After a few delays, Overkill’s The Walking Dead has finally shambled onto Steam, accompanied by the cinematic launch trailer above. We’re still putting it through its paces for our review, but it doesn’t make the best first impression. I took it for a quick spin today, and things did not go very well.
The first story mission is a ‘defend your base’ deal where you’re just sort of flung into a big mess. There’s a horde of zombies coming, there are defences to set up, gates to guard and no time at all to really prepare. My team, down one person right from the get-go, was clearly a bit lost, myself included. None of us knew how to build defenses or where we should build them, and it’s clear we were just expected to figure it out in the 30 seconds we had before the zombies got into the compound.
When I got to one of the gates, the zombies were already through. I tried to repair the gate, but that proved to be a bit tricky, what with all the zombies trying to munch on me. It’s nauseating the way that, the moment they get close to you, they grab you, wrenching the camera from your control. I had three do it in quick succession, which was about as much fun as the time I went on Space Mountain after too many daiquiris.
Finally, one of the grabby zombies pinned me, and with my mute buddies having fun elsewhere, I quickly became lunch. And then it froze. It was more fun than the TV show, but I’m not rushing back for another round.
The rest of the missions might be great, but I'm just a bit put off, honestly. Keep an eye out for our proper review early next week.
