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  The brothers Dixon,Merle and Daryl, from the TV show The Walking Dead are about to unleash hell on the zombie hordes in this upcoming game. The name Merlin Durl was coined after the pitiful promo that aired shortly after the game was announced. I think Max Scoville from Destructoid[on Rev 3],the podcast,came up with that. But I'm not certain. That's just what people call them at times. Like two brothers fused into one! Here is the promo I refer to......

    I don't know if their heart was in it. Seemed like they caught the two of them on a break from shooting the show. They seemed tired and disinterested. Don't get me wrong,I love these two fine actors. Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker are both incredible at what they do. Rooker has even done great work in video games before. In Call Of Duty:Black Ops 2. He played a major role in it. The Walking Dead is one of my favorite shows. I own the first two seasons on Blu-Ray. But the gameplay trailer that was released shortly after the promo got nothing but a big negative reaction. Granted,it could have been rough footage of unfinished game elements..

  What did you think of it? Does it look promising? Or does it look a bit spotty? It does have some good voice work. Daryl's crossbow is a very cool weapon. My son has a crossbow,and he's quite good with it. I want him on my team in the zombie apocalypse! I'll back him up with my shotgun,but I'm counting on his deadeye. This game looks as if it was rushed to market. Given more time it could have been highly polished. Perhaps it will be,the final product may be decent enough. I know I'll probably pick it up. Maybe the story will be good enough to carry me through the rough patches in gameplay and graphics. Or maybe not.....only time will tell now.

The success or failure of this game rides on the shoulders of Merlin Durl. Can their personalities and skills be enough? Enough to save us from becoming zombie chow? I think Daryl has it in him. He's a survivor,but he cares about others in his group. Merle is more of a lone wolf. A bassackwards,racist,misogynist who looks out for number one. But he is good at killing,I gotta give the man his props. He is clever and manipulative,not stupid. Daryl on the other hand,is a born leader. The kind of guy you want to lead you into a zombie war. If the qualities they have shine through in the game,it could be halfway decent. I can overlook a lot of flaws if the game has been crafted by people who care about the legacy of this license.

      The books by Robert Kirkman are tremendously good. If you haven't read any of them I would strongly urge you to take a look. I've been working my way through them steadily. Just keeps getting better! He feels the possibilities for new stories are endless. As some characters perish,new ones enter the story. Splattering zombie brains is fun. But what made the recent Walking Dead game for consoles and iOS so good was story. I became emotionally involved in it. The fate of the characters mattered to me. That is a remarkable feat for a video game. And a sign of just how cinematic games have become. That it can impact you the same way a good film can do. I'm keeping my expectations low for Survival Instinct. My hope is that it will live up to the high standards of that groundbreaking game that many people loved so much.

What I'm listening to today.......

Saw a guy on XBOX Live recently who used that as his gamertag,"Devil's Right Hand" and found it sorta stylish. Song does not glorify guns,just tells of how they can consume you if you allow them to do so. They will take you to the pits of hell if you use them foolishly.

"Love baby,that's where it's at."  Fred Schneider, 1989