THE WALKING DEAD: A NEW FRONTIER
WE GRIT OUR TEETH AND GET STUCK INTO THE TRAUMATIC FIRST TWO EPISODES OF THE NEW SEASON.
As disgraced baseball star Javier García, the rapidly spreading viral outbreak forces you to shift priorities fast and shoulder new burdens just as quickly, making you responsible for two young lives. With our setting transferred to Virginia and the introduction of a cast of original characters, A New Frontier is a fresh start. The only constant in this ever-surprising world is Clementine, the hardy teenage heroine who we met as a vulnerable eight-year-old.
Clem’s fate is intertwined with that of Javier, though you actually spend more time playing as him than as her. His story begins with the death of his father and brother. The world is blissfully unaware of ‘walkers’ at this point. Flash forward four years and Javier’s predicament has grown complicated. He’s in a car with his niece Mariana, his nephew Gabe and his brother’s wife, Kate.
The battered station wagon turned moving fortress is their only defence against a thousandstrong herd of walkers marching their way.
That title of ‘parent’ is one Javier takes on reluctantly. The classic parenting dilemma is ever-present — the choice between keeping your family happy, or safe. Even if those choices are illusory in retrospect, they feel real enough.
The pacing is consistent with previous seasons. Typically, there’s a lull while you poke around a hub of life — a gas station, a makeshift town — then havoc erupts and you use QTEs to dodge, shoot and stab. This is now a finely honed model, each episode given a carefully judged proportion of tender moments, scintillating set-pieces, tough choices and painful cliffhangers. The writing here is, as always, superb.
Although it sticks doggedly to a tried-andtested format, A New Frontier takes a successful first (and second) step into the series’ new season, rewarding those who’ve been there from the start and newbies alike. [ BEN GRIFFIN ]