REVIEW – I’ve been waiting for this for over a year. The Walking Dead’s second season wasn’t as heartbreaking as the first one was, yet it had a very important decision at its end. While we’re waiting for the third season, there’s going to be a three-episode miniseries featuring Michonne.

 

Michonne‘s character is wandering between two ends: Previously, she was a mother of two children but time left a scar on her and she ended up as a ruthless killing machine. Her machete defeated hundreds, if not thousands – however, her memories still haunt her. This situation gives an interesting hook for the first episode, but I didn’t find it that good in the end.

Pistol

The game starts out with an in medias res beginning. It seems to be oh so common nowadays; I have seen it elsewhere – from Telltale, this move isn’t that big of a deal. In fact, I’m going to say that it was meh. If I add that I have not read the comics, it all makes the woman’s soul empty for me. (It IS empty at the beginning of the episode, however…)

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I don’t think Michonne herself is the issue – we saw a formerly known character in a Telltale game, just think of Bigby in Wolf Among Us. We knew what to expect, and the developers got her character down to a tee perfectly. The problem with the episode is the lack of character development for the other people. Who will be Michonne‘s side-aids? Pete? Norma, or maybe Darrell, who looks like Angry Joe? I haven’t found the chemistry as seen between say, Lee, and Clementine in the first season.

Generic

The first episode way – gasp! – generic! We have Michonne, the character who has seen and suffered enough. Pete is the optimistic, happy-go-lucky captain. Norma, the dangerous but down to earth woman (if you help her, she won’t be cruel to you) and Darrell, who’s extremely aggressive and ruthless. Hm, think you can rename them and get season two’s characters? Sure you can.

I also have to add that the characters don’t have enough time to make me remember them or, at least, get used to them. The episode ended way too quickly. Oh, so Telltale is now going for the shorter episodes for a shorter timeframe of releasing them… I beat In Too Deep in about 75-80 minutes. I think they did the same thing with Minecraft Story Mode as well. Alright, Michonne only has three episodes but pray tell, what the hell has Telltale been doing all this time?

Kept its heritage here and there

The audio could be perfect… if it wasn’t for one certain issue. It might be only bugging me but allow me to elaborate. So it’s usual to see dialogues with multiple choices. If I remember correctly, during both seasons had your character wait until the other person(s) in the conversation stops talking and then Lee/Clem would say his/her line. That is not the case with Michonne! The moment you pick your line, Michonne says it. IMMEDIATELY. That means she ends up interrupting if you don’t wait for the other people to stop talking.

I also remember an extra word in the subtitles, but other than that, the voice acting is again top-notch, and the graphics are also similar to the style we saw in 2014. The gameplay also has a slight update, and I don’t want to spoil fully it. It’s related to Michonne and her machete. I don’t remember seeing this in other Telltale games.

Tough start

I don’t recommend buying. In Too Deep is short and feels unfinished, making the story just fly over my head most of the time. One character – well, for me at least – died just mere minutes after showing up in the story. Telltale can do better than this.

-V-

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Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Genre: Episodic adventure

Release date: 23 February 2016 (PS4, PS3)