The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct Game Review (Survival InSTINKED)

 The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is ugly, awkward and clunky. More importantly it just isn’t much fun. If this were high school, Survival Instinct would NOT have a date for the prom.

::SIGH::

Let me start out by saying I really wanted to like this game. I did. I also knew this one was going to be bad. I don’t like to be so blunt but there’s no point in sugarcoating it.  Besides it’s not like we didn’t know this was coming. All of the obvious signs were there. First there was the lack of any sort of peek at the game early on. Very little was released from Activision. Then when the game footage was finally “leaked” I immediately knew why.  From the moment I saw the PlayStation 2 like graphics and awkward looking game play in the released footage I knew this game was doomed. My fears grew as I watched the price for pre-orders drop before launch. Never a good sign.

That being said I still grabbed it on release day, popped it into my Xbox 360 and prayed I was proven wrong this time. No such luck.

This game is pretty awful and t’s not just the graphics. Everyone is complaining about the graphics. That’s not even my main concern.  I could accept mediocre graphics if the game play made up for it. It does NOT. This thing doesn’t just look like a PS2 game, it usually plays like one too. At times that could be an insult to PS2 games. There are plenty of old PS2 games that blow this one’s zombie brains out.

So in a nutshell, I don’t like this game. If you care to know why, let’s dive into some specifics. In this review I’ll discuss what I don’t like and  some of the few glimmers of hope this game teased me with.  Keep in mind this review is based off of  a couple of hours of gameplay of  the XBox 360 version.

First let’s start with a little backstory. Here’s the official game description directly from the Xbox 360 version:

The Walking Dead video game takes the undead and brings them out of the AMC Emmy award-winning TV show and into console gaming systems in a new, terrifying way.   Terminal Reality’s first-person action game will allow players to assume the role of the mysterious, crossbow-wielding survivor Daryl Dixon on an unforgiving quest to the supposed safety of Atlanta. The iconic walkers will relentlessly hunt down players like their television counterparts using a combination of sight, sound, and smell. As Daryl, players will need to tread carefully throughout each new area they explore.  Once discovered, it doesn’t take much to attract an unstoppable horde of undead walkers, so every threat needs to be assessed, and every situation analyzed. No place is truly safe for Daryl as he makes his way through the Georgia countryside, alongside his overbearing brother Merle, in this new, post-apocalyptic world.

Basically this game is sort of a prequel to the TV series. It tells the tale of Daryl and Merle before Atalanta and the whole “Rick Grimes handcuffing the racist to a roof” incident. This is Daryl and Merle with all hands intact. Sounds great right? Not so fast buttercup. I’ve played the game and I regret to inform you you’re wrong. I’m going to kill all that hope and enthusiasm faster than Daryl Dixon will call you a d-bag for preferring menthols.

What’s Terrible:

The Graphics:

We’ve already discussed this but it bears repeating. While I’ve seen worse, this game’s graphics are bad.  There are a few different zombie models and seeing them over and over again gets old after awhile. Zombie redundancy is nothing new to zombie games, so I didn’t let that affect my opinion. My main complain is the graphics just look rushed and unfinished.

I wasn’t  expecting Halo 4 or Far Cry 3, but these graphics are just plain disappointing by today’s console standards. Think of playing a beta version of a game that might be midway through production. Something that shows potential and promise but looks like it’s unpolished and definitely unfinished. That perfectly describes this game’s graphics.

The Controls Stink:

The controls on the Xbox 360 version of this  game are just terrible. I didn’t play the PS3 version, or others, but I’m sure the same is true.  Knifing is difficult to control.  Switching weapons takes forever. Climbing objects, walking and running are all clunky and rough around the edges. It doesn’t play like a first person game should. Everything just takes longer than it needs to and is more difficult than it needs to be. This combined with the fact that in-game menus and nearly everything else are laid out poorly leads to frustrating gameplay.

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is ugly, awkward and clunky. More importantly it just isn’t much fun. If this were high school, Survival Instinct would NOT have a date for the prom.

Terrible Battle Action and Zombie Killing:

Bad graphics, bad controls, awkward layouts . . . but at least it’s fun right? I mean how can killing zombies not be? I hate to burst your undead bubble, but the actual zombie killing and in game battle just might be the worst part of this game.

You will get bored very easily with killing zombies in this game. There is a bit of strategy involved because you need to sneak around and avoid zombies as much as possible. You start out with little for a weapon except a knife. Sneaking up behind them to take them out quietly with your knife is the preferred technique. That’s just what you do. Over and over again. Crouch. Sneak Up. Knife. Or there’s the alternative. Sneak up. Shove the Zombie. Knife from behind.

