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Release Date: March 19/21/22 2013
Developers: Terminal Reality
Publishers: Activision
Platforms: PC/PS3/XBOX360/WiiU
Genre: FPS
Players: 1
Rating:18

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is a first-person shooter video game developed by Terminal Reality (in conjunction with Terrence King studios) and published by Activision. It is based on The Walking Dead television series, in contrast to the video game by Telltale Games, which is based on the comics. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct acts as a prequel to the TV Series; it is set in the Georgia countryside and focuses on Daryl and Merle Dixon as they make their way to Atlanta during the early days of the zombie apocalypse. The game was released on March 19, 2013 on the PlayStation 3, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Windows.

The game's setting takes place is the countryside of Georgia right at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. The events taken place are a prequel to the beginning of the award winning TV Series. I must the say the setting is kinda bland, i mean you get to see where Daryl and Merle track through before the actual series but there are many things they could have done to make the game better. For example the game is all on foot, it would have been interesting to have to drive from place to place instead of just spawning there. But all aside i would say atmosphere was very creepy and spine-chilling it did a good job of making you feel you were part of the apocalypse.

The gameplay i must say was very hit and miss, on the run up to the games release i was very exited with what the developers had planned but when put into action there were many faults. Firstly, i loved being able to play Daryl Dixon and most importantly his voice over work was amazing as for Merle(Norman Reedus fanboy). But the game was so rushed and pretty much tacky that i couldn't really enjoy all it had to offer. The game is all about being sneaky and making to make your way around 'Walkers' instead of taking them all on with the exception of using weapons although they create a lot of noise. But this was where the developed came in and made it tacky, by giving the AI absolute stupidity(I know they're zombies but you can literally jump on a car wait for them all to surround you and just pick them all off with no effort). But there were some good aspects to the game such as the basic survival with the use of Fuel/Food/Survivors/Ammo all of these are important to your experience as you need fuel for cars, food to eat and ammo for weapons. This is where the survivors come in and go on separate side missions to gather supplies for you although most of the time they come back with basically nothing and are almost dead. Finally the gamespan. The game is so short you can do everything possible while looking around at the scenery and you would get around 8-10 hours of gameplay, it's ridiculous. I feel the game could have done so much better given the time but unfortunately they rushed it so we'll all have to wait for the TellTale sequel.

The graphics are..well, dated. The textures look pretty horrible and most of the level maps basically repeat themselves, not to mention the zombies basically repeat themselves after a good 10 zombies because the developers were too lazy to create new models. Also the zombies look terrible themselves with some terrible texture packs making there hair look like clay. But the streets do look pretty dead and the way the buildings look inside and out really capture the soul of the TV series so i must praise them for that.

The controls are fairly basic, they pretty much resemble any COD game with the exception of the 'Peep round the corner' which i like in most games. Although some of the controls mess up occasionally they are average just like the game.

Overall i would say that they rushed this game when it could have been so much more, hopefully this is a lesson to any company wishing to make a walking dead game. It can be a good game if you are a huge walking dead fan wanting to know the back story to Daryl and Merle, overall i would say it is Above-average.