Robert Kirkman's black and white comic book series, The Walking Dead, created an intriguing, yet exciting universe that centered around the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. The comic book’s success was built around the very real and relatable characters, grippingꦰ drama, and the suspense filled horror and violence that was both unforgiving and harrowing.
The Walking Dead was later adapted into a massively successful television series, and —just like the comics— it followed a group of survivors led by police officer Rick Grimes in the weeks and months following a zombie apocalypse. It would go on to be one of the most successful TV series, able to go head-to-head with the likes of HBO’s Game Of Thrones in terms of numbers.
However, those numbers saw a significant dr♔op during the run of season 7 and didn’t pick up steam again until the final few episodes. The most recent series saw criticism from both critics and fans alike. With many feeling that after the explosive and absolutely gut-wrenching opening, the series had slowed down to an absolute crawl. Frustration seemed to be directed towards the series focus on backtracking, while trying to give substance to the newer characters that many viewers hadn’t connected with yet.
Despite this, the TellTale video game adaptation has continued to improve and tell just as a compelling story as tღhe TV show while staying true to the roots of the comics. Here are 8 reasons why the video game adaptation is better than TV show and 7 reasons why it isn’t.
Also: SPOILERS AHEAD!
15 Better: Takes𝓀 More Risks
While AMC's The Walking Dead claims to pride itself on the same "no character is safe" motif as HBO's Game Of Thrones. Unfortunately, you still can't but feel that the most popular main characters like Rick Grimes and Daryl Dixon will remain safe — even when all hell breaks loose. The risk of losing ratings is the obvious reason for keeping Rick and Daryl on our screens, but season one of Game Of Thrones did the unexpected by killing off Eddard Stark — som🙈ething that fans still talk about to this day.
Telltale's Walking Dead put gamers in the shoes of the main protagonist Lee Everett, he was a great lead character that had real depth, and humanity which allowed gamers to develop a strong connection with him, as he took🌟 Clementine under his wing. This is why the impact of losing Lee at the end of the game hit so much harder, especially knowing that young Clem has to try and fend for herself. From a narrative standpoint, it was a risky move by Telltale, but it definitely paid off.
14 Worse: Rick Is A Better ꦺLeader Than Lee
Lee was a tough 🐲but caring character who wasn't afraid to put others before him especially when it came to Clementine. He was strong, resourceful, and had great survival instincts.🦩 Still, as a leader, he doesn't really come close to Rick Grimes. Where Lee's group fell apart after three days, leading to his eventual death, Rick has managed to protect his family and keep his friends alive (the majority of the time).
Whether it was putting down Pete in Alexandria, making sure his group escaped a community of cannibals, or even devisi🐼ng a way to avenge the people he's lost, Rick isn't just a great leader he's the ultimate badass.
13 Bet💟ter: Closer To The Source Material
One of the biggest complaints about AMC's adaptation of The Walking Dead is that it strays too far away from the source material. In a lot of cases, the show changes character's personalities or completely ﷽undercuts major plot points.
A major advantage the game has over the TV series is in its dedicated to the source material. While it is its own entity —that's completely separate from the TV show or coꦦmic— the game acts more like a spin-off series, and a sketchy retelling. Not only does the game's art style closely resemble the comics, but Robert Kirkman has stated himself that season 3 of Telltale's adaptation is meant to go hand-in-hand with the comic's timeline.
12 Worse: The Zombie Attacks ✤ 🍬
One of the more frustrating things in Telltale's The Walking Dead is the zombie attacks. They usually consist of 🍒quick time events which can sometimes add a s🍎ense of tension and excitement at times, but they don't really induce the same amount of fear as the television show.
In the TV 🥂show, it has been established that the zombies aren't the scariest thing in the world. Still, they are still an ever growing and present threat. Despite Rick and company being able to deal with the walkers in small numbers, things get a little difference when they are overwhelmed. At times the show has displayed zombies attacking in their hundreds. The attacks can be epic, and they're almost always unpredictable and terrifying to watch.
11 ღ 𓂃 Better: Choice Provides A Less Predictable Story
The Telltale adaptation is far more compelling, largely because of the medium it's in. Video games can provide a means of interaction that forces the player to🍨 become more engaged with the story.
The Telltale series helps to make the narrative far more compelling by adding choice, the choices in the game can often have a devastating effect on the course of the story later on. These choices can cost your favorite characters their lives, or make an enemy out of potential friends. Additionally, the theme of choice helps create a less predictable and far more intense and involving🐭 storyline.
10 🌼 Worse: Far More Intense And Scary
While the video game series provides its tension through a choice based narrative, the experience can be harrowing and emotionally frightening, Telltale's series is very rarely truly frightening. However, the television series has on many occasions provi𒊎ded intensely scary situations.
A more recent example, was the capture of Rick and his group in the season 6 finale, the level of tension and the build up to the final scenes were a masterclass in horror. The episode pulled clear inspiration from horror master John Carpenter, right down to the soundtrack. While the seemingly neverending numbers of 'The Saviors appearing, was very reminiscent of the 'Ducky Boys' scene from the 1979 film The Wanderers.
9 ♋ Better: Diverse Perspectives
The spin-off series, Fear The Walking Dead, has provided viewers with a different perspective of how the events have unfolded, in a different part of the country which helped freshen up the televised version of the franchise. The Telltale series also did this when they shifted the perspective to a brand new group of survivors in the 400 Days downloadable content.
The Telltale series took this a bit further by actually placing you in the shoes of the future antagonists from season 2,🤡 which helped add an extra layer of depth and humanity to the characters that you would come view as your enemy. It's a concept that could be interesting with the TV series too, and was explored to some extent the Governor character, but unfortunately, it hasn't been done beyond one a single episode here or there.
8 Worse: Real Human Performances ꧒
Despite the major improvement💃s in graphical technology and facial mapping, video games are (for the time being) unable to capture genuine emotion. So a major advantage th𒊎e TV series has over the video game adaptation is the real human performances.
The Telltale series' graphical style works wel🀅l in relation to the comics, but the game's engine (Telltale Tool)💦 isn't quite up to the task of displaying a range of physical emotions to match the stellar voice acting on display.
Some of the TV shows mos♏t memorable moments have come from the actor's performances. Case in point, Andrew Lincoln's versatile acting range of differing emotions would be impossible to replicate in the current standard of the game series engine.
7 Better:♑ The Drama Does🃏n't Outstay Its Welcome
One huge complaint that television series has from fans is its overreliance on drama. Having good💞 drama to move the story forward is a must, but at times the drama in the AMC adaptation can slow th🃏e show's pacing down to an absolute crawl — especially when it flips to a less interesting character's perspective.
The Telltale version, however, m⛄anages to keeps its drama focused on a smaller group of far more interesting characters while it keeps the narrative moving. The game's interactivity also helps the drama become engaging when you feel like you're a part of its overall story.
6 Worse: The Ability To Shock Its Audience🅷
The Telltale version of The Walking Dead relies on player-choice to create an emotional response, by presenting difꦓficult and sometimes shocking options. It is a fantastic tool that the develope𓆏rs have at their disposal. However, AMC's version is almost unrivaled in its ability to shock its audience through sheer brutality.
Even when you're expecting a certain character to die the display of brutality can at times be difficult to watch and disturbing, especially if you've become attached to that character. For example, when Negan 🍬had the group on its knees, this was undeniably one of the most visually brutal and emotionally draining scenes in the entire series.