Man, this game is swimming in such irate bile by the usual suspects. Here’s the trailer to check out – I think it looks fine so far and close to the bleak, grimy tone of the show. That said, a few facts for the intentionally ignorant:

Activision isn’t “making” the game at all – they’re a PUBLISHER, not a DEVELOPER. Lewisville, Texas-based veteran developer Terminal Reality is cooking this one up and yes, while they haven’t had a “perfect” track record, they’ve more than earned the respect of folks like me who play too many games, but don’t lump them all up into one big FPS-centric ball. I also like how it ties into the show, as new we all know that Merle and Daryl are back together in this half of the season (a nice touch that seems planned to fit the game into the show’s continuity). I hate speculation, but I’d bet a nickel that neither character buys the farm at the end, as they’ll be more useful alive for future episodes, we’ve already “lost” Merle once before and hell, there would be riots in the streets if Daryl bought it at the end (especially among non-gamers out there who’d be wondering what was up and how a major character vanished without them knowing a thing).

Telltale’s TWD game was fantastic thanks to its writing, stylized visuals and intense pacing thanks to the choice system gameplay, but wasn’t the big action-based experience some of the shooter fanatics wanted to play. This new game will appeal to them and as long as the story is tight, I can see fans of the adventure game hopping aboard for the ride. Let’s hope it’s a wild one full of surprises. And hey, look at  this way, chums – if the game is better than you’re thinking, once you do get to try it out, you can still storm Activision’s offices (with apologies and yummy crow pies for all)…