There are plenty of zombie movies, games, and other forms of entertainment out there. Few have excelled as well as The Walking Dead, which began as a comic book series and has since spawned a successful television show and later even a video game series. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is another attempt at that final category, this time basing it off two of the show’s most popular characters. Instead of focusing on what makes The Walking Dead truly exceptional, namely the focus on the conflict among the survivors, Survival Instinct instead focuses more on the action, thus creating a fairly generic first person action game with zombies.
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct tells the story of Daryl and Merle prior to the events of television show, starting with the outbreak itself. Unfortunately, the game fails to at any point create an interesting plot. Daryl plays the role of the main protagonist and playable character. In a nutshell, Daryl must find his brother and then locate some sort of safe haven thereafter. Though the opening events of the game are supposed to be tragic, there’s absolutely nothing emotional about it, nor the remainder of the game for that matter. Along the way, there are some interactions with other characters, though virtually none of them serve any sort of purpose other than being used to send Daryl on a fetch quest, thus being able to continue the journey.
Initially, there’s a seemingly heavy focus on stealth. Yet, it isn’t difficult to figure out just how unnecessary and essentially broken of a system it is. Crouching or not, walkers tend to notice Daryl anyway, for instance. Tossing bottles as a distraction is a nice idea, but it proves to be a waste of time when just a few walkers take a couple of steps in the general direction before resuming standing around mindlessly. Speaking of mindlessness, enemy AI in Survival Instinct is about as bad as it gets. If detected, walkers will relatively slowly move in the direction of the player. Multiple walkers tend to line up in single file and advance in the same exact path. Other times, enemies are completely oblivious. In some areas, walkers will tear down fencing, doors, or claw away at gates even in circumstances that make absolutely make no sense. Of course, with the enemies being mindless entities to begin with, it might make sense for such foolishness. However, the issue here is clearly of game design. Examples such as walkers giving up on pursuit quickly, standing there making no effort to attack, and the way that they line themselves up dampen the challenge and tension of the experience.
Aside from the horrendous AI, the game is fairly playable. Melee weapons and firearms slowly become more available to use at their disposal, although killing enemies quickly turns into a chore. Most melee weapons require multiple shots to the head, and since swinging these weapons takes some time, taking out multiple walkers in succession becomes tedious. Contrary to the multiple strikes it usually takes to put down enemies, one execution strike can be done from behind an enemy with the push of a button.This action further highlights the uselessness of stealth when the only requirement is to be behind the enemy. With simple level designs and objectives, the most efficient method of completing the game is simply running around the sometimes numerous foes. While stamina is limited, it isn’t too difficult to find something to jump on or find a safe spot to rest up for a little bit. This is a factor that once again limits the tension the game attempts to create.
Concerning the objectives throughout the handful or so of levels that consist of The Walking Dead: Survival Instant, it’s essentially fetch quest after fetch quest. As aforementioned, most NPCs serve as the reason for these fetch quests and advancing the player through the level. Each location is fairly open to wander and collect essentials or scattered collectibles, but the limited size of these areas oftentimes means the next objective is but a few sprints away. As a result, enemies merely become obstacles and minor annoyances. An especial grievance regarding the enemies is how overdone the whole zombie-laying-down-looking-like-its-dead-but-it’s-really-going-to-stand-up-when-you-walk-past-it gimmick is. On the bright side, there are times when there is a fair abundance of actually moving walkers bunched together at once. This makes becoming swarmed a possibility, which is virtually the only occasion in which there’s a real sense of danger.
In regards to the visuals, they are not pretty, though they are one of the least of Survival Instinct’s concerns. Characters and environments aren’t greatly detailed, plus the walkers look hideous, and not in a well done way. It is not a surprise that a limited budget game such as this has less than appealing graphics, but at least they managed not to completely screw up the lighting, which actually doesn’t look bad in some areas. The flashlight is a nice touch for exploring areas that aren’t well lit. Nonetheless, there isn’t much to go over concerning this game’s appearance. While the presentation does no justice in immersing the player into the game, it’s definitely not the most damaging in that aspect.
The true disappointment with The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is how little it even attempts to mimic the best qualities of the comic book, show, or even Telltale’s episodic series. For starters, the writing is terrible. And despite obtaining the actors from the show to play their respective characters, the dialogue is incredibly boring, although it’s probably tough to deliver stunning performances when the dialogue presented is so weak. This leads to another letdown, which is how this game does next to nothing in expanding Merle and Daryl’s background. If anything, it makes their characters appear more dull. Though to be fair, Merle does almost give the game some character at a few points, but other than that, their characters are almost as mundane as the random side characters. Furthermore, there’s little effort in tieing the events of this game to that of the show, aside from a few lazy references. Lastly, there’s the almost frustrating fact that there is little conflict with other humans. There are a couple of attempts to create some sort of strife with other characters, but these instances don’t actually go anywhere or create any real problems.
Despite not staying true to the series by ignoring its best qualities, Survival Instinct does manage to present some fairly interesting ideas in terms of its gameplay. To start with, there is actually somewhat of a survival element. A reasonable limit of supplies and a small capacity on the amount of items that can be carried does create the need to manage materials carefully. That’s not to say this is perfectly implemented as a couple of rounds of ammo take up the same amount of space as an entire weapon, which in essence makes the supply management system cheap and void of logic. Moving on, it’s actually the survivor management system and traveling between levels that account for this game’s more compelling ideas, which isn’t saying much. Basically, enough gas must be collected to make it to the next location, or level. Stops must be made if gas is depleted, the car breaks down (the chances of which are determined by taking certain roads), or if a random survivor is found. These events drop the player off into a random, cramped area to complete the task. Of course, there’s walkers, and plenty of them, which makes running around and searching for whatever needs to be found a tad more hectic. Unfortunately, these events do become repetitive, especially when the same levels are repeated and enemies constantly spawn behind you. Then there’s the survivors, which can be recruited during or between levels. While they can’t actually fight with Daryl, they can be sent out to find supplies, which almost gives them some purpose. There is risk with sending them out, though equipping them with weapons lessens the risk. If they do return, it’s usually not worth patching them up for the meager supplies they bring it, though the survivors themselves are expendable and easily replaced at least.
In all, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct proves to be a key example of a cash-in on a popular name. The lack of intriguing characters, great writing, human conflicts, and a sense of peril make Survival Instinct a shame on the good name of The Walking Dead. Focusing instead on the action may be somewhat excusable if it were well done. That’s not too say it was terribly executed, there are satisfying weapons to use and all, but at best the action is generic and forgettable. While some moderately unique ideas were presented, they completely pale in comparison to the rest of the game’s disappointments. On an almost positive note, the story is extremely short, lasting roughly six hours. Bonuses can be unlocked and used on subsequent playthroughs, which are even ridiculously more brief. And surprisingly, there is replay value because some levels will be missed on the first playthrough due to instances where the player must choose to travel to one location or the other between levels. Overall, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, with the right mindset, isn’t a particularly awful game, though it’s still far from good and is hardly worth considering for even the most staunch Walking Dead fans.