On a tangent has anyone else been playing the episodic Walking Dead game by Telltale? Four out of the full five episodes have been released so far and it takes an approach of giving you choices and branching the narrative (albeit in a limited manner) off in different directions depending on who you choose to save or let die, or what you decide to do in a crisis situation such as letting someone die by being ripped apart by zombies keeping your presence low, or mercy kill the character which has the unfortunate consequence of alerting the zombies to your position (it then keeps track of your choices and gives you a tally on how many other players chose the same thing, or differently, in each situation).
Despite the second episode having an over familiar premise that was immediately obvious (one which involves reaching a seemingly idyllic farmhouse with an injured member of the party who the characters entrust into the care of the well fed matriarch, with everyone then being surprised when he goes missing. Only thinking to ask questions during the banquet meal that has been prepared!) most of the material has played in a commendably low key manner, especially the parts on and around the train in episode three (where one of the choices simply involves breaking the news to the girl that you are protecting that you need to cut her long hair to make her less easy to grab in the event of a zombie attack!)
It is currently performing the almost impossible feat of making Quick Time Events relevant and non-annoying! I've never actually read any of the comics or watched any of the show so it is difficult to really compare it, although from what I hear this is in the same art style as the comics and has more of a tangential plot with mostly different characters from the series:
However one of the characters that you sympathise with at first and who then commits some terrible deeds out of grief and anger in episode three, with a big choice being whether to kill her or let her escape from mob justice (I let her escape in the group's min-van, leaving us to desperately try and get the train going), apparently turns up later on in the TV series to kill a few beloved characters in that other group.
There's one more episode to go, so it could all fall apart still, but it is excellent so far, with the format really capturing that episodic novel quality that Stephen King tried to capture with the multi-part release of The Green Mile over five months.