TWD is an episodic adventure game. It means that it is divided into parts (episodes), with every episode having its own part of the story. The game comes out in parts which unfortunately mean that you have to wait 2-3 months between each episode (so far it ends on Season 2 Episode 3).

The story is the main focus of the game. The studio responsible for the game, Telltale, has almost 10 years of experience in telling great stories (ironically enough) and it also shows in the game. The script is superior; characters have their own goals, backstories and even the motives that make them do terrible things. It makes them more believable and memorable. At this point I can’t even find one character that would feel unnecessary for the story. They’re all like carefully placed puzzles that make the story, you get a rid of one and it would just fall apart, especially if you get rid of Clementine, but I’ll talk about her in a moment.

 In the first season of the game you play Lee Everett, a history teacher who is on his way to prison for killing a senator who slept with his wife. He spends a while talking to the police officer and then BAM, zombie apocalypse. Lee wakes up few days later in the crashed car and in the middle of the forest. He makes his way to the first house he sees while he’s getting chased by zombies and here Lee meets Clementine.

 Let me stop here for a second and tell you that Clementine is the best kid character in the video game history. She is so complex for a 8 year old girl and yet she is innocent enough to still be believable. She is the piece of the puzzle that goes in the middle; her presence is like glue that holds everything together.

 Anyway, Lee takes Clementine with him and decides to take care of her until they find her parents. This is the kind of redemption that Lee goes through to repay his sins, and in the end this is what makes the choices you make in the game difficult, especially the one you make during the ending sequence.

  The story-changing feature that allows you to play the game multiple times and see different outcomes is making decisions. During the entire game you’ll have to make the decisions that would be difficult to make in any circumstances. For example, in Episode 2 you get few food items and you have to decide how to distribute them between 10 people. It doesn’t matter what you do, some people will be mad at you and some will still support you even if they don’t get any food.

This sort of social awareness where choices you make affect how people interact with you is the best idea the developer could come up with. Unlike “Heavy Rain”, the choices in here matter not because they change the story, but because they affect the way you remember the characters. If you‘re talking to them like you’re the center of the world they will hate you, and if you’re trying your best to make everyone your friend, some people will still hate you, just like in real world.

Those “small choices” are not the only ones you’ll make. Since it’s a middle of the zombie apocalypse you’ll have to make some serious and brutal decisions, like deciding to cut the arm of the infected person and see if it helps or leaving it be. Just remember that every choice has its own consequences.

The graphic is pretty good, I mean it’s not “The Last of Us” by any means, but the art style is unique and despite the blocky characters it fits the mood. Unfortunately the game has minor problems with frame rate on consoles. It slows down if there are more 10 zombies on screen and the transitions between screens take few seconds. I didn’t see any problems on PC though.

 I have to give them credit for improving the engine in Season 2. It still has some issues, but they’re nearly unnoticeable now.

Some people might also complain about gameplay, or rather lack of gameplay. You just move through linear locations and talk to people, occasionally fighting with zombies, and pressing buttons at the right time to survive, but in my opinion it’s ok.

It doesn’t have that much depth, but it works better than making it a First Person Shooter. It’s definitely better than “Heavy Rain” with its dumb commands, although “Press X to Jason”, was hilarious.

The story in the Season 2 so far is also lacking. It’s still more original than the generic zombie stories, but it’s not nearly as good as Season 1. I have a feeling that after the great Episode 1 of Season 2 the story stopped being about the main character and is more about the characters no one cares about. I hope the last episodes will fix this problem.

Telltale’s The Walking Dead is a great game. If you’re a fan of anything zombie related or if you just like games with good stories you should definitely check it out, especially since it came out for every mobile/stationary device. You can buy the entire Season 1 for about $10. Believe me when I tell you that the game is definitely worth it.

