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The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3 - In Harm's Way
Score: 90%
Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Media: Download/1
Players: 1
Genre: Adventure

Previously on: The Walking Dead:

The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3 - In Harm's Way starts off reeling from a few hard decisions that could have led to at least one character possibly dying, but regardless of how you played through A House Divided, Clementine’s friends (both old and new) will end up captured by the mysterious Carver and taken to his community based in an old home improvement store.

Clementine’s previous adventure led to her new friends (the people running from Carver) meeting a group housed in a ski lodge. There, she met up with Kenny (featured prominently in Season 1) and had to make several hard social choices between her new friend, Luke, and her old friend. Now though, the decisions that you will have to make are more important than just deciding whose lunch table to sit at. In the attempt to escape their new surroundings, you will be asked to judge both Kenny’s and Luke’s plans and try to guide the group in their activities.


Work Release:

The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3 - In Harm's Way starts off with Clementine’s group being herded into the garden section of the store and, essentially, in prison until each person can prove him or herself to be a functional part of the group.

Of course, some of Clem’s friends know all about this place and they were trying to escape. The more you see of Carver’s governing style, the more it becomes apparent why they tried to get away. In order to help prove your loyalty, the recaptured members, as well as a few others locked in the garden section, are put to work fixing up the grounds and trying to expand the parameter against an oncoming horde of walkers.

Clementine finds herself in an unusual spot as she is forced to do everything from pruning in the greenhouse alongside the young and introverted Sarah, to bringing building supplies to Kenny who is told to reinforce the plywood fences.

During these odd jobs, Clementine and Sarah see a cruel event, but it might be just the spark they need in order to convince one of Carver’s people to switch sides and help facilitate an escape plan.


Release Work:

After giving players a good taste of how Carver rules over his community, The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3 - In Harm's Way really gets you focused on getting the group to decide on an escape plan. A couple of different options are proposed and while which you choose ultimately doesn’t matter (the plans of mice and men and all that), Clementine still proves to be a lynchpin in the group and she is called to help several times. After all, she’s small, light and fairly good at sneaking around. Plus, she has a good head on her shoulders and has seen more than enough gruesome events to keep her from balking at the wrong moment.

Clementine also befriends Bonnie, a character first introduced in 400 Days and first appearing in this season during A House Divided. While Bonnie isn’t the only character from 400 Days to appear at Carver’s stronghold, she is the most prominent. Actually, the others' existence all depends on how you played through the Season 1 DLC and if you could convince them to join the community.

Before the episode wraps up, the group will put their escape plan in action, justice will be served, death will be dealt and yet another tough decision will have to be made. While this last decision is another strong choice that will have definite consequences in the coming episodes, I still haven’t quite had any real moral dilemmas that Lee seemed to face around every corner in the previous season.


Next Time on: The Walking Dead:

The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3 - In Harm's Way wraps up a couple of loose ends, but it also unravels a few. Some of Clementine’s party will be lost, either killed or simply missing. It seems that Amid the Ruins has a lot riding on it. Not only do the escapees have to find some way to regroup, but hopefully the last minute choice you are forced to make doesn’t put Clementine’s group in even more danger than before.

Like I said above, Clementine is frequently faced with some tough decisions, and I guess a good part of their difficulty is the idea that she is still a little girl and she has to grow up fast and hard, but there was something different about Season 1. As Lee, you had Clem on your heels learning from your actions and reacting to your decisions. Sure, the characters around you will "remember what you did," but they just don’t seem to be as impactful as looking down at Clem’s face when you realize she was standing behind you when you decided to kill a cannibal who wanted to serve up your whole party. There just seems to be an order of magnitude different between these drastic choices this time around.

That being said, The Walking Dead: Season 2 is turning out to be a great game that is fun to play and seems to keep me on the edge of my seat a lot of times. At this point, I would definitely recommend it to even those with a casual interest. With two episodes left, it will be interesting to see how everything plays out and who is left standing when the dust settles.


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

Related Links:



Microsoft Xbox 360 The Walking Dead: Season 2: Episode 3 - In Harm's Way Windows The Wolf Among Us: Episode 4 - In Sheep's Clothing

 
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