The Walking Dead Season 2 Episode 2: A House Divided Review
A House Divided is the second episode of Telltale Games’ Second Season of The Walking Dead, and while things get kicked in to gear really quickly, there’s a few noticeable issues that hopefully get cleaned up for Episode 3. You are still Clementine, and she is still with strangers as the episode begins. Things get bad quickly for the Clem and she has to escape some walkers very early. The story then moves at a nearly break neck pace from there. More info is given about the characters of Season 2 and most of the situations are rather believable, especially the bridge sequence.
Where the episode really shines is its two or three “Holy S***” moments. I won’t spoil them here, but you will know them when you encounter them. These moments help highlight one of the most well paced TWD episodes to date. The new characters work well, the human antagonist that is introduced is mysterious enough and all the characters’ ability to handle walkers is respectable. The end of the episode is satisfying and makes me really want to play Episode 3.
With that said, there are definitely some things that had me scratching my head. In the first TWD season you played as Lee, a adult man. Through the game Lee was given tasks by the other characters, and it made sense, he was an adult. Through this episode, all the secondary characters seem to forget that Clem is a 10 year old girl. Yes, she has proven to be the toughest and most combat ready 10 year old they have ever seen, but she is still a child. Don’t send her to check for food, when you can do it yourself. I know, if Clem was treated like a 10 year old the whole game, the player wouldn’t have anything to do. All I’m asking is that Telltale hide it better.
Also, like any good zombie story, the real threat is not the zombies its the people. This episode does a great job establishing this. The problem is that it almost takes it too far and makes the zombies seem forced, especially the scene at the end. I’m not even sure if the wind turbine they were working with was being realistically portrayed, or if it was just being used as a zombie herding device.
The complaints about episode 2 are really minor, and overall it was better than episode 1. I like the amount of story that was covered in this one, and I think the direction it is going is interesting.
Verdict: The best kind of holy s*** moment.