You can forget walking up and just knifing them from the front. It won’t work and you’ll get wrapped up in what has to be the most horribly awkward zombie knife fight I’ve ever had the displeasure of witnessing, let alone playing through. You literally have to smack the beejeebus out of the zombie’s face 3 or 4 times to kill them with the knife.  It’s so sad and depressing you’ll be tempted to slap yourself in the face with a knife after about 10 minutes of gameplay. I would have settled for a “special move” button sequence you need to mash to execute a decent knife kill from the front but it just isn’t there. What about guns? You can use guns right? Sure…if you’re a glutton for punishment and self torture.

Guns and Weapons:

Sure there are firearms. There are rifles, shotguns, revolvers and more. You might as well forget using them. While they definitely do a good job killing zombies if you line up a headshot, they also attract hordes of unwanted undead attention. Ammo is also sparse so even if you get proficient with mowing down all the extra zombies you attract by shooting in the first place, you’ll soon find your weapon more empty than my ex girlfriend’s heart.

You soon toss any idea of using guns out the window. You’re better off slapping zombies silly with your blade until you can work up to other melee weapons that kill with less hits. Something like the pipe or ax that don’t attract three zombies for every one you kill.

I know what you’re thinking Daryl Dixon fans: What about that trusty crossbow? Surely that’s the diamond in the rough.  The quiet crossbow comes in handy…IF you can manage to suffer along long enough with this game to get to that point. I literally had to force myself to keep playing after the first half hour or so.

Grappling:

Survival Instinct has another horribly annoying feature and it’s what I like to call “Zombies Just Want a Hug Syndrome.” If you get to close to zombies they’ll grab you and you get locked into an all out zombie grappling match. When this happens you get thrown into an animation scene that could be cool but just ends up mundane and boring. Once a zombie grabs on you have to struggle to line up your cursor over the zombie’s head to plunge your knife into their brain and kill them. The first time it happens it’s kind of cool. Then it happens again and again. Over and over again. Of course during the animation other zombies can come from the front and behind. Then things get worse.

Essentially you get stuck in this zombie “group hug” scenario with zombie after zombie coming. You stab them in the head one by one but it’s typically hopeless because there’s no way you can stab them all because there’s too many. Interesting the first time. Not so much the second or third time. If you actually try you can literally hold out for a few minutes but there’s no point. You soon just want to get the group hug over with so you can try to move on with this game.  It’s often better to give up and I seriously wish Activision would just give me the option to fall on my own knife.

Ok. Ok. So the zombie killing isn’t all that great. What about strategy and the rest of gameplay? That’s good right? You have much to learn my young zombie friend.

Strategy:

I get where this game is attempting to come from. You don’t get to go in guns blazing and just slaughter zombies at will. It’s supposed to be about being smart and surviving. You’re supposed to play smart like you would have to in real life. Being armed with all that knowledge doesn’t make this game any less irritating or any more fun to play.

When you aren’t slapping zombie faces or hugging hordes of the undead you’ll be searching for random crap. Over and over again. Go get this object then you’re sent to immediately search for something else. Oh yeah, let’s not forget you’ll need to stop along the way and search for gas…you know…while searching. It’s one prolonged and painfully boring scavenger hunt with some equally dull and annoying zombie kills along the way.

I did like the fact that you need to make some decisions along the way, but I have to say most decisions don’t seem to make all that big of an impact. They’ll mainly effect how soon you run out of gas or how often you’ll stop and search for supplies. Starting to see a pattern here?

Various Annoying Video Game Hokeyness:

This game is just full of corny video game crap. Let’s start with one thing I hated.  Daryl sweats. A lot. Run for a distance and he won’t run out of breath and slow down like you’d expect in a decent first person shooter. Instead liquid drips down from the top of the screen with what is presumably supposed to be sweat. It happens a lot and its annoying, corny and just plain gross at a certain point.

The opening level of this game is the epitome of corny and reveals what is in store for you right away. SPOILER ALERT.  The start of this game is basically a crappy tutorial that teaches you the basics of game control. You play as a character out hunting and chasing a blood trail down a creek bed. It all  goes entirely too slow and takes too long. In the end you encounter zombies and discover the first few minutes of gameplay are spent setting you up with a zombie encounter that you can’t possibly win because you aren’t supposed to.  You’re downed by a zombie horde but you hold on long enough to find out you were controlling Daryl Dixon’s father. Daryl shows up and doesn’t have the heart to put his pops out of his misery so the other character, Jess, does it. END SPOILER ALERT. It is all as corny and poorly done as it sounds. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of other video game corniness to follow.

