Walking Dead: Telltale Series a New Frontier

It looks very unlikely that anything more than episode 1 will Ever be released.....which is a great pity, as I am like many others a great fan of the Walking dead franchise......can’t wait to watch season 9 on TV.......I hope retailers will refund the season 3 disk as it only contains ep 1 and a season pass to something that will unlikely ever happen R.I.P. Telltale games....you will be missed...

'The Walking Dead: A New Frontier' is the long anticipated third season of the Walking Dead franchise, and the latest in a long line of episodic adventures published by Telltale games.The game takes place in the same universe as the comic book rather than the popular TV series, so dont expect Darryl, any other characters unique to the show, or any of those characters already deceased in the comic (but still alive in the show), such as Carol to be appearing - although at least one familiar face will show up in this first episode!This season begins an unspecified amount of time after the last game ended, but appears to be two or three years later judging by the way in which characters returning to the game have aged and the fact that it is established to be four years after the world went to hell, and how the game starts is influenced by your decisions in the previous two games and the expansion '400 days' if you have played those games and have an existing save file to transfer over.Once more the story concentrates on the plight of Clementine, a young girl caught up in the zombie apocalypse from the very beginning, and whilst Clem is now a little older, she has the unenviable task of now having to care for, and ensure the survival of another young child - Alvin Jnr - whilst only being at best a young teen herself. Far from the niave and sensitive child she used to be however, her experience has now made her cynical, and embittered, and wary of trusting others.If you have an existing save, exactly what situation you and Alvin Jnr find yourselves in will be determined by which choice you made at the end of the last season: whether you left with Lenny, Jane, stayed in the town of Wellington, or decided to make off into the wilderness alone with Alvin Jnr. Clementine is joined in the game by another playable character - 'Javier Garcia' - whos origin is revealed and explored at the very beginning of this episode in a scene set at the beginning of the outbreak at a time before all of society had yet to completely crumble into chaos.As with previous installments from Telltale, the game is played from a third-person perspective, using a variety of cinematic camera angles for dramatic effect and also comes divided into several TV and/or comic book-like episodes, which all contributes to a style that emulates those mediums extremely well.The game plays almost like a traditional style 'point and click' adventure. You control your characters movement with one control stick, whilst moving a target reticule with the other control stick. Moving the target reticule over a point of interest will provide you with a number of options or interactions - such as to pick up an item, look inside something, analyse something, speak to another character etc - and these actions can be confirmed via one of the four buttons. The games action sequences and combat are usually played out utilising a series of quick-time events requiring the gamer to hit the correct buttons or sequences in order very similar to that used in Telltales other adventure games.Of course, as with all of the other games from Telltale, the real key to playing is decision making, with a branching storyline that changes depending upon what you choose to do at key junctures. Those decisions may involve actions - such as making choices in combat like which way to turn, or which assailant to attack, but more commonly however they occur in dialogue with other characters you meet during your adventure.Decisions are TOUGH. Rarely is a conversation choice ever straight forward or obvious, and rarely is it ever possible to appease all parties involved when you make a decision or predict how that conversation choice will effect the story in future episodes. Often it is not even possible to make a 'winning' decision, as you are left to choose from what is essentially a series of bad options of varying degrees. Be advised - this is a game that will either kick you in the crotch, or in the heart, at every opportunity!You also have to consider the types of people you are required to relate to and how your actions will influence them, and consider whether honesty really is always the best policy. Different people require different approaches and all will remember the decisions you make, which for better or worse may effect how they relate to you in future. Staying silent and saying nothing in any given exchange is almost always an option, and can sometimes be the smartest course to take.Its all brilliantly done and helps create a game in which you will agonise over almost every choice you make - but dont agonise for too long, because the pressure is always on and you will almost always have a limited amount of time to make your decision. If that time runs out then the game will make your decision for you.In terms of graphics and sound the game is excellent, and this next gen version has had a major overhaul making it look that much better. Characters, locations and backgrounds are created in a bright, colourful style remeniscent of a comic book, yet still retaining an impressive similarity to the characters as most fans will recognise them. Action sequences have also received some attention, and they are much faster, more dynamic, and cinematic that they were in previous seasons, reminiscent of the recent (and sadly a little disappointing) 'Michonne' mini-series that was released earlier in 2016.The one thing that you need to be aware of, is that this is not a version of the full game but is in fact no more than a disc containing the first episode and a season pass that will allow you to download the subsequent episodes as they are released in the months ahead. In light of that there is little incentive to purchase this product rather than simply download each episode directly unless you are absolutely desperate for a game box to put on your shelf.Other than this, as far as complaints are concerned, thus far I have none - although of course as only the first episode of the game has been released thus far, it is perhaps too early to accurately judge what the overall quality of the game will be. Based on the standard set by episode one however, fans shouldnt find themselves disappointed, and If you are a fan of this particular genre of game or have enjoyed Telltales previous efforts then I am confident that you will love it.