The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episodes 1 & 2 - Ties That Bind Reviews
It’s still a little disconcerting to still not have a clear idea where the season as a whole will be heading, but moment-to-moment, Season 3 of Telltale’s Walking Dead continues to deliver some of the impressive world-building and characterization that made me love the series when it first premiered. I feel a part of Javi and Clementine’s plight, and though I hope the rest of the season can avoid some of the familiar Telltale and Walking Dead formula trappings that Episode 2 fell into and to keep surprising me, I’m still invested in finding out what’s next. Especially with a little more context for the New Frontier revealed, Telltale is starting to better lay out all the logs it has to build a cabin. I just hope the rest of the structure is as strong as the foundation.
A promising, assured start, and a welcome return to form for Telltale.
I don’t have a clear sense of where the season as a whole aims to go just yet, but “Ties That Bind Part I” is one of Telltale’s strongest openers in recent memory. Scenes feel carefully constructed in their camera direction and editing, and Telltale avoids the pitfalls of its most egregious past issues — only one environmental exploration sequence temporarily slows things down — but for the most part the episode moves along at an exceptional clip. But that’s not just thanks to Part I’s style. Smart characterization and writing for Javi and his family, plus the return of Clementine, add weight to a largely unfamiliar but already engaging new frontier that I can’t wait to continue to explore.
A partially successful soft reboot, with some of Telltale’s best storytelling – even if many of your decisions still make precious little difference.
The two-episode opener does its job at getting your interest back into the series and kindling your curiosity
The New Frontier is off to a great start, and its troubled cast's harrowing journey is just getting started.
The conclusion to The Ties That Bind is a gut-wrenching, gory masterpiece up there with the very best episodes of The Walking Dead.
Walking Dead fans looking to jump back into Clementine's story with this new game should temper their expectations. The player only takes control of her in flashback chapters that do not affect the overall arc of the story or any relationship with a character in it. Her retrospectives are nonetheless harrowing.
My favorite story beats in Ties That Bind are unquestionably classified as spoilers, but they all spring from the same place: drama motivated by logical character action. Javi and the gang are proactive and well-defined, which makes their struggle to survive all the more compelling. If the first two episodes are any indication, A New Frontier will be a worthy follow-up to The Walking Dead, even if there's no chance it will be as revolutionary.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier begins with a very powerful double chapter and Telltale Games makes clear why they are the masters of their own genre. Dynamic, spectacular and fresh are the adjectives that describe this new adventure.
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The second chapter of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier follows the great path of the previous one and Telltale Games delivers a brilliant story that will be seen in the next chapters of the game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Whether you’re a returning fan, a lapsed player or a complete newcomer, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier gets off to a good and welcoming start, with more than a few twists and turns packed into the two-part episode. While it’s not perfect, that extra time has given Telltale room to breathe life into a new and interesting cast of admittedly flawed characters, build new relationships and present them with new and immediate dangers, always with the threat of zombies in the background.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is off to a great start with Episode 1 & 2, "Ties that Bind".
It’s wonderful to be back with Clem, and the new characters are interesting. Even though the story is still in its infancy, it feels like we’ve got plenty to look forward to as the season moves forward.
While A New Frontier's opening two episodes are the best looking Telltale's ever produced, they resemble what we've seen before in story. Things need to change for the rest of the season to thrive, if it can.
It’s pure agony at this point that they’re re-running the exact same bloody plots yet again for a third five-part series, as if they weren’t miserably worn out before even Telltale scooped them up off the floor and blew off the crust and fluff.
The latest season of Telltale Games' acclaimed series adapted from Robert Kirkman's books has plenty of familiar faces and themes
Episodes 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier improve upon the series' existing formula, offering an emotionally trying story and a new coat of gameplay polish.
The Ties that Bind Part 1 is a great start to a new entry in Telltale’s excellent series, one that does just enough to feel fresh.
The Ties that Bind Part 2 is an excellent ending to what was already a great premiere to season three. While a little on the short side, the overall experience is memorable and has me anticipating the next episode.