Review for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. Game for Android, PC, iOS, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 20/12/2016 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 31/12/2018
It's been two years since the conclusion of Season 2 de The Walking Dead and the Telltale series, intellectually deriving from the work outlined by the wise pencil of Robert Kirkman, awakens from torpor by proposing A New Frontier, the third sequel of videogame episodes that, although it offers completely new protagonists (C apart), does not hesitate to re-propose any narrative ploy already experienced in da past. An aspect in itself hardly negative, considering the appeal and success of critics and audiences generally encountered.
And if it is true that the playful bases on which the entire narrative rests have not received any updates, remaining anchored to the now well-known bifurcations appointed to modify the course of history that distinguish Telltale's works, it is just as undeniable as the engine graphic used to render on screen The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is unreleased to the series. Scalable and decidedly functional, the engine of the third season of The Walking Dead videogame does not disappoint (at least on PC, the reference version for this review).
Ties that Bind - Part 1 and Part 2
Season 3's overture is downright destabilizing. Rather than concentrating on the narration of the events that occurred to Clementine and company singer, A New Frontier begins by singing the "enterprises" of Javier García, former professional baseball player, related to those of Kate, Javi's sister-in-law, as well as Mariana e Gabriel, his grandchildren. A family intertwining which, penetrating the nefarious events linked to the fatal, unstoppable invasion of the undead, will reveal on screen devastated scenarios of destroyed lives, unshakable loves and forced interpersonal s, which arose considering the exceptional nature of the contingent situation.
But it is only when the events of Javi and the rest of the crew mix with those of a personality who has become, over the years, even more closed, disheartened and hermetic like Clementine, that the sentiment of the gamer ignites, greedy as he is to get more instructions both on what to do and on the reasons that transformed the shy child of the first season of The Walking Dead into such a shy and suspicious girl. And the story does so, at least partially, by answering some of the questions through a couple of flashbacks intended to deepen the intimate story of the girl.
The choice to divide Ties that Bind into two different parts and to release them at the same time is probably due to the fact that starting only with episode 1 would have meant providing too little meat to the gamer people, hungry for news. The duration of the first episode, in fact, is quite short.
What will probably displease some of the longtime fans of The Walking Dead's playful transposition could be sought in the decisive narrative swerve towards figures such as that of Javi., hitherto unknown, avoiding not concentrating too much (at least for now) on deepening the history, including the past, of an icon such as Clementine. An almost obligatory choice, all in all, if read by virtue of the substantial renewal of the cast and the need to form the background for future episodes of this third season.
Overall, however, the first two parts of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier do not disappoint, inaugurating a new narrative that, considering the premises, could really prove to be extremely interesting.
Above the Law
The third episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier continues to unearth some of the most catastrophically significant events of the Javi's family, fortifying its undeniable centrality within the entire story narrated.
David and Kate they play a key role in what is left scrolling on the screen, and what is shown manages to touch the right emotional chords, instilling in the gamer the necessary desire to know more that any episode "in between" should leave.
Of Javi, in particular, new nuances of character are revealed, with other functionally analogous flashbacks related to the perpetually present C, capable of involving enough. It should be noted that this third episode, essentially, puts a lot of meat in the fire, presenting a fair number of characters of which, probably, at the end of the fair, will remain only a vague memory.
Although it constitutes an hour and a half of intense, excellent entertainment, Above the Law smells strongly of an intermission episode between what has been and what will be, graced by an ending that, although intriguing, ends up going perhaps a little too on the safe side. Not necessarily bad, mind you.
Could it be the calm before the storm?
Thicker than Water
This fourth episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier clearly represents the lowest point reached by the entire work. Although thematically not free from interesting ideas, Thicker than Water never fails to take off, reaching discrete emotional peaks especially during the incipit, where he clarifies some aspects of the between Javi and David through a flashback that shifts the hands of the clock to events preceding the devastation brought by the undead. Rather than investing in deepening the s between the key characters of the whole story, Thicker than Water thinks (badly) of unceremoniously dismissing the evil Joan, as well as lingering a little too much on Gabe, Javi's teenage son.
A shame, considering how some, romantic fragments of narrated between Kate and Javi do nothing but increase the desire to know more, much more. And yes, Clementine is featured in this episode as well, but she fails to light up the scene as she should, sadly.
Fortunately, the final episode intervenes to break the impasse, dense and ideal forerunner for what will be, we hope, an epic fifth episode.
Aside from the interesting intro and a crescendo outro, this fourth installment does little to convince. Waiting for what will come with From the Gallows, Thicker than Water is substantiated as the worst episode of the four published so far. Let's just hope it's the prelude, in view of the grand finale.
From the Gallows
And it was the grand finale. A river full of emotions, the one navigated by Javi and company singer. From the Gallows throws many of the questions and issues left open in this Season 3 of The Walking Dead in the face of homo ludens, opening their petals to countless endings, partially dependent on the choices perpetuated during the previous episodes.
From The Gallows confirms Telltale's determination to focus on the family and the dramas that weaken the connective tissue, thickening the game through various QTEs and tight dialogues, without breaking the stage tension with too many playful clips focused on research.
It is in cases like this that The Walking Dead manifests its soul as a television series and takes off the role of the video game, painting a dramatic (ir) reality definitively more mature than the cartoonish graphic style can let imagine, being able to boast on a farewell episode capable of immortalizing Javi among the heroes of this series and of returning to paying spectators a Clementine by now wise and aware of their means.
From The Gallows thus becomes a simulacrum of a whole season: the third season of The Walking Dead is overall very interesting, courageous in the aggressive choice to oust Clementine from the role of deus ex machina, tainted only by some questionable narrative choice. Ultimately, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is the zombie family drama we always wanted to see, with a little downside.
► The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is a Graphic Adventure type game developed and published by Telltale Games for Android, PC, iOS, Mac, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 20/12/2016 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 31/12/2018