Score: 9/10

Pros:

+Amazing story

+Decisions that have an impact on characters

+Believable characters

+Ending of the Season 1

+Clementine

Cons:

-Minor problems with the console versions

-Season 2 is inferior to the previous game

The Steinmetz Star took third in the city for “Overall Newspaper” at the McCormick Foundation media awards ceremony at the Chicago Cultural Society on March 11. The annual event is open to all public and private high schools who join the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago.

Editor-in-chief Michael Amaya and several other Star reporters, and photographers won recognition. Individual Star staff members won many impressive awards, including the top category of Student Journalist of the Year. Star editor-in-chief Michael Amaya received the award, and a $1,500 scholarship.

“I was honestly surprised when I heard my name called,” Michael said, “I thought I was the underdog in the handful of nominees.”

Senior Michael Amaya, the Star’s editor-in-chief, is named “Student Journalist of the Year” at the 2014 McCormick Media Awards and Scholastic Press Association of Chicago luncheon. Star photo by Moriah Belt.

Star staff members won the following awards for their reporting, writing, photography, and art:
• Michael Amaya, Journalist of the Year
• Serlecia Jones, Excellent News story
• Victoria Boccia, Excellent Feature story
• Kamari Joiner, Superior Editorial
• Mateusz Gasienica, Superior Review
• Guadalupe Medina, Superior photo
• Francisco Holguin, Excellent original drawing and cartoon

The awards ceremony, following a pizza lunch, took place in a ballroom that overlooks Millennium Park, decorated with colored tiles and marble with a beautiful dome ceiling.

Whenever Star reporters’ names and their awards were called, the rest of the staff seated at three tables cheered and applauded wildly, hugged the recipients, and took photos.

“It felt like we were at the Academy Awards,” said adviser Sharon Schmidt, who also received a fellowship to attend a newspaper advisers workshop this summer.

Sophomores Brian Geans and Kala Geralds celebrate at the McCormick Media Awards. Star photo by Jalan Veal.

Contest judges ranked the Star higher than the newspapers of Lane Tech, Whitney Young, Walter Payton, and Taft high schools. Only Morgan Park and Marist received superior.

Judges said the Star was one of the best newspapers in the city because of its “good use of color,” plentiful photos, and “diverse and relevant” coverage.

“That evaluation means a lot,” Ms. Schmidt said. “We have always celebrated the diversity of our school in the Star, and worked to make our reporting interesting and important to our readers. We use a photo or a graphic with nearly every piece.”

Because Hugh Hefner, Playboy’s editor-in-chief and a 1944 graduate (who also was a Star reporter when he was a student) donates money to have the Star printed, Steinmetz is able to publish a newspaper in full color, in as many pages as often as we desire. Most Chicago high schools, especially neighborhood ones, are much more limited by their budgets, or neglect journalism and don’t cover printing costs at all.

As impressive as the look of the Star is the content, Ms. Schmidt said, which is equal to what is in Chicago’s selective high school newspapers.

“The Star looks great and also reads well,” Ms. Schmidt said. “Good journalism doesn’t require students with super high test scores; it takes work. Our motivated reporters are good listeners who work hard to write and revise accurate stories.”

The photography and art in the Star also represents talent and much work.

“I was so thrilled that Lupe and Francisco were recognized in the awards,” Ms. Schmidt said. “I don’t know how many hours Francisco has worked on his drawings, but I’d imagine it’s in the hundreds. I know Lupe has taken thousands of pictures this year. That’s how you get superior shots.”

Michael won Journalist of the Year because of his work on the Star over the past two years and the yearbook. Ms. Schmidt wrote a nomination letter and sent in many of his articles from several issues of the Star.

Roosevelt University Undergraduate Dean Linda Jones, the director of the Scholastic Press Association of Chicago, wrote the following in a letter explaining how to redeem his $1,500:

“Michael, congratulations on being chosen as the journalist of the year. I was one of the judges, and I thoroughly enjoyed your work!”

The game will undergo some changes, but the biggest change is that the new version will have multiplayer option.

Nguyen said that unlike the previous version the new Flappy Bird will be “less addictive” — whatever that means. Hooray, I guess?