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The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way Review for PlayStation 3 (PS3)

What Does Killing Really Mean

Without a word, the scene opens up. Clementine stands in front of a tree with a butterfly on it basked in the glow of the setting sun. You have all the time in the world to look around and appreciate the scenery and drink in the simple joy of existing in the moment. You have one action, “examine butterfly” and then, the episode begins.

The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way is all about perspective. Heck, one of the characters flat out says so in a scene halfway through the game. The choices you make this time aren’t as hard as choices in previous episodes. Things are kind of black and white, and half the time all of the choices you make really end up at the same outcome anyway. No, this episode isn’t about seeing the consequences of your actions. This episode is about actually SEEING the consequences of your actions, up close and bloody personal.

By that I mean… well… in every game that you play there’s a bit of a disconnect between the player and the actions he takes. When Kratos splits an elephant man’s skull open and tears out his brain, you don’t really look at that as murder. It’s more like a puppet show with characters playing out a hilarious scene of wanton violence in front of you. The same holds true for games like Mortal Kombat . It’s hard to look at that game as actually violent and grotesque because of how over the top it is. The bloody bony bits that explode out of a corpse feel more like confetti than the parts of something that used to be alive, especially since that character will be back on his feet right after you hit the character select screen.

The Walking Dead had this disconnect as well. All throughout episode 1 and most of episode 2, the consequences of my choices felt, at best, the result of a branching tree. I chose what Lee and Clementine did, because those choices felt right to me. When I chose to kill someone I felt badass and when my choices let someone die I felt sad, but I never actually felt like someone died.

The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way Screenshot

That is not the case in In Harm’s Way . Telltale decided to pull a Spec Ops: The Line with us this time around an shined a spotlight on the grim reality of what we are doing. Nothing feels “good” in this episode. Nothing feels like the “right” decision. Everything feels horrible… and that’s because in The Walking Dead , it is.

I am struggling to accurately describe this without giving you a small example… so SPOILER WARNING ! For the love of all that is good, do not continue to read on if you don’t want plot details. Just skip past the italicized text as fast as you can.

The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way Screenshot

All throughout the game, there is one man who makes your life horrible. He imprisons you, enslaves you, beats you up, kills people who are close to you, and throughout the game you just wait for the point in which you can take your revenge. Well, that point eventually comes. You get to exact your revenge on this monster. However, there is no repentance. There is no fear. There is no payback. There is just you, and a corpse of a man who once used to be alive. The camerawork zooms in to the man’s face, as it is beaten savagely. When you are done, there are no eyes left, no mouth, and no features. Just a bashed in bloody cavity with pieces of bones strewn about. There was no justice. There was no catharsis. There was just death. That was the reality of what you just did. You just killed someone.

Alright, is everyone back with us? Good. I would hesitate to call The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way “fun” but then again it’s not supposed to be. It’s an incredible piece of media, one that everyone should experience, but it doesn’t produce the same feelings that a “fun” game does.

Rather, this episode makes you think. It makes you examine the things you are doing in new lights. It forces you to make actions like the “examine butterfly” one in the intro, just because it makes the things that happen afterward feel more poignant. You’ll find that this happens a lot over the episode. You’ll be forced to walk down a hallway to continue a scene just because it feels like you have a role in it. You’ll talk with someone several times just to keep the story moving. Where normally this would feel like a chore in any other game, The Walking Dead makes it feel as if every action you take has meaning, because you are the one who is taking them.

The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way Screenshot

There are a couple game-y elements The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way . You’ll encounter a few stealth sections, some timed puzzles, and of course the zombie fighting quick time events. You’ll also see some pretty drastic consequences of your choices in episodes 1 and 2, sometimes coming down to characters that live or die and their impact on the direction the story goes.

However, once again the majority of this game hinges on its spectacular dialogue, fantastic dialogue choices, and other cinematic elements. The game also manages to lay out environments in such a way that you end up hearing even more cinematic dialogue than you usually would. The thing you need to advance the scene will usually be in an unlikely area, and as you wander around trying to find it, you’ll hear even more backstory. The animations are also smooth as always and the voice acting is, once again, some of the best in the industry, which just makes the story even more believable.

If I had to nitpick the game a bit, I could notice a couple flaws. For one, the camera tends to jitter a lot, especially during scripted sequences. This only seems to happen if you move the cursor in an attempt to control the camera, but it still can be quite jarring, and if you don’t move the cursor back to a neutral position the camera will continue to jitter all throughout the scene.

This episode also features the return of a lot of characters from 400 Days . However, I kind of feel like this was missed potential. With the exception of one character whose 400 Days story isn’t even mentioned, all of the 400 Days characters are really sort of cameos. They will say one or two words to you as you walk past them and that’s about it. They don’t play any major part in the story and don’t interact with you in any meaningful way. I really would have liked to see these characters integrated with the plot a bit more.

But aside from those few gripes, The Walking Dead Season 2: Episode 3 – In Harm’s Way is still a phenomenal game. The episodes truly do feel like they are getting better and better with each passing one. Let’s hope that Telltale can keep up this string of hits right up to the conclusion of the series. Only two episodes left now!

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.5 Graphics
Aside from a jittery camera, the graphics are once again perfect, gritty, and terrifying. 4.5 Control
Point, click, and make hard decisions. 5.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The voice acting is just phenomenal. 5.0 Play Value
One of the best episodes of The Walking Dead yet! 4.9 Overall Rating – Must Buy
Not an average. See Rating legend below for a final score breakdown.

Review Rating Legend
0.1 – 1.9 = Avoid 2.5 – 2.9 = Average 3.5 – 3.9 = Good 4.5 – 4.9 = Must Buy
2.0 – 2.4 = Poor 3.0 – 3.4 = Fair 4.0 – 4.4 = Great 5.0 = The Best

Game Features:

  • A gripping narrative that makes you examine your actions.
  • Choices that carry over from as far back as Season 1.
  • Some of the best moments in The Walking Dead yet!

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