Recent reviews by Shabs

Portal is an all-time classic. Don't hesitate to start it up and try it out as a low stress puzzle game, and enjoy the unexpected ride.

Season 2 of The Walking Dead streamlines the game to a pure story focus, trimming away most of the interactivity that doesn't directly relate to making tough decisions and building relationships. The warmth of those relationships is mostly excised, which makes Season 2's arc less affecting. However, its virtues are not necessarily in that arc, but in how you grow the season's new player character, Clementine.

Clementine's transition from companion in Season 1 to the character you control is handled perfectly: giving you the power over how much of her innocence you want to abandon in service of survival feels weighty with a character who started so pure. You could build her as a child who still relies on adults for mentorship, or as a cold, manipulative, practical young adult who seizes choices that mean life or death for her companions.

The journey of this season was as engaging as the first, and I appreciated the streamlined approach to interactivity. It let me think purely about how the decisions I made affected Clementine's peers and her own survival, which made for many tense, memorable moments. I felt more the director of this episode - I made decisions consistent with the character I felt my decisions in Season 1 grew her to be. I didn't want her to be cold, but I wanted her to know how to be practical. I was rewarded with these choices being reflected well in the nature of Clementine's relationships with the characters she met along the way - I made friends with the characters I liked and maintained a cold distance with those I despised.

Nothing could follow Season 1's masterful conclusion, and predictably Season 2 doesn't conclude with the same depth, but the opportunity to see through this season's memorable moments is not one to be passed up. Each episode is unique in setting and has its share of choices I find myself thinking back to, even after reaching the story's conclusion.