On that note, The Walking Dead Season 3 doesn't reinvent the wheel by any stretch of hte imagination, but that doesn't mean it has no ideas. This is a Telltale game through and through. Make no mistake though, if you are looking for an evolution of gameplay, this isn't that. Even Batman: A Telltale Series, which felt like a massive leap forward graphically for the developer, feels a step or two below what Telltale have brought to The Walking Dead. It's also worth noting that the game is by far, the best looking game Telltale have ever released. You aren't going to feel great after playing these two episodes, but I do think what I played was of a great quality, and a really smart direction to take the series. Still, there is a ton of tough material in here, really making the player's first time with Javi feel like a baptism by fire. Once or twice in the two episodes it skirts on the edge of gratuitous, but never quite fell off that edge. There is no glee here on the writer's behalf, but rather a willingness to really do some bad stuff to their characters in order to progress everything a step.
I don't quite get that from Telltale's newest efforts, but it's hardly feel good either. When I caught that episode, I thought there was more than a twinge of sadism to it, the writers almost gleefully punishing its audience with reckless abandon.
For a recent example, The TV show's season 7 opener was brutal and awful, chewing up an audience and spitting them out. Any fan of the franchise will know that 'enjoyment' or 'fun' aren't a huge part of the experience.
Now, I said earlier, I didn't quite 'enjoy' my time with the game, but that isn't a slight against the episodes. While there is certainly a gap between when you last saw her, she does more or less feel like the character you left off with, albeit with a little more expereince. And chances are, you might not love everything she has become either, but that is powerful. It's a really fresh idea, and one that allows Clementine to grow into her own thing, while never forgetting the past. You are now at the mercy of the survivor she has become, no longer influencing her under your guardianship. You are no longer protecting her like Lee, or making her choices directly. It's easy to not trust anyone and be a live wire when your in her shoes, but to be on the other side of Clementine's gun, in the third person, you can really appreciate (or look on in horror) at the character you created. Javier comes into his own over the two episodes, so I never found myself missing Clementine, but what it also allows you to do is meet the character you crafted over the last two seasons. While some might kick and scream about moving away from Clementine a little, I think this really is a stroke of cleverness on Telltale's behalf. As is always the way though, the family find themselves in a spot of bother with a potentially nasty group called The New Frontier, which eventually leads to 'Javi' meeting Clementine. He's charged with looking after his late brother's wife and two children as they use their car to survive through the zombie infested world. Instead, this time around though, you will be taking up the role of Javier Garcia. While some didn't much like the second season, I had a real soft spot for it, really bringing Clementine out of her childhood and shaping her into a survivor based on your definitions. While it is hard to say I 'enjoyed' my time with the episodes, it's hard to deny their quality and Telltale's understanding of this franchise.Ī New Frontier feels a little different to what came previously in this series, with one obvious reason.
The series is just one among many franchises that Telltale now looks after, but it remains the flagship, the jewell in the crown.Īnd so, here we are at Season 3, of which I've played the first two episodes called The Ties That Bind Part 1 and Part 2 (which are being released at the same time as a double bill). With some real ground breaking moves, The Walking Dead almost invigorated both the genre and form, and the developer hasn't looked back since.
It's the game that transformed Telltale Games from an odd studio that seemed strangely focused on episodic adventure games, two things that weren't exactly lighting up the charts in 2012, into a heavy hitter. Telltale's The Walking Dead's first season remains one of the best storytelling achievements in games in the last few years by my account.