The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Episode 4 Review – Another Failed Setup Episode

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Episode 4 Review

I feel for those who wrote Episode 4 of a Telltale production. All that I’ve experienced are well written setups that inevitably result in a spectacular conclusion for Episode 5, but due to exactly that, they end up being overshadowed. It’s not restricted to just Telltale, it’s commonplace in Television. Even among the greats. People remember Ozymandias & Felina from Breaking Bad, yet I rarely see nearly as much discussion of Granite State. So it’s almost impossible for this episode of Telltale’s latest in the Walking Dead series: A New Frontier, to properly resonate throughout the ages, even if it were amazing, which it isn’t.

It’s not restricted to just Telltale, it’s commonplace in Television. Even among the greats. People remember Ozymandias & Felina from Breaking Bad, yet I rarely see nearly as much discussion of Granite State. So it’s almost impossible for this episode of Telltale’s latest in the Walking Dead series, New Frontier, to properly resonate throughout the ages, even if it were amazing, which it isn’t.

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“Combined with a forced romance side-plot and flashbacks that simply drag, New Frontier’s storyline fails to surprise in the penultimate episode.”

A New Frontier began with an excellent debut with a two-parter utilizing a family dynamic and constant travel to make for a tense journey, laced with suspense at every turn until Episode 2’s ending. As my review stated, Episode 3 wasn’t bad, but it simply didn’t capture the movement or unpredictability of the story’s opening. Episode 4 only suffers from that Episodes problems more, not less.

AMC’s Television series based off the same comic has a common criticism thrown at it, about a predictable and uneventful pattern of survivors fighting to reach what looks to be a place one can call home, only to discover its horrors, or hold up until the inevitable zombie horde arrives.

A New Frontier falls into the same trap. The exciting road journey during the game’s opening is swapped for a tale about a sanctuary threatened with destruction, and its politics and figure heads simply don’t have the same engagement as the cast of family members and survivors the game started with.

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“Short, contrived, and occasionally frustrating; Episode 4 of New Frontier is so far the weakest of the bunch, and it’s up to the game’s finale to bring this entry back to the top of its game.”

But what’s exacerbated the issue, is how it’s changed some of the characters. The dialogue system feels more inaccurate than ever here, frequently resulting in a tone and words not intended, only now, there’s contrived character roles that change at this junction in the story. Eleanor and Gabe are the too greatest offenders, with the former making a choice that’s so polar opposite of her character, and Gabe flip-flopping between competence and a dumb teen stereotype.

Combined with a forced romance side-plot and flashbacks that simply drag, New Frontier’s storyline fails to surprise in the penultimate episode. The very end has some brutal decisions and an interesting setup for a negation between two-characters, but it quickly degenerates into contrived chaos before the credits roll.

From a technical standpoint, Episode 4 is as well presented as the previous installments, with the usual pros and cons that stem from Telltale. There’s moments of texture pop-in, stuttering, and rough animations, but by this point, it almost adds to the game’s charm.

Short, contrived, and occasionally frustrating; Episode 4 of New Frontier is so far the weakest of the bunch, and it’s up to the game’s finale to bring this entry back to the top of its game. The chaos of this episode’s conclusion has lots of potential for a thrilling conclusion, but it certainly reminds me why I feel it’s best to binge Telltale games at once, rather than wait through the agonizing weeks and months just to see a weaker episode that you know, will be forgotten.

***A PC code was provided by the publisher***