The Walking Dead: The Game – Episode 3: Long Road Ahead Review

The first two episodes of The Walking Dead: The Game slowly introduced players to a twisted world filled with zombies and crazies that forced us to make tough decisions based on how we thought our version of Lee would take these various scenarios. These different decisions that we have had to made in Episodes 1 and 2 have been able to give us a general outline of a “good and bad” way to do things. Episode 3 takes all of those defined lines and blurs them completely.

Long Road Ahead makes all of the previous decisions seen in the past two episodes seem trivial. You will start to wonder if what you are doing is right or not. But is it worth playing through to get some more of the story? Here are the Hots and Nots of The Walking Dead: The Game – Episode 3: Long Road Ahead.

Hots

A Story Where You Evolve

Long Road Ahead is the third installment in The Walking Dead: The Game that tells the story of Lee Everett, a man with a troubled past who has taken a girl named Clementine into his care in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. The third episode takes place not too long after the events of the second episode. The bandits we witnessed while on the farm now have nowhere else to go and that means nothing but trouble for Lee and his fellow survivors. On top of that Kenny and Lilly are still at each others throats and it turns out their is a thief in their ranks. All of this progresses based on the decisions you have made in the previous episodes as well as the decisions you will have to make in this episode.

The decisions you will face in episode 3 are unlike the others you were faced with in the previous episodes. I used to think that there was a clear cut choice between “good” and “bad” decisions before I faced what I did in episode 3. Now I have to look back at the decisions I made and wonder if what I did was morally right or not. This isn’t just a story about Lee Everett, this is a story about us. Lee is the puppet, and we are the puppet masters.

Gameplay Is Still Solid

Episode 3 features one variation in the gameplay along with the standard mechanics we have seen in the past two episodes. This time around the episode features shooting along with the problem solving and conversation mechanics. It isn’t difficult to pick up and it fits right in with the vibe of the game and its story. Telltale Games stuck with what works for everything else and that isn’t a bad thing at all. So long as they stick to this formula for the final two episodes there shouldn’t ever be a problem with it.

Graphics and Voice Work Get You Immersed

The vibrant comic style and excellent voice work still work great in unison and get you extremely immersed in the game and its story. The art style works well for the game and it makes every scene pop in a different way, whether its an intense situation or a gruesome zombie take-down. The voice work from all the characters portrays the moods very well and is convincing enough to make you feel emotions based on the situation, ranging from empathy to anger. It is also worth noting that I did not experience any drops in the audio this time around, a problem which has been prevalent in the past two episodes.

Replay Values Is Through The Roof

As with the previous two episodes, completing episode 3 will make you want to go back and replay it so you can see all of the different choices that you can make. It also makes you want to run through the previous two episodes so you can see what else will change in this episode. There are so many different possibilities and branches in the story that it will take dedicated players quite a while to get through them all.

Nots

Minor Graphical Hiccups During Action

The only thing that I could see that was wrong with this episode was that there were points where the frame rate would get choppy during the action sequences scattered throughout the episode. This is by far nothing major and does not really detract from the experience. This is probably the most solid entry in the series.

Conclusion

The Walking Dead: The Game – Episode 3: Long Road Ahead is by far the strongest entry in the series so far. It tells a riveting story with excellent character progression and is chock full of intense moments. Players who have the season pass will not be disappointed with their purchase. Those who are still spending the $5 should definitely think about picking up the third entry in this amazing series. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the release of Episode 4 because I can hardly wait to continue this amazing story.

[Editor's Note: The Walking Dead: The Game - Episode 3: Long Road Ahead was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 platform. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]

Review Score: 89/100