The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 2 - A House Divided Reviews
'A House Divided' is another great episode for Season 2 that focuses on the relationship between characters and helps in explaining the background for some of them. It also sets up the ground for a great Episode 3 with its end of episode teaser.
The first episode of The Walking Dead: Season Two was undoubtedly great, but definitely had its flaws - partially due to being a pilot episode, and partially due to the writing being, though damn good, not quite up to the par of sheer excellence that Telltale have set themselves. The same can't be said of Episode Two: A House Divided - this is some of the studio's finest work.
A House Divided is the second episode from season two and our Clem and her new group will face some stern tests in typical The Walking Dead fashion.
Featuring unnerving tension, unremitting cruelty and a disarming level of brutality, The Walking Dead series has become a vanguard for narrative shocks and rollicking set-pieces.
Despite a slight dip in the overall Walking Dead experience, A House Divided is just as integral an addition to the opus as any other episode. Desperate decisions in the heat of the moment and QTE battles with walkers and the living are kept to a minimum, making gameplay suffer but allows more scope for the story to expand.
Episode Two of The Walking Dead hits all the right narrative notes, but also hits a rough patch when controls are given to the player to do more than just pick what to say.
Whether it's through conversation or through action, A House Divided will make you feel.
All in all, A House Divided provides a more exciting installment of The Walking Dead adventure game and lets us see just how much Clementine has grown while taking us on an exciting venture out into the woods to escape a dangerous man. It's also deceptively quick because of the many changes in setting, leading you to believe that it's shorter than it is.
A House Divided is more of a standalone Walking Dead episode than the first one was, drawing inspirations from the first game without being too reliant and mimicking, while also looking ahead to what's really in store for Clementine. It harkens back to what made the first game so special: the way seemingly small things have huge reverberations. While the first episode served as a loose prelude, the second episode serves as the real introduction. It's full, fleshed-out, and ultimately everything you would want in a Walking Dead episode.
The series' young Clementine is only 11, yet proves herself confident, reliable and sometimes even a leader among the adults surrounding her.
You'll not leave this episode happy, but the very nature of this series is to challenge and provoke; Telltale continue to refine and polish their craft to such an extent that even the misery of the narrative can't hold us back from wanting more - this second episode is a triumph.
[SPOILER WARNING: This review contains spoilers.] If you're invested in this story, your nerves may not survive the constant stakes-raising.
The table setting seems to be all in place now for the feast still to come, and even at its most meandering The Walking Dead is still capable of telling an intriguing, frightening story about humanity's worst impulses.
Through it all, I laughed, I cried and I savoured the tension. At one point I paused the game and shook my head in frustration, faced with too much bad behaviour in too short a time, but I'm hooked and excited to see what comes next. Episode one ended with an ill-advised bang but episode two continues with a whimper. And that's as it should be.
If Telltale can keep pushing the boundaries like this for the rest of the season then it'll be at the very least as good as the superb first season. Until next time….
The Walking Dead Season Two may not have moved into top gear yet, but Telltale have already shown that they are more than capable of producing more gut-wrenching moments and difficult choices.
This is probably one of the best episodes of The Walking Dead so far. Pretty much everything was done right in this episode, the character building, the tough choices, the impact of choices, the remarkable scenes featuring Carver and the tense action scenes. There are some technical issues that don't seem to impact the overall enjoyment of the game. What are you waiting for? Play this episode now.
[T]he slow start and uneven technical performance don't stop "A House Divided" from adding new life to Telltale's The Walking Dead. The gripping, uncompromising episode expertly blends potent character moments with gut-wrenching loss, presenting enough narrative progression in this two-hour trip for two full episodes.
The Walking Dead: Episode Two rushes into a tense and nicely orchestrated climax, and although your interaction is limited to a couple of moral decisions, it's still a nail-biting finale. If you didn't like the cliffhanger finish to the first episode, you'll like the second episode's conclusion even less. And after that mighty wait, we feel a little shortchanged with the not-quite-one-and-a-half-hours of playtime. Let's just hope that Episode 3: In Harm's Way comes along a little quicker, and the story can hold up to this promising beginning.
It may go by a little too fast, but Season 2 Episode 2 is a fine continuation to the series that makes up for the lackluster first episode.