The Walking Dead: A New Frontier

I have bought this game since it's release as I was interested in what happened after the Season 2 for Clem, while it's main character was a mexican man called Javi (Read: Havi) I actually didn't mind since after all, TWD overall wasn't just about 1 character. It's nice though that Telltale included Clem herself and every decision you make after Season 2 not only affects the outcome of the decision you've made in previous games, but her character as well! I'll try to keep some sections short as possible. Graphics: Thanks to the engine switch the graphics looks even better and sharper, some animations are questionable though and i can't help but get a feeling that some are copy and pasted from previous games. Audio: They're ok when it comes to ambient ones, Although one thing i have to say, when it comes to actual songs in credits, only the last episode has it. I mean come on, the previous season has them in every credits afaik! It is rather nice though. Characters: When it comes to Clem, it all depends on your decision you have made in Season 2, as for new characters I have to say they can be interesting and find them very similar to the previous Telltale's TWD games, why did i said interesting? Well, depending on your decision, you can actually change the main casts personality and when the game ends, the game will specify in 1 word the personality trait of the main casts and show each decision you have made. This is a very nice feature that wasn't present in any other TWD games! Story progression: While you may find some similarities to the Season 2, it actually has a lot of differences and there are moments which will seriously affect your relationship, as a player, to the characters. As i always say, Telltale's TWD is something to be meant to play once and deal with the decision you have made. If you ask me, it may not be better than Season 1, but it's better than Season 2. Not counting Michonne as it's a different story. I recommend playing it.

It's not that The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is a bad game. The problem is that the first Walking Dead game set the bar very high in terms of storytelling, characters, and atmosphere, and none of the following seasons have recaptured that spark. Of the first three seasons, A New Frontier is probably the weakest. Even so, a rough-cut diamond is still a diamond. If you played the previous two seasons, I would definitely recommend playing the third. So where does A New Frontier fall short? The most striking difference is that the third season plays a lot more like an interactive movie; much fewer exploration and puzzle segments than in either of the first two seasons. Action sequences have been overhauled, but not necessarily improved. You may need to move the reticule over the zombie to attack (as per season one), you may need to move the cursor in the direction shown on-screen (as per season 2), but a lot of the time you just need to press the key/button that appears on screen. It takes away some of the immersion and viscerality of the previous seasons. There is something satisfying about feeling like the character is responding to your actions, which is dampened when you simply press a random button to succeed or fail. Puzzles feel both shorter and simpler than in the previous games. The lack of exploration cuts down on the tense feeling that you might be attacked at any time. The atmosphere feels both less bleak, and less like a horror game. More like an interactive drama with some dark moments. The game does not perform as well on older computers; while the previous games played smoothly at the highest settings, A New Frontier stutters badly on the lowest settings. I was not overly fond of the direction taken with Clementine; it did not feel like she was the same character from the first two games, and like my decisions had not mattered. Your choices from the previous seasons don't amount to much. It's not a bad game, I was just hoping for more.

I enjoyed The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and not only because Telltale seems to have fixed the laggy animation issues or the fact that Garrus, er, I mean... Brandon Keener is one of the voice actors; the game is packed with plot twists, family drama, a multitude of epilogues and it's a joy seeing Clementine mature into an independent and capable survivor. The only thing I could criticise about the game is that the episodes seem to be slightly shorter than previous The Walking Dead games and despite fixing some animation issues, others remain.

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For the third installment of The Walking Dead, we follow the story of Javier and his family, and the bonds that tie them together. Clementine is still one of the main characters and appears quite often throughout the game. While I'm sure me and many players wanted to follow her as the main character, a change of pace isn't necessarily a bad thing. The story of Javier it's quite enjoyable for the most part... until you get to the end of episode 4. Then the quality of the writing takes a massive dive, and you just want it to be over. Some characters start acting inconsistently and change their minds every 2 conversations, or make a full 180 respect the rest of the game. Coincidentally, the end of chapter 4 also features one of the biggest examples of why your choices have no real impact in the story. You are forced to make a huge decision, only to find out in episode 5 it didn't really matter at all. That it's not to say your other choices impact anything meaningful. Either the characters forget by the next episode at the latest, or they only add to your struggles. "Gameplay" wise, it can be summed up as: choices, some QTEs, more choices, and repeat, with maybe one or two point-and-click parts thrown into the mix. Not that anyone buys Telltale games for the gameplay, but at this point why not just make a full VN, leave the choices in and remove anything else. There are way too many QTEs this time around, and it all gets quite tedious by the end. On the technical aspect, I suffered various perfomance issues. The graphics have improved, but I had to turn them to medium to get the game to run properly (and my PC should run a game like this easily), and it still crashed once in a while. Not the best level of polish there. Music was nice, though. Overall, I would only recommend buying the game if you liked the approach of Season 2 (the days of Season 1 are long gone) and want to know what happens next. Preferably on a sale. Otherwise, I would skip it.