The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – Episode 3 Review

It’s been a long time, too long if you ask me, since the release of A New Frontier (season 3). We were kindly given two episodes on release day but a lot of people complained that they were a bit short, and what we were really being given was one slightly longer-than-normal episode. If I’m honest the length of the episodes doesn’t bother me that much as long as the story is good, the gameplay is intense and the character development is on point. What really bothers me is having to wait so long between episodes! It’s been around 4 months since the first two episodes were released, so as I was booting up episode three I was wondering to myself, am I going to remember anything that happened previously? The good thing is Telltale always include a recap of the previous events before you get to the new content, so after a minute of reminders I was ready to go again. I just wish they would line everything up ready and bring out an episode per month, or do what some TV series do on Netflix/Amazon and just release the whole series in one go! As always once the last episode has been released I shall be returning to the beginning to play the whole thing through in one or two sessions.

Once again I’ll be avoiding spoilers which tends to limit what I can say in the review, but Telltale’s games are definitely better experienced first-hand with no spoilers up front, there are some shocking moments which would be ruined if you knew the outcome beforehand. Episode 3 has some brutal moments, which include some decent decision/choice making and a couple of times I did feel a little bad for how I reacted but I always go with my gut instinct as if it was real life, and by doing that it really does feel like my choices matter in the game. Sure the series will probably come to a similar conclusion for everyone, but it’s not all about how it ends, it’s how you got there and what you did (and who you killed) on the way.

Episode 3 has some good and interesting character development with more than just one or two characters having some important decisions and moments. I’ve grown to like Javi quite a lot, sure I preferred playing as Lee and I think that will always be the case, but Javi is quite a likeable character. We get to see more of Clementine too which is great of course. I wonder if key characters will get killed off during this series, as it’s beginning to feel like Clementine is invincible (a bit like certain characters from the TV series). I know a lot of people would probably riot if Clementine died though!

Graphics and sound are brilliant as always, and once again I’ve got to mention that I didn’t encounter any stuttering, glitches or crashes so hopefully we can leave it all in the past now. Funnily enough I played The Wolf Among Us a couple of months ago and was quickly reminded how some of the loading sequences can play havoc with your emotions. Looking back at my review of episodes 1 and 2, I still struggle with that one character’s voice, it just doesn’t sound right.

Summary

A short and sweet review which basically says this is another great episode and I want more! I really hope we don’t have to wait too long for episodes 4 and 5. Telltale’s The Walking Dead is a must-play for literally anyone, I don’t know how someone couldn’t enjoy these games.