The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episodes 1 & 2 - Ties That Bind Reviews
The New Frontier is off to a great start, and its troubled cast's harrowing journey is just getting started.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is a great new entry in the Telltale franchise. Fans of the series should go into this not expecting much to change in the overall structure of story delivery and setting.
There hasn’t been a better time to start playing Telltale’s The Walking Dead series, and with the addition of group party play, you can also enjoy the story with some friends during the holidays. If you are wondering whether or not you should jump into the game despite not having played the last two games, I’d certainly recommend it. Unlike some of the episodes in previous seasons, there wasn’t a moment I found myself waiting for particular boring sections to end. The storytelling pacing in these premiere episodes has been perfect. If Telltale manage to maintain this level of quality, this could end up becoming the best season of The Walking Dead yet.
A New Frontier, despite its name, really is sticking with what’s worked before, and it’s not made to convert.
If "Ties That Bind" is any indication of the level of acting, pacing, and writing to be seen this season, fans can rest assured that The Walking Dead will remain high atop their must-play lists.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier deserves to be played by everyone that enjoys a well-written plot.
Ties That Bind Part I was the perfect way for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier to start. It reintroduced us to grown-up Clementine, provided ample time for us to get to know Javier and the rest of his group, and gave us plenty of moments for us to decide what kind of a guy we wanted him to be.
The Ties That Bind Parts One and Two are the best episodes in the series to date. Whether you’re a returning fan or brand new to The Walking Dead: The Telltale series, I highly recommend that you play this game today!
A New Frontier is shaping up to be a brilliant season, and I can’t wait to see how Episode 3 pans out.
That’s as fast as I’ll go for the story of this pair of episodes that get Season 3 started in the right direction. Rest assured that Clementime has some great moments in this new season, and that the updated Telltale Games engine makes this the best looking The Walking Dead release from the beloved studio. If you’ve already completed the first two seasons in the game (and Michonne), then you’ve been anxiously waiting for this new release and are probably almost done with both episodes. But if you’re new to the series, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is still a good point from which to experience The Walking Dead universe. I highly recommend that you play this one on PS4 right away so that you’re ready for the third episode which will be releasing soon.
The decision to provide a two-part ‘Ties That Bind’ premiere for A New Frontier allows time for the characters to settle in, to initiate the connections and reintroduce players to the deadly world they now live in. As is the norm with Telltale series’ generally, the voice cast deliver performances to a very high standard and help to produce a group of believable characters.
Telltales powerful method of storytelling shows no signs of fading and this opening episode proves evident with the introduction of its cast of new characters and furthermore, the evolution of Clementine.
Fans of the series were slightly disappointed with how Season Two went down, and I don’t blame them to an extent. It failed to live up to the standards that Season One had set, but Season Three is definitely getting the franchise back on the right track. Telltale Games continues to improve with each new release and series they work on, and after what I experienced with these two episodes, I think they are going to have another hit on their hands. Ties That Bind has set the tone and the bar for the remaining three episodes in A New Frontier, and I cannot wait to see where the story goes next.
"Telltale is still in master form with the story telling and character development. Old characters help lift up the narrative and new ones bring a breath of fresh air to the emotional tale. The plot itself will keep you engaged (as always) and you'll want to play until the drama ends. Which, for the most part, never does. The only thing holding back episode 1 and 2 of A New Frontier are the classic technical problems that have plagued these games from their inception. The Walking Dead Season Three is shaping up to be the pinnacle of the series and I would do anything right now to play the next episode."
Part Two of Ties that Bind literally picks up where Part One left off, not only in story, but also with its tension and suspense, and going forward, this could be the most dark and moral questioning season yet from Telltale.
The Walking Dead Season 3 Ties that Bind is a step in the right direction for this franchise. Not only does it deliver the iconic decision system but the refreshing pacing made thrilling moments more frequent.
A worthy flagbearer.
A New Frontier was able to deliver the first two episodes beautifully and gracefully, and although it may have some issues regarding its gameplay, it still has its fair share of plot twists that’ll surely leave you surprised, and your jaws hanging...
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.
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.