One of the ways you replenish your health in the game is by drinking “Sports Drinks” or eating “M.R.E.’s” you find in the game.  Each time Daryl Dixon (voiced by Norman Reedus in the game) will say something annoying like “I feel better already.” or “I needed that.” Lame and highly annoying once you’ve been through the limited number of canned phrases.

I think I’ve done enough bashing. There’s more I could complain about but I feel like continuing on would just be needlessly dragging the game through the mud. I’ve certainly made my point. Let’s end this review on a positive not by talking about some of the things I liked about the game.

Gameplay Video:
I was going to post some video of gameplay but there’s already a ton of it out there. Instead I thought I’d point you to a video of the first 20 minutes or so of gameplay of the Xbox 360 version posted by YouTube user MyDamnNight. Be warned it contains spoilers…DUH.

What a great walkthrough of initial gameplay and it pretty much shows and describes nearly all of the things I’ve expressed disdain for! Thanks so much to MyDamnNight for posting it on YouTube. Be sure to like his videos and subscribe to his channel on YouTube.

What’s Not So Terrible:

It Tries To Be Realistic:

This game tries hard to lay things out like they would be if a “real” zombie apocalypse broke out. You wouldn’t be able to fire guns constantly without drawing unwanted attention. You would spend time scavenging for food, fuel, ammo and other essentials. You would indeed spend more time sneaking around zombies and avoiding needless encounters than you would eagerly initiating them. You would have to watch your back and make sure another zombie wasn’t walking up behind you while you were focused on killing another. While I appreciate the effort and concept, the execution in the final product just doesn’t work.

The Strategy Shows Potential:

I like the idea of being able to choose which character in your crew you want to heal,who stays with the vehicle, or who to send out to search for fuel, food or other supplies. I like the idea of weighing risk against reward. Should I take highways and save fuel? Should I take back roads instead and use more fuel but have a better chance of finding supplies? The potential to expand on this element of the game was simply never realized. The decisions you make don’t seem to matter all that much in the final outcome. They aren’t going to drastically alter the main story line  of the game. Either way someone is going to die and you’ll end up wandering around in search of something while bashing zombies with melee weapons.

The Grapple Scene Graphics Showed Potential:

The grapple scenes ended up falling flat with me but I can see the potential there. If more time was spent the graphics could have been amazing and they even could have made the grapple scenes something players looked forward to. Instead it look like they shortcut the process.

The Opening Credits are Pretty Sweet:

The opening cinematic credits feature the Walking Dead theme song and are very similar to the style of the opening of AMC’s TV episodes. These actually look pretty darn good and falsely build your hopes that maybe the game will get better as you get into it. Then the game slaps you back into reality and you’re stuck with these graphics and gamplay that are stuck in the mid 1990’s.

Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker Voice Acting:

It’s great Activision got Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker to voice the Daryl and Merle Dixon in the game. It’s just a shame their names can’t be associated with a better game. Norman drops some cool one liners (“D*ckhead!”) but even they get on your nerves after a while and they certainly aren’t enough to save this game.

Our Verdict:

1.5 out of 5 brains (The Walking Dead fan and zombie fan in me wanted to give this one 2 stars but the gamer in me kept screaming 1.5!)

I’m going to have to say I would not spend my hard earned money on this game. I would definitely rent it before buying it at new release prices. I reviewed this game from the point of view of a zombie fan, a video game junky, and that of a The Walking Dead fanatic. None of those three personalities liked this game enough to recommend it.

In my humble but worthless opinion there are three types of people who will like this game:

1. Rabid swooning Daryl Dixon fans. These women and men  have such an intense burning love for Norman Reedus that they’d love a dog turd if he endorsed it.
2. People who have never played a really good video game in their life. If you have no point of reference you could be fooled into thinking this is a good game.
3. Delusional Gamers that Pre-ordered or bought on Launch Day. You know the ones that refuse to admit they got taken and refuse to admit this game is a let down that wasn’t worthy of their cold hard cash.

I can’t, in good conscience, recommend you run out and buy this game. I say rent it first. If you MUST own it I encourage you to wait a week or so. You’ll be able to save some money by picking up one of the numerous copies that will be turning up in your local GameStop or other local game store that allows gamers to sell and trade in their used games. You’re welcome!

About the Game:
The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: 3/19/2012

This review was conducted using a reviewer obtained copy of this game. Read about our review policy and ethics stance here.