The Strolling Useless: Destinies places you in command of the TV present’s first 4 seasons, enjoying out the occasions because the characters however making selections that may change the course of occasions, reminiscent of having Shane kill Rick to guide the group, or turning into associates with The Governor. On paper, it sounds nice, however in actuality, you find yourself altering little and simply see static cutscenes performed out with completely different characters. I am a giant fan of the collection, so regardless of its unattractive look and the truth that it is revealed by Cranium Island: Rise of Kong’s GameMill Leisure — sure, this yr’s Kong recreation that helped us overlook concerning the terrible The Lord of the Rings: Gollum for a quick second — I used to be nonetheless occupied with checking it out.
Now, to be clear, I’ve had moments of enjoyment with The Strolling Useless: Destinies, as when performed on its Regular or Exhausting difficulties, it performs as a fairly enjoyable stealth recreation, however it’s overshadowed by unimaginative design decisions and sheer ugliness. Ranges are linear and process you with working by means of varied components of the TV present, which virtually interprets to sneaking previous zombies, destroying some crates, and reaching the mission’s finish to fend off a wave of zombies. Rinse and repeat. Alongside the best way, you may discover well being kits and quite a few throwables like bottles and grenades that are utilized by urgent LB — you possibly can solely carry one factor at a time — and a lot of completely different weapon sorts like machetes, shotguns, revolvers, and the like. Most objects are both mendacity on the ground or will be present in smashable, copy-pasted crates discovered all through the degrees, which amusingly will be opened with any weapon however the sledgehammer.
Whereas you should utilize any weapon you want, it isn’t fairly the identical case for characters. In every degree, you’re locked to the characters that function within the corresponding scene from the TV present. Whereas every character has a ability tree and skills you possibly can unlock with Talent Factors, the gameplay itself principally sees you sneaking round and stabbing zombies within the head, so that they’re nugatory for 90% of the sport. You could discover a distinction when battling the ultra-thick human enemies, however for probably the most half, the ability system presents little gameplay selection.
Nevertheless, one of many strangest design decisions is discovered between every degree whenever you’re positioned again within the hub space. Relying on the Act you are on, you may end up within the campsite, on Hershel’s farm, and so forth. It might need been cool to hold round these vital areas in-game, apart from the truth that there is not something to do however stroll over to the Mission Desk to begin your subsequent mission. You will be provided expeditions right here as nicely, however all they encompass is telling a member of the group to go and do one thing when you’re in a mission, which rewards Talent Factors if it is a success. You will discover a single choice to make every time you go to, which is selecting to aspect with somebody on an argument, and appears to don’t have any actual worth except for rewarding you with but extra Talent Factors.
The hub areas, or the beginning of every mission to be extra exact, is the place you may bear witness to the lifeless, static cutscenes, which loosely hyperlink the story factors to pull you thru every degree. I’ve felt dragged as nicely, because the storyline has been reduce in order that as a lot of the collection will be squeezed into as little a recreation as potential. When not watching static cutscenes full of price range variations of the TV present’s characters, you are enjoying catch-up by studying snippets of textual content to assist fill in among the gaps. In case you’re a fan of the present, you may have already got a good suggestion concerning the occasions surrounding every degree, however for newcomers, it might be a little bit of a whirlwind.
After writing all of this, I am sitting right here wracking my mind in an try to search out one thing optimistic to say, however to be sincere, I simply can’t discover it in me. The character fashions are virtually insulting to the present’s solid, who performed their roles phenomenally, and the limp gameplay solely serves as a cause to place off any Strolling Useless newcomers from ever watching AMC’s present. My suggestion? Save your $50 and spend it on an Amazon Prime Video subscription so you possibly can take a look at the true factor.