. In Season One, protagonist Lee Everett was a grown man. Conflict was unfortunate, but inevitable and as a grown man, Lee could handle the consequences. In Season Two, the protagonist is Clem, and 11-year old girl. It is massively unfair that she is constantly in a situation where her actions, regardless of her intentions, can end up getting people killed or causing conflict between others. But that’s the world of Walking Dead, and part of why Season Two is shaping up to be just as good, if not better than its predecessor. Episode Two hammers that point home, again and again forcing Clem to make impossible choices and then reminding us that she is a child.

In the first episode, the story was somewhat limited by the setup it needed to get out of the way. Players needed to reorient themselves to Clem as the primary character, an entire cast of new characters needed to be introduced, and both their situation and Clem’s involvement in it needed to be justified. It was a lot to get through, and the episodic treatment of the story turned out to be a slight disadvantage. Episode Two doesn’t have that limitation now that all the groundwork is laid, and it is one of the strongest single chunks of story in the entire series. There is no fat on it, no wasted moments of exploration or unnecessary dialogue. Every option is potentially impactful, and every move you make pushes the story further.

There is a bit more of a hands-off approach to this episode than most. You’re making as many choices as ever, maybe even more, but the amount of time you actually spend wandering around and solving puzzles as Clem is among the lowest in the series. That’s an inconsequential sacrifice though, since there is a weight to the choices you make.

This episode is also a visual improvement over the previous one, partly because the story takes place over a larger and more varied set of environments than the cabin and woods that were the focus last time. There is more to see, with impressive sights we haven’t seen before in the series, and a strong use of color that goes beyond the uniform, Earthy look of the previous episode.

Conclusion

The season can continue to churn out episodes as strong as this one, The Walking Dead Season 2 is on the way to matching the excellence of Season One. And that is saying something.

Highs

Improves on episode one

Challenges what you thought you new

No fat on the ep at all

Lows

Impossible to know how choices will or won’t play out

We want more

Earth Defense Force 2025: Protect the Planet

Earth Defense Force 2025: Protect the Planet

EDF 2026is a sequel to the earlier Earth Defense Force 2017 especially developed for consoles like PS 3 and Xbox 360. The game has been developed by Sandlot and it has become extremely popular among the gamers. The alien forces have returned and the EDF soldiers are required to defend their planet. This time the insects are larger and stronger than before and have the power to destroy not only the EDF soldiers but the entire humanity.

Aliens have returned after a gap of 8 years

EDF was formed in anticipation of an alien attack in the beginning of the 21st century. This force

 includes soldiers and contributions from nearly every nation of the world. As expected, the aliens attacked in 2017 and the EDF soldiers fought bravely to repel these Ravagers in the deserts of Arizona. The aliens have returned after 8 years and the insects are spiders this time, making gigantic webs to catch humans. You enter the game as a EDF soldier and start with easy missions. These missions gradually become difficult and you need more powerful and varied weapons to defeat the aliens. You get nearly 700 weapons to take on the giant bugs in this action packed video game.

Fast game that does not give time to think
EDF 2025 is an insanely fast and action filled game where you do not get a moment’s respite or time to pause and reflect upon your strategies. To someone, it could be a mindless imagination of giant insects invading earth and annihilating mankind while there would be others praising the developer’s imagination and the stunning visuals and life like sounds of the battleground. It is an open world video game that is deemed repulsive by many because of the presence of giant bugs and spiders. The details of the objects are sketchy and many feel annoyed by lack of craftsmanship in this videogame that focuses entirely upon giant ants and spiders at the cost of other aspects.

Yes, you are busy fighting the alien robots and the insects most of the time but this approach is shameful in modern times. You as a player seem to have nothing else to do except anticipating the movements of the large insects and firing your weapons at these creatures. The audio is distracting and you hear nothing but the screams of alien creatures and human beings besides loud explosions. However, EDF 2025 remains a good game to pass your time if you like the idea of aliens invading the earth.