The Walking Dead Episode 1 finally out on iOS this Thursday

Telltale Games has confirmed that the first episode of its The Walking Dead cinematic adventure series will be available for recent-generation iPads and iPhones this Thursday as a Universal app.

The Walking Dead game doesn't follow the plot of either the comic book or the TV series, which turns out to be somewhat of a masterstroke.

Playing as convicted felon Lee Everett, you'll find yourself having to negotiate horrific encounters with the living dead as well as with fellow survivors.

Choices made during the game - such as lying to cover up your previous crimes - affect plot points down the line, giving the game a lot more emotional punch than Telltale's earlier titles.

Having played through the PC version of The Walking Dead, I can safely say that this is Telltale's best series to date, with some interesting and well-designed characters, fantastic dialogue, and enough emotional kick to make it an enjoyable experience even for this Walking Dead TV series hater.

The game did, however, include quite a few of Telltale's now-trademark bugs and glitches. We're secretly hoping the delay in producing the iOS version means these technical issues have been ironed out, but we'll be lying if we said we were particularly confident given the company's track record on the platform.

The Walking Dead Episode 1 will be out on Thursday for £2.99 / $4.99, with the option to pre-purchase the whole season for £10.49 / $14.99. The game is compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2, and the new iPad.