The Walking Dead--Pinball Edition!

...yep, you read the title right. Prepare to re-live all your favorite heartbreaking memories of the first season of The Walking Dead in condensed, pinball fashion.

You know what, I’ll just… here, here’s the video.

Alright, so if you’re anything like me, then two things: one, I’m so, so sorry, and two, you’re probably asking yourself “What. Why.” Those are some excellent questions, no doubt. Let’s hear Steve Allison, SVP of Publishing at Telltale Games explain it to us:

"Zen knocked it out of the park with their interpretation Telltale's first season of The Walking Dead as a pinball table. Players once again get to step into the shoes of Lee Everett and protect Clementine as all the major events of season one play a role in the first ever pinball game that features choice and consequence gameplay."

Okay, I admit, I’m a little intrigued by the idea of a pinball games with moral choice and “consequences” beyond losing a ball, but at the same time… I’m still not sure why.

I mean, I’ll grant you, Zen is a well-established, reputable, highly respected pinball masters—if you’ve ever played or even heard of a virtual pinball table, these are the guys who made it, most likely. If anyone could be trusted to make a pinball version of Telltale’s masterpiece, it would be Zen, but… just because they CAN do it well, does it mean they should?

...I guess it can’t hurt anyone, so it’s not really a bad idea—and even if it was, it’s not my place to make that judgment—but it still kind of feels like a desecration. Having these heart-wrenching and emotionally straining moments of the video game converted into some cutesy event in a pinball match to earn you points seems like the opposite of what we were trying to accomplish with the actual game, but then again, Season 1 is over two years old at this point...