The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – From the Gallows
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
Platforms: Xbox One (Reviewed), PlayStation 4, PC, iOS, Android
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $4.99 – Available Here
Overview
There has always been something about Telltale’s finales that have, almost without fail, pulled at the audience’s heartstrings. Now while previous seasons had a solid build-up as well as a great cliffhanger that left players expecting a wild ride during the final episode, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier has struggled heavily in this department. That being said, with From the Gallows being the conclusion to this third season has the company managed to turn things around?
Story
Considering this is a review covering the final episode in the season it is highly recommended that readers complete the previous four episodes in an effort to avoid spoilers as various events from these episodes will be discussed from here on out.
Continuing with the theme of the season so far From the Gallows starts with a flashback that touches upon Javi and David’s past as they play a game of dominoes with their father. This short look back at the past gives us another look at the family dynamic between the brothers and another chance for players to establish Javi’s feelings for his family, something that has been another running theme through this season.
After this brief flashback we are thrown back into the present where the explosive effects from the ending of episode four are beginning to take effect as the stronghold that the New Frontier have set themselves up in is invaded by the horde of “muertos” that was once held at bay. Thanks to the events that have taken place over previous episodes and various betrayals of trust, the tensions between the surviving members of Javi’s group are at an all-time high with danger roaming the streets. Unfortunately some of this tension comes from characters once again shifting attitudes at the drop of a hat and reacting in unusual ways to certain events.
Despite these awkward shifts, these confrontations are easily the most engaging you’ll have with these survivors at this point thanks to the fact that the stakes are so high and everyone is inches away from losing it. After figuring out a plan, the episode takes a slower pace as the group continues to move towards surviving and finalize their little arcs until everything once again comes to a head before the episode comes to a close and players are forced to make a heavy decision that may play a large role in future events depending on how things are handled going forward.
When From the Gallows was released, Telltale described it as being the must customized experience that they have had to offer and that is indeed the case as there are a large number of scenes that you may or may not see depending on who has lived up to this point as well as various decisions and interactions you have chosen to make playing as both Javi and Clementine throughout the season. This can lead to some rather surprising outcomes that will lead to very few players experiencing the same exact events and even discussing the episode after led to wildly different results by the time that the final decisions were made, with some characters living and dying even when certain choices were made during these scenes that were the exact same, leaving some results up to earlier choices that weren’t so easy to discern, or at least not easy to figure out until you are given a rundown of your interactions with the key characters by the time the credits roll.
Gameplay
In an effort tomove the story along at a brisk pace and try to close as many plot points as possible From the Gallows features nothing in the form of puzzles and only simple movement/exploration sequences. Even the action scenes are a bit standard in nature outside of the final few confrontations that, once again, vary depending on your choice. It is worth noting that Telltale once again pulls a fast one with players by making a seemingly difficult decision near the end of the last episode meaningless as the outcome leads to an abrupt and out of nowhere conclusion that, while fitting considering death is everywhere in a zombie apocalypse, is disappointing nonetheless.
It is also worth noting that this episode suffered from quite a large number of glitches. Not only does a character that died in the previous episode, or should be dead at this point anyway, briefly appear during a scene but there are numerous graphical glitches that pop up. This includes a navigational scene that has zombies appear abruptly leading to a death scene after a non-intractable cutscene.
Visuals & Audio
From the Gallows may not feature the most action packed sequences but the amount of gore and detail in these scenes is still handled very well. Another thing that the development team pulled off well this episode are the faction animations for characters as they witness the various outcomes to the events that take place in front of them. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, texture glitches, random jittering character models, and other issues plagued this episode throughout my time with it.
The voice work for the characters, including a familiar face that makes an appearance again, is once again handled incredibly well. This does wonders for the emotional scenes that take place by playing up the fact that these are still decently written characters despite the random emotion swings.
