Update Forty-Four: 12 September 2017
the Walking Dead: A New Frontier
8 hours, 30 of 30 achievements
tsuper review: 6/10
☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆
Things change. Tastes change. Times change. What once was a hot, fresh idea becomes stale. Magnificent writers move on and get replaced by capable writers, who get replaced by moderately okay writers. Things get tired, worn out, and less fun. The Walking Dead series is no longer the shining star of the Telltale stable, not by a long shot.
This season is…………………… okay. Playing it, I went limp. I stopped expecting what I had expected from the first season, and even somewhat from the second. For some reason, this season’s point of view character is a man named Javier, and you follow him, his sister-in-law, and his two cousins several years after the end of the zombie apocalypse. Clementine shows up, but unlike what Telltale had insinuated, you don’t play as her for the vast majority of the time, except for four (4) brief flashback scenes. When they first announced a dual protagonist situation with Clem and this new guy, I was miffed but thought it would play out like Tales from the Borderlands, where you play Rhys and Fiona about the same time. It does not, and it is bullshit.
The thing that hurts this season the most is the contrived turnings of the plot. People all of the sudden act in completely ridiculous ways - apparently, people don’t have time to ask for a little bit of clarification, and most characters fly off the handle at minor misunderstandings. This is worse than soap opera levels of ‘something dramatic needs to happen right now’ and resulted in a lot of eyerolling, hurting how much I cared about the characters (other than Clementine, whom I love). I understand conflict needing to happen, but how it’s handled is really clumsy.
It runs all right, though I’m a little sad at the slow move to realism vs. the heavy stylization of the first season. Going from playing the first Batman season to this really amps up the feeling of this just not… aging well. I can only care about it obliquely from a distance - if I think too hard it only makes me sad. Like your favorite comedian that can’t keep with the times, sometimes all you can do is just appreciate them trying.
Apparently, ‘Clementine’s story will continue….’ which is just as well that they recognize that Clementine is why I’m tuning in, but I almost don’t want another season of this.
Next up: Will I make this another three-update day? Coming soon:
See you soon!
You forgot about how forced the relationships between Javi and Kate, and Clem and Gabe. Hated how they tried to force these on the characters.
Everything about A New Frontier was terrible. I am willing to forget this season ever existed if they redeemed themselves with the final season.
YES absolutely, 100% absolutely. I was very firmly ‘Kate is like a sister to Javi’ and the game absolutely punishes you for it, and Gabe and Clementine made 100% no sense. How she kisses him when he’s dying with blood all over his mouth is absolutely fucking ludicrous.
Just… bad. Bad bad so bad. And same here. I want to find AJ and have him and Clementine settle somewhere nice where people aren’t absolute batshit jerkoffs.
Jesus was cool, though.
Apparently Jesus is from the original comics. Hands down like the only character to make sense the entire game
SHIT I thought his outfit and the horses tactic was familiar - it’s from that enclave Rick and the others settle in. Way to go, Jesus. Really great VA, too!
Ugh nothing makes me more sad then the fall of The Walking Dead series. I bought TWD:S1 on Playstation 3 when all the episodes released, not knowing anything about the show or game. It was my first Telltale game and my first choice game. I loved it to death and to this day it’s still one of my top favorites. Then the second one came out. I spent 60 dollars (console prices man) in excitement only to be incredibly disappointed. I still have that love for the first one so much that I was willing to buy Michonne at full price and almost bought New Frontier before learning Clementine was barely in it.
I hope they end the games soon while it still has some dignity. Also I hope they end the games with a good ending for Clementine, since she’s the reason most of us are still invested in the games.
YES AUGH SAME! I didn’t play the first until way late, and then I blitzed through four episodes straight on a Saturday (abt 10 hours) and then finished the last episode the next day emotionally drained. That was good shit.
It’s always a shame when you get more of something you love, but it’s not the same and gets worse and worse. I agree w/ending with dignity - though I know it’s a difficult battle between creatives and money-types about when a property should end. Sometimes when a series director knows a thing’s time is over, they can’t say no if another season is ordered. It feels like a lot of the joy on both sides is gone - the devs are phoning it in a little and the fanbase is disappointed.
It’s so disappointing how downhill the Walking Dead games went. That first season was a masterpiece. Then a mediocre second season… a mediocre Michonne game… I didn’t even have the heart to try A New Frontier >.>
Yeah…. I liked the second season and Michonne game (mostly bc of how much I loved the protags) but it’s hard to ignore the difference in quality. The writing team is so vital for a game like this.
If you want to pass it up, I can’t blame you. There really isn’t anything to get from it that a quick read from the wikipedia page abt what’s up with Clementine can’t give you.
The second season is only great if you’re full TeamKenny, it wouldn’t be so satisfying otherwise in my opinion.
Don’t even try ANF, there isn’t enough shine on Clem for it to be any important, and whoever you ended up with from Season 2, just dies a completely unjustified death (at least Kenny did).
Maybe telltale can redeem themselves with the final season.