User Reviews

Review (with Spoilers)

Play Through Time

1 Hour and 11 Minutes

Storyline

The focus isn't on Clementine this time but Javier. One of four in his family who made it after the walker outbreak began. Since then he has been on the road with his brother's wife and his brother's kids. No longer children but not yet adults, raising them is hard. They want food, stability, running water, and it leads you to wonder who has it better off? Those who never knew the comforts of life pre-outbreak or those who hear those stories and think of them as fairy tales?

Javier's life aside, Clementine has learned and lived quite a life since we last saw her. No longer a little kid, she is a teenager now. However, unlike Javier's niece Mariana or nephew Gabe, she has no time or privilege to whine and complain. She is on her own now, scavenging, making deals when she can, and even putting people like Javi at gunpoint to get what she needs. But while making connections has already led to more devastating moments than perhaps those she'll cherish, depending on how you treat Clementine, you may be a new beacon of hope.

Highlights

It Reminds You How Difficult It Is To Be Alone And Scary To Be In A Group

Despite being slightly predictable, in terms of knowing someone you have grown to care about is going to die, TellTale continues to find a way to preserve your hope through storytelling. Making Javier a welcome addition for with seeing his family surviving, though not at the same number they were once before, it reminds you of the good old days. The days when it was Lee and Clementine, and Carly, assuming you tried to romance her like me. Also, of course, Kenny and Katja. TellTale plays into that nostalgia and starts getting your heart pumping as you start to fear when the time will come when you have to decide who to save and who to sacrifice.

But, at the same time, when Clementine returns to us, we see things on the other end. Being alone has never been the way I played the game. I tried to keep everyone together as both Lee and Clementine. Yet, you can kind of see how that didn't really help in the long run. You see, Clementine made these strong connections, ones which may not have been with her own parents, but the various surrogates were the next best thing. And, from what it seems, be it through death or difference of opinion, they left. Not in a way which may have screwed her over physically, but you can see the damage has been done mentally. To the point that like with Sarah in Season 2, you can make comparisons between Mariana and Clementine in terms of someone who was shielded and protected, and how much that makes them a liability, vs. how I played with Lee in which Clementine may have had to grow up quicker than I may have liked, but with the loss of innocence comes the strength and ability to fend for herself.

On The Fence

Kind of Predictable At This Point

Going back to that predictability, with this being the 3rd season, alongside the inclusion of the Michonne spin-off and 500 Days, some things have become clear. The main thing being, those who you find to be unbearable you will have the chance to decide their fate but the same can't be said for those you like and could grow to love. This, I'll admit, is a tad frustrating, yet you kind of grow to accept it. Accept the idea that loss has become a part of life and as much as you want and need to forge strong bonds, it will only make it when they are severed it will hurt that much more.

Overall: Positive (Buy)

If you weren't sold with earlier editions of this franchise, honestly this won't be the one which will help you see the light of day. For while the graphics are a smidge better, everything else is familiar territory. Limited movement and discovery, unnecessary button mashing to do simple tasks, quick action moments which are either life or death and never anything in between, but also quite a few good things. Characters you quickly grow attached to, the constant fear that when the game lets you know someone will remember something, that somehow that decision could mean one less or more ally, and of course the main thing to love: At this point, the whole franchise still probably cost less than the usual AAA game, including their DLC. Yet, this arguably is so much more fun. Even if they each clock in under an hour and a half.

I loved Telltale Games The Walking Dead season 1. It had a great story with interesting characters and you cared when someone from your group died. The ending of the game is still great to me, where Lee is dying and he gives one last bit of advice to young Clementine before she has to choose to put Lee out of his misery or leave him to turn into a Walker.

Season 2 was great as well, but lacked the punch of the first season. Great to see an older Clementine who you are put in control of. Where that season lacked was that from the introduction of the new group she becomes a part of, they all make you hate them from the get-go, so when they start dying you're almost glad to see them go just because of how they treated Clementine (an 11 year old girl) in Episode 1. There were multiple endings and we had to wait 2 years for a new season.

We finally got that season and the characters we came to know and love are killed in flashbacks or in Clementine's case demoted to bit character, taking a back seat to Javier, who is essentially Luke from season 2 except with actual relatives to watch out for. This season you play as Javier, and Clementine is just kind of there. You have to sit through flashbacks of Javier's family from the very beginning of the outbreak, and after 2 games of playing in a world where the zombie apocalypse has been going on for quite some time, it's almost insulting to have to sit through stuff from the beginning of the outbreak.

