Guys! Look! We reached the end of our Walking Dead journey and that kind of makes me sad. It’s not like your typical review where you just play the game, then write about it and done, nothing more, let’s forget everything. This really felt like a journey for me, because I’ve been writing for each episode separately and I can see how the story and all characters progress step by step. So now the time has come for us to sit down and talk about The Walking Dead: A New Frontier for one last time. And let me be the one to say that the finale lived up to my expectations or to say the least hopes. I’m not gonna lie, episodes 3 and 4 left me wanting a bit more, because I felt like having to play through some unnecessary bad scenarios just to get to the good stuff, but they did hold off their ground by some very well made positives, however I’m not going into details about that, because there’s a whole review for each of those episodes.
Anyways, let’s get down to the story shall we and before anything else, I’m gonna go straight on and put the SPOILER ALERT tag, because there are some things I wish to discuss with more depth, but in case you are reading this, before playing the game, let me just stop you here and tell you: go play it, then continue reading, because if you managed to get to episode 5, then it’s so worth to experience the finale for yourselves.
Okay, so I liked how the finale’s story panned out. I like that we see the focus mainly on Javi’s story and everything is solely dependent on his decisions, not to mention that the actual ending can vary based on some stuff from previous episodes, which is always a good thing to see. There are only a couple of small things which made me go “what the hell” and not in the good way, so let’s mention those first. Okay, so in my major save of the game, back in episode 4, I saved Ava, because I wanted to save Tripp, cuz he my bro, and in episode 5, she died in the most anti-climactic way possible and to be honest, if vice-versa is the same, I’m not event sorry anymore that Tripp died in the previous episode. You know, that kind of undervalues the decision you made, because it was such a tough choice back in episode 4’s ending, and now, it doesn’t even matter. I wish they had panned out that better, because now it felt rushed and unconsidered, to the very least. Next up, in my complaint list comes that dumb b*tch Elenor. Honestly, the audacity she had to put Tripp’s death on my hands. I’m not even mad that I yelled at her, because it’s her fault and she deserved every bit of it. I don’t like how her character turned so antagonistic, so sudden and I still don’t get the motives she had behind betraying Tripp like that. Like eff me and my family, but at least have some sorrow for Tripp and admit your mistake. Alas she didn’t come clean with anything still and that just pissed me off. I’m not even remotely concerned that I didn’t see her in the ending, however, it would have been nice to see her at the final moments of the episodes. Or at least her, having some remorse for her actions.
Next up we have Kate. Ok, I have a couple of questions here. First of all, the frontier have been nothing but trouble from the very beginning and if it weren’t for David, they would have probably killed us all or the very least thrown us out to the zambies, and the people (and by that I mean the generic public) did absolutely nothing, but now suddenly she feels guilty for breaking their wall and unleashing the zambies in here and wants to save the city? Like wut? Can you please give me the option to at least try and talk her out of it? It was evident from the start that that was gonna be a disaster in a bottle, waiting to be released. So [THIS IS THE MAJOR SPOILER PART] apparently if you have a good relationship with Clem, she offers to go after Gabe and David after they ran off with the car. And to be fairly honest, he is right. We’ve been surviving on the road for so long, now suddenly Richmond is the new heaven, let’s do that. I wish I had the choice to go with David … Anyways, I sidetracked a bit, but back to the topic at hand. You get to pick whether to go after Gabe or go with Kate and save the town. So if you pick to go after Gabe, which was what I did, because I felt like David and Javi deserved a little one on one, without everyone else looking. If you do that, Clem will help Kate out with the town. So let me ask you this then. How the hell did Kate turn when both Clem and to top it off Jesus and his men were there? I mean, it wasn’t even explained what happened. According to Clem, they got separated and that’s when sh*t hit the fan, but … how and why … and to top it off I didn’t even see her turn. I mean, I googled some stuff and saw that it does show her as a zombie, but I didn’t get that. Maybe I didn’t say the right thing, which was supposed to lead me to that moment, but oh well. Point is … I don’t get why Kate was so attached to Richmond. Actually, I think this controverts a bit. If you do the ending where she lives, I remember her saying to Javi to let go of the regret he had about David, or something along those lines, because it’s gonna eat him alive (it was something like that, same point), alas earlier she says, that if she doesn’t try to help the town, she won’t be able to live past the regrets… WHAT? All I can say is … women (and I’m not sexist, because I am a woman as well and I know well that most of the time women are selfish beings, who only say and do things just to get their way).
Last point I wanna make is about where Clementine leaves Richmond to search for AJ. On that note I like that there wasn’t another bland flashback with her, in this episode, however why don’t I get the option to go with her. I feel like I would have liked the choice between going with her or staying, than the one I got which was if I wanna lead Richmond or not. It was kind of a meh choice, because I don’t really care about the town. Also, MORE JESUS PLEASE!!! He is an amazing character, I love him so much, yet I only got to see him at the end of episode 2 and 5 … whyyyy??? Then again, I guess I should be glad he is alive to the very least. One final thing. I like Javi as character, I’m not going to try and beat around any bush, I was very skeptical in the beginning, but Telltale made Javi a very likeable protagonist and I love how they tailored him. Also, bonus points to the fact that the finale was focused around him. In the end when they say that Clementine’s story will continue, does that mean that she will be playable in a future installment? What about Javi? Will he be a returning character? So many questions.
Anyways, it is what it is and I liked the finale. I read a couple of places where people say that they managed to make an emotional finale on par with season 1, I however do not think this is the case. Yeah, David’s death was sad, I don’t know if I care that much about Kate or Gabe dying, because they can either die. I was going to be happier if I got the ending where both lived, alas not every day is Easter as a famous Bulgarian proverb goes. However, I can still say that nothing can beat the finale of season 1 in terms of emotion levels, because I actually cried there and trust me, there are not a great many deal of things that can make me cry.
Just as before, we got to see a touching little flashback of Javi’s life before the whole zambies deal (I keep calling them zambies on purpose by the way, in case you’re wondering). This one was actually quite nice and that’s the reason why I stuck to going after David, instead of after Kate. And what the hell, I mean, I killed so many zombies, yet David got bit in the actual car, by one zombie … what?? How?? But I have to say I was pleased with the QTE this episode. They were easier than everything else I have experienced, because let’s be real, point and click is so much harder than just Q, Q, Q-ing some zombies or “left, right, left, right” that herd to death, however camera angles were a bit tricky at the moment (lil jokers, when you get used to that and suddenly the camera turns and left is no longer left, but instead right). I also enjoyed the musical score of this episode, especially the ending song (still not as good as season 1 finale, but let’s be real, it’s hard to beat that in most cases).
As a final verdict, I will give this episode 8/10. I really wanted to give it a 9 at least, as it was evident from my previous review, however, the stuff I mentioned are holding it back from that. I feel like it could have fared better in some decisions and scenarios, but as a whole experience, it’s totally worth it. And on that note…
GUYS, that’s the end to our journey with The Walking Dead! I am so sad, but at the same time I’m glad I got to take this adventure. I am definitely looking forward to doing the same with the Guardians of the Galaxy and I wanna thank everyone who takes the time to read my ramblings of a review. Hope you enjoy and as a final note to this entire 5 episode game, I can definitely say that it is so damn worth it. I loved playing it and even if it did have its downs at times, I absolutely adored Javi and Clem and hope to see them again in a future installment. So if you’re new to this game, definitely don’t hesitate to pick it up.
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