POSSIBLE SPOILERS
The Telltale Game Series, “The Walking Dead: Season Three” has already made a name for itself. Telltale Games are one of the pioneers of the episodic survival horror game genre. The game is rendered in a graphic novel format to replicate the art style found in the comics that inspired the game and television series.
The gameplay is pretty simple and consists of using WASD for movement, the arrow keys, Q, and E for quick time events, and the mouse for exploring the environment and making decisions. Instead, the difficulty stems from making the right decisions and being able to complete the quick time events in the allotted time. It involves making choices about how your character interacts with his environment and what your character says. Both of these actions have pretty significant impacts on the storyline anywhere from developing and maintaining friendships to who lives and dies.
The quick time events seemed incredibly forgiving and I had more than enough time to complete them. I feel this was not always the case and I have had to replay multiple sections in the past because the mechanic was more punishing. I almost found myself wishing for a way to decrease the reaction time. As for the decisions, I played through this game multiple times and found that in this particular episode the decisions did not leave as big of an impact. I always find it a little disappointing in these games when your decision seems to be almost irrelevant at certain points of the game.
I really enjoy that you play as a different character in season three and still get to interact with your previous protagonist. I feel this helps the game from feeling too repetitive or drawn out. The new storyline is complicated in an entertaining way and the plot twists are surprising and not easily guessed. I think the writing in this game is done well. The voice actors and actresses are excellent in conveying emotions and creating characters that are convincing both in motives and personality. I find that if this were not as strong, it would be fairly easy to forget or not care about the many characters this series introduces.
Overall, I find that this episode maintained a good balance between incorporating decisions and storytelling. Their consistency of both quality gameplay and content is certainly worth noting, especially for a game that has gone for so long. It can be difficult to maintain excitement for the player, but the Walking Dead series makes it seem almost effortless. If you are a fan of Telltale series, then I believe you will find all the aspects you love in this episode.
Rate: 9/10
Watch The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series – A New Frontier’s Episode 3: Above the Law Trailer:
Players can download The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series – A New Frontier Episode 3 Above The Law on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC/Steam, iOS, and Android-based devices.
PC Review
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Overall Score - 9/109/10
Most of my childhood was dedicated to raising my Pokémon, but nowadays I find myself taking time off to enjoy indie games and RPGs. I have always been fascinated by how easily videogames immerse us into their own worlds and stories, and I hope to be a part of this one day. Until then, I would like to serve my gamer community in helping you to navigate between the great and the overhyped.
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