They do their best to make you care about Javier and his sister-in- law/love interest and his nephew and niece, but I can't help not caring at all because I'm so angry that the main character of the past 2 seasons is now just a supporting character who as of episode 2 is painted as this untrustworthy person that you end up handing off to the bad guys of the season.

I'm sure the season will probably pick up starting in episode 3, but I don't think I care enough to play anymore.

Waiting 2 years to see what happens next just for them to say, "you know what, who wants to really follow Clementine?" just makes me lose interest.

And Kenny, the fact that they just killed him in a flashback, or Jane depending on your choices in season 2 just irked me so bad. Kenny's supposed death in season 1 had a good sending off feel to it, where it looks like he died to keep Ben from suffering in his final moments, which was a redemption of his character after wanting Ben dead for causing Kenny's family to get killed. Finding him alive in well in season 2 was nice, and it gave Clementine someone familiar to be around as she continued to grow and live in a world where the life she knew was a thing of the past. Kenny deserved a better death than just being eaten by walkers after a car accident. He deserved something more. And the way they killed Jane off if she is who you ended up with? Complete cop out considering how she was as a person in season 2. Sheer laziness. It's like they wanted to brush off the past characters as fast as possible so they could put all focus on Javier.

And the game suffers for it.

I didn't think it was possible for a game to come along that I'd find equal to the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead but this season has done it. It has amazing character devolpment and emotional depth and continues to develop it's characters well into the final episode. It finally feels as though your choices actually matter because they do there are an amazing number of outcomes like, for example, depending on your relationship with Clementine throughout the game it affects whether or not Gabe dies when you find David dead if you chose to stay with Kate. Also if you choose to allow Conrad to live in episode 2 he can very well live Through the game which is something that we haven't seen before, also when Kate loses control of the vehicle in Richmond if Conrad is still alive and you fail the move left prompt instead of just having Javi die and say Game Over, as it usually would, Conrad will push Javi out of the way, saving his life and getting himself killed in the process which is another first. The Garcia family is overall very likeable, layered new characters. All of the new characters introduced are very layered and well developed whether they're development makes them a hero or a villain you will know they're reasoning and it won't always be clear black and white, good and evil. Nobody feels safe, which is demonstrated early in the game with the killing of a young child that is very close to the protagonist and the player is made to like, which is something not new to the series, one thing that is, however, new is the fact that you can actually save a great number of characters, not everyone dies for a change which is very refreshing. Ultimately I found this game to be amazing, Javier was a very likeable protagonist who could change depending on the player's choices, in the imminent season 4 I do sincerely hope we can also play as Javier once again, maybe finally in a 50/50 split with Clem like they promised for this season. This game was amazing and very impacting, it reminded me in a very good way of the first season. 10/10.

I just finished replaying this game as I'm going through all Telltales TWD series once more.

This games message is really beautiful, and although I agree it's no where near as good as the first 2, Javier was such a great protagonist.

This game is all about Family. Through Javi & David, we see that no matter what happens, family is everything.

However, making Clementine a secondary character, and your season 2 ending having no meaning whatsoever is the massive flaws of this game.

Kenny's death was just awful. I'm glad I shot him in my story but for those who didn't...

But looking past that, it's a new story telltale wanted to go with, and it was good enough for me.

"The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series" is one of my favorite games of all time. It is one of the most emotional games that I have ever played. "The Walking Dead: Season Two" was about on par with the original. It isn't really as memorable as the first, but that was improved by a great antagonist and some truly emotional scenes.

Unfortunately, "The Walking Dead: A New Frontier" lacks the emotion that made me love the first two games so much.

PROS:

• The protagonist Javier is an interesting character, and I was pretty invested in his story arc. He wasn't just some moron who spends the whole game cowering. Instead, he was a very dependable character in the game.
• The game attempts to be as emotional as the first two. It doesn't succeed, but it at least tries.

CONS:

• 8 year-old Clementine was the emotional focus and moral core of the first game. After the death of the first game's protagonist, Clementine (now 11) becomes the main character. The end of the Season Two left me craving to play as Clementine again. However, she's moved to a secondary character, which was very disappointing, despite the fact that Javier is still interesting to play as.
• Telltale made a bold move when making the end of the second game. While the first game had only two different endings, Season Two had FIVE. They were all incredibly different and seemed to shape the events of the next game. However, Telltale decided to ultimately not care about the endings of the previous game. In the end of Season Two, you have to choose between killing Jane or Kenny (or both); then you have to decide to either go with them or survive on your own. Also, there is a certain choice that has to be made in Kenny's ending. When Clementine, AJ, and Kenny make it to Wellington, they're told that only the kids (Clementine and AJ) are allowed in. You have to decide to take refuge in Wellington or traverse the harsh wastelands with Kenny.