Overall
After the events leading up to the end of A New Frontier things seemed rather questionable as the writing has been a bit all over the place and for a time even an end goal seemed shadowed. Thankfully through some strong focused storytelling and events we see a solid conclusion with From the Gallows. While perhaps not as striking as previous events in the series have been, the events that transpire during the episode should please most fans and considering this is the very first time that the series has actually flat out told players that the story will continue, it will be interesting to see where things go after the build-up of Clementine during A New Frontier.
Once again The Walking Dead: A New Frontier begins with a fresh flashback to before the undead began to walk the Earth but this time the focus is placed solely on Javi and David as they spend some time at the batting cages. While many of these flashbacks have given us hints into the family dynamic that was established long before zombies became an issue, this one falls flat primarily due to the fact that we see very little in the way of new information here other than giving the player an option to support David one more time.
While certain character interactions are interesting to see, such as a certain Clementine scene proving that she is growing up in other ways besides mentally that leads to a humorously awkward scene between her and Javi, many of the other interactions we see here demonstrate very little growth for our cast of characters. This is especially true for core members of the cast who will randomly act one way only to completely change their mannerisms in the next scene, leading to some odd mood swings that are rather out of character.
Although building players up for an exciting and uncertain final episode is the main purpose for Thicker than Water, there were likely many more ways that this could have been done but unfortunately the way that was taken here often makes certain characters act out of the norm and certain revelations end up being incredibly simplistic and easy to see coming, especially when the main villain this time is as basic in nature as we have seen from the New Frontier.
Similar to the previous episodes Above The Law begins by showing off Javi and his family a few short months after the outbreak began. This serves as a way to expand upon the motivations for Javi and the rest of his surviving group members and why they had to leave and hit the road, potentially sacrificing ever meeting the rest of their family again for the hopes of staying safe, and more importantly supplied, while on the road.
Thanks to these hostilities and the fact that the New Frontier is managed by four leaders who Javi has to prove his worth to in an effort to stay inside the walls, reuniting with your long lost brother is far from a blessing, especially with what has been hinted at about David by his wife, various flashbacks, and Clementine. Thanks to another trip back to the past we learn about why Clementine ended up being expelled from the group and why she is so angry at them while showing off just how much of a survivor she is even if she has to act on her own.
Regardless of the lack of player choice mattering this time, the clever framing and developments over the hour and a half episode will leave the player questioning just who they should believe as the final section plays out. Although the ending this time around does take a rather predictable turn, it is easy to feel like things could have went an entirely different way if certain alignments were shifted and the fact that the threat was there, albeit not seized, leads into an interesting confrontation that only slightly builds things up for the next episode.
It is interesting to note that the voice actors for the characters in this series continue to be very impressive with their roles. Clementine continues to shine in her cut-back role and even the various sound effects during combat have been modified a bit and can be quite humorous considering the weapon that Javi brings into battle this time around.
It is a good thing that Telltale Games felt like taking some risks here by moving the Guardians through in a new direction with a hook that is sure to snag into fans and even newcomers with the basest knowledge of the series into continuing along with the series to see just where the journey this time will end up. Considering the story is just starting I won’t discuss these twists much other than that the introduction of flashbacks and the new villain introduced this time around create an interesting plotline that will keep fans eager to see what will happen next.
That being said, players will often feel like they are playing something of a balancing act as Star-Lord as they try to keep some of their crew happy while trying to avoid angering other members too much. Obviously it is currently unknown just how much certain choices will affect the player’s relationship with various members of the gang in the future though with one member already preparing to write themselves off and leave the group it is clear that the infighting will only grow worse from here on out.
They did however manage to expand on their current mechanics though and as mentioned earlier most of this comes through Star-Lord’s tools. Extra dialogue is unlocked through radio discussions, his tool to see holographic events of previous events add a new layer to some puzzles that still are fairly easy, and using his jet-boots to travel between floors at a quick pace allow for new exploration features that ad a bit of extra spice into the game.
The voice work for the characters is also fairly well done with many of the characters fitting along nicely with what fans may be familiar with as the new voice cast steps into these roles. It is interesting to note that Telltale has not skimped on the classic rock music that Guardians of the Galaxy is known for using and have included a couple of great tracks in this episode alongside standard tunes used for background music.
