Oh, hello Telltale. Um… it’s been a while… hasn’t it? Haha, the good times we had… every time I recall the fun we had with seasons one and two of the Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us, I can’t help but grin. Haha, remember how you made me make a decision I immediately regretted at the end of Season 2 of The Walking Dead and I stuck with it no matter how awful I felt about it? Good times… I also gave Tales from the Borderlands a pretty glowing review throughout all the episodes once upon a time. You really meant a lot to me then and I thought the good times would never end.
Then… then you went and broke my heart! I reviewed Game of Thrones and got concerned as it got pretty shoddy, but I took a deep breath. “Maybe things are stressful at work, maybe it’s just an off-day. At least overall I had a good time!” Then there was the Minecraft: Story Mode and… and… and you became a stranger to me! I couldn’t even bare to look at you. I couldn’t bare to bring myself to buy Batman, afraid to see someone I loved be brought to their knees. You weren’t the man I loved.
To the unknowing, Telltale’s The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is the third season in the Telltale’s Walking Dead saga. One where you walk-n-prod your way through a dark dramatic narrative, making choices that may later come back to haunt you. People change their attitude, they suffer and some even lose their life based on your choices or reflexes. They also had some pretty big shoes to fill. The original series won a lot of Game of the Year awards and even the somewhat flawed season two got into a lot of top-10s that year. So let’s dig into the meat of the matter right away: the narrative.
You live in the life of new cast member Javier, an Hispanic family-man who is trying to keep his sister-in-law and her two children safe from the undead. However, in contrast to the two prior protagonists in the series, he doesn’t fight hard or even perhaps too smart. Instead, he works as the optimistic counter-point to the worn-down NPC cast who are bitter and grim at this point. Although that isn’t to say he isn’t flawed as he can seem a bit of an air-head or self-interested (without seeming spiteful) at times. So far, in the first two episodes, his light-hearted attitude feels unique compared to the still excellently written prior protagonists Lee and Clementine.
Speaking of, I confess there was one person who made me worried walking into both parts of Ties That Bind as she was splashed across all the promotional material: Clementine. As she was such a major side character in season 1 and was a dominating force in season 2, it was easy for me to see her appearance as a tight-rope. Too little of her, and her appearance would feel token. However, it was easy for her to overshadow Javier through too strong of a performance as she has two series behind her.
Fortunately, while she does provide a very strong performance which includes some solo-scenes, usually her appearance is in context to Javier’s experience. Large portions of Clementine’s life between season 2 and season 3 are left unknown to the viewer. Instead all you can see is the cold, impersonal and emotionless girl in front of you as that is all Javier sees. You don’t see why she comes off as damaged as she seems as A New Frontier is simply not her story, and I’m pleased Telltale keeps it as such.
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