Instead of addressing any of this, the beginning of Clementine's story in "A New Frontier" shows Kenny or Jane (if either were alive at the end of Season Two) getting unceremoniously killed. This felt extremely cheap, and I wish that Telltale actually decided to address these endings further.

• This game is significantly shorter than the first two games. The first game was 28 hours long, while Season Two was 23. This game is only 5 hours long.

Overall, I do recommend this game, but only so that you can get to "The Walking Dead: The Final Season".

I liked the two previous games and I did everything to keep Kenny alive, because he was my favorite character after lee and Clem, just to have him killed in his first scene, without any chance of saving him. In general I also didn't need the new story about Javi and his family. I wished the game would just continue after the happenings of season 2. There also should be a function to change single decisions that could change the outcome.

Its so force hated! The episodes are crazy and filled with action! Dude every ep is crazy and has a twist to it! The villains are 10/10 tbh uou cant go wrong w it. The development of clementine is fire and the story abt her and what happened to Aj is really good. People just hate it i guess bc of the new character Javi but he is so cool and well written. He did everything to Clem and to help her out. His brother David us so well written and their relationship added spice to the game. And the twist and the drama between them and clementine's story is so good! Especially abt Aj. Tbh liked it and the hate is forced.

A New Frontier has a promising start with its first 2 episodes. We get a range of likeable characters, an array of interesting character moments, and the best action the series has seen so far.

While the compelling action continues as the series goes on, the plot gets worse and worse as the episodes go on. Flashbacks and family tensions within the new main character's life grow extremely tiresome, frustrating, and borderline childish the more they happen, especially with Gabe and David - the most unlikeable, annoying, hypocritical telltale characters to date, who the game forces us to spend time with and side with.

Secondary characters that at first seem interesting like Mariana, Francine, Conrad, Tripp, Ava, and Eleanor, don't get any development past the first 2 episode and are therefore uninteresting let downs. Not to mention the completely one dimensional villains like Joan and Clint, who aren't given a shred of depth.

Then there's the crime everyone talks about - making Clementine a secondary character. I wouldn't have minded playing primarily as Javier if the flashback scenes we have with Clementine weren't completely irrelevant and boring, and perhaps if they focused on her journeys with Kenny or Jane, instead of completely throwing them away and completely disregarding the player's emotional choice at the end of series 2.

The best thing about the series other than the action is definitely the choices, as some genuinely had me pulling my hair as I decided what to do. This is definitely the place to go if you want to be completely torn in your RPG experience. Despite this, telltale succumbs to its normal flaws such as ret-conning your decisions by the time the series ends, and having one character who turns against you no matter how many choices you make in their favour - Kenny in series 2, Harvey Dent in Batman are other examples of this.

A New Frontier also has the most lacklustre ending of the series, with episode 5 consisting of the characters walking in a straight line, only taking a break to retcon the extremely hard decision at the end of episode 4 and killing Tripp or Ava in the most out of nowhere, convenient way possible. Plus, a couple of the admittedly varied endings don't pack any emotional punch, leaving the player feeling underwhelmed especially when you compare it to the heartbreaking endings of the last 2 seasons.

In the end, A New Frontier is not without its merits, but it's by far the worst Walking Dead story but Telltale.

The only great thing about this game is performer Melissa Hutchinson. Besides her, only a few characters like Conrad and Marianna are good or decent. But it just does not work. Decisions here really don't matter. So many bugs. Not so well written storylines. Some dialogues are dull. The graphics and textures look exaggeratedly cartoonish at times. It destroys every well written storyline or plot that was being led previously to push these new characters. It would have been a better, yet not great, game if Clementine would have been out of it. There were no reasons to have her here. Some moments are RIDICULOUS, like Ava's alternate death. And the script itself doesn't know what to do. Because ANF really needed a good villain to work right, but they decide to eliminate Joan in the end of episode 4 for no reason and keep the brother of Javier as the main antagonist. David has way to much screen time and 0 development. He just acts, reacts. Everything in A New Frontier is poorly done and should have been a spin-off. 1.8/10 or 2/10 in IMDb scores.