Above: one of the screen shots from The Walking Dead Begins video game. Like you had any doubt a trailer park would be involved somewhere?
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We have posted scant details before about the new Dixons video game titled The Walking Dead Begins to be released next year by Activision. Well, we finally have some more scant details for you – both good & bad. First, the good news…
Yesterday Activision released a couple of screenshots from the game, along with a few more details. It is starting to sound like there’s a lot of survival strategy involved in the game and not a whole lot of shootin’ in this, uh, first person shooter. The Metro has the best run down of the game we’ve seen yet…
The Dixon brothers are trying to get to Atlanta and this involves not only finding a vehicle but navigating roads often blocked by abandoned cars and other obstructions. Although the game isn’t composed of a single open world area you have full freedom to decide what route you use, as well as whether you take other survivors with you.
These survivors come in varying levels of usefulness, with what looks like fairly detailed role-playing stats dictating their health and combat prowess – as well as special abilities such as being a doctor.
Probed further about the role of survivors it doesn’t seem as if you’ll be able to take groups of them with you when you explore the game world (the main story campaign is apparently single-player only), but you will be able to send them off on their own resource-gathering missions or simply get them to wait back at your ride.
For a start using a gun is described as a last resort, not least because the noise will attract other walkers (i.e. zombies). But then Daryl prefers using a crossbow anyway. Considerable effort has gone into perfecting the walkers’ artificial intelligence. They might be mindless brain chompers but walkers will see or smell you at a distance and will often be stalking you without you having any idea they’re there.
Another screen shot from the game – Daryl possibly searching for supplies?
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And now for the not so great news about the game: Recently Michael Rooker said via his twitter account that as of yet he has not been able to reach an agreement with the game creators to voice the part of Merle. This is extremely disappointing to us fans should the actor who plays the part of Merle – and such a video game veteran – be left out of the game. Always being a man of class though, Rooker had this to say:
There are lots of reasons why negotiations breakdown on projects. “The walking dead game” is one of those. There are no bad guys here.
We hope that whatever needs to happen will happen and that Michael Rooker does become part of the project. It just wouldn’t seem like a Dixon video game without the original Big Bro in it.
