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The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 3 - Above the Law
Score: 92%
Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure

Previously on The Walking Dead: A New Frontier:
With the exception of a short flashback to the early days of the apocalypse, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 3 - Above the Law starts off just after the surprising reveal that Javier's brother, David, is apparently the head of the group that just attacked and raided Prescott, not to mention the same group that killed Javier's niece (David's daughter) and shot Kate (David's wife).

Everything leading up to this episode has shown that New Frontier is not a nice group. Not only did the group flood Prescott with walkers and ambush Javier's family, but we now know that Clementine, with baby AJ in tow, has had dealings with New Frontier. Something happened though that left Clem alone again, and apparently without the little baby we saw born back in Season 2.


Richmond:
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 3 - Above the Law shows that David isn't the only leader of the community, he is actually one of four people who make all the decisions. While David immediately brings Kate and young Jacob into the walls, Javier and the rest of their group are shunted into quarantine where they can be watched and examined to make sure no one is bitten.

It's then that the group finally gets a chance to talk about the situation they are in. Given that Javier's brother is high up on the New Frontier chain-of-command, some members of the Prescott survivors have become a little suspicious of Javier. Even when Javier has everyone calmed down, the questions then turn towards David's involvement in the Prescott raid, whether the man can be trusted, and if there is any chance David was involved in the ambush that killed his daughter.

How you tackle these questions will influence some of your traveling buddies, but David soon shows up and calls Javier to meet the other leaders and try to convince them to let the Prescott survivors stay. More choices are presented to you as these events play out. Exactly how you question David concerning the raid and if you follow his lead when talking with the other Richmond heads can have subtle changes in the way dialogue unfolds, but the major events will play out as they must so that the group can have some interesting revelations about Richmond and New Frontier - revelations that will put all of Javier's friends in danger and could potentially shake the very foundation of Richmond.


Clementine and New Frontier:
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 3 - Above the Law not only flashes back to Javier, Kate and the kids' early time after the walkers appear, but we also get another bit of Clem's memories.

In this episode, we not only see she and AJ in the New Frontier group, but we learn what events led to her being outcast from the community and left on her own again. There are a few choices that you will have to make in this flashback and it's unclear what repercussions those will have in the future, but this feels like one of those bigger choices that come up in Telltale games that should play out differently based on what you decided to do. Only time will tell, though. Before the end of this episode, Clem will get some revelations about the events from that time and, if you work things right, you might even start to convince Clementine that David isn't as bad as she thinks, but could Javier's feelings for his brother be clouding his judgement?


Next Time on The Walking Dead: A New Frontier:
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 3 - Above the Law ends with a gunshot and immediate fade to black, leaving a cliffhanger for Episode 4 - Thicker than Water. Exactly who gets the bullet isn't clear, but it will have some pretty massive repercussions given the state of the characters by the end of the episode.

Do you trust David? Should Javier? Given the possible outcomes from the building clash at the end of Above the Law, will Richmond/New Frontier be the same afterwards? If not, will it change for the better? While the next episode isn't the final installment in A New Frontier, it promises to start wrapping up some of these threads and it will be interesting to see who all is left standing when the dust finally settles.


-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications
AKA Chris Meyer

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