From Telltale Games and based on the acclaimed Image Comics series The Walking Dead from Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard comes the third season of the episodic franchise ‘The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. This is my review of episode 3 – available now on Xbox One, PS4, Windows, Android and iOS.
It’s been a long wait for season pass holders of Telltale’s latest romp in the Walking Dead universe and quite a maddening one at that considering the bonkers cliffhanger which ended episode 2. That moment mind you, is when our lead character Javier meets one of the leaders of the group that has been wreaking havoc on his crew and it just so happens to be his brother (whom he thought dead the past couple years after getting split up in the opening episode’s flashback during the beginning of the zombie outbreak).
We kick the third episode off with a nice flashback and personal moment when Javier decides to take his sister-in-law and the two kids on the road after waiting at home for his brother to come back for them. It’s sombre moment to kick off this latest episode and I’m constantly amazed at how well the writing is in this franchise. The fact that you can drive much of an episode with nothing but dialog choices and emotional moments such as these – is groundbreaking game creation. These are interactive movies and I wound up blasting through the third episode in one sitting even though I didn’t plan on doing so. It just hooks you into the drama of it all and ‘Above The Law’ is easily the most intense episode yet this season…
Most of the episode deals with how much trust you feel that you can put on your brother in the wake of such disastrous events, not to mention the fact that Javier is totally in love with his bro’s wife… There’s a lot of shit to deal with and the way I played this one was I put quite a bit of faith into my brother even though I’m pretty sure there’s a strong possibility he’s super full of shit and balls-to-the-wall evil as hell… The Clementine and AJ flashback was gut-wrenching and one of the hardest gaming moments I’ve dealt with this season. When you bring kids into the equation – those timed decisions start to get a whole lot more tricky to sign off on…
There are a couple great action sequences with walkers, but it takes a while to get there. I won’t spoil why you’re thrust into that situation, but it makes for some great and intense moments. It also makes way for some fantastic Jesus karate kicking a zombie’s head off- kind-of moments… Which is so damn cool to watch. There’s even a moment near the end where you’re faced with a decision that puts you right into the shoes of someone like Negan and the consequences are downright brutal as hell. I went to town and I felt dirty afterwards but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a kick out of it.
Family drama, skulls getting smashed to pieces, another nasty cliffhanger ending — Telltale’s The Walking Dead: A New Frontier continues to be gripping even though the focus isn’t solely on Clementine and I think the series is really finding it’s groove now halfway into the carnage. ‘Above The Law’ is a wonderful mix of elements that TWD fans will love and appreciate. Plus that ‘Negan’ like moment is just…. Wow… Go get the season pass – this was a good time. My wife, who has never watched an episode, sat with me for this entire gaming session because she couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
Rating: [star rating=”4.5″]