The Walking Dead Season Two – Episode 3: In Harm’s Way Review

It’s become easy to throw around the moniker “the best episode ever” for Telltale’s seasonal adventure games over the past few years. Outside of an exception or two, their work has seen a continuing string of improvements and quality through each of their titles. Between The Wolf Among Us‘ excellent approach to noir and The Walking Dead‘s incredible second season, it’s obvious that now is the time to be a fan of adventure games.

2014-05-14_00002The Walking Dead Episode 3 picks up the pace and drives it home as soon as it begins, with Clem’s newly put together ragtag group now under the authority of Carver, the mean leader of yet another group of survivors, voiced by none other than Michael Madsen. It’s past spoiling things to mention that a friend from the first season made a comeback in episode two, and he makes his presence felt during In Harm’s Way.

With a script already as grim as it is, Madsen does an even greater job showing us the many sides of the psycho coin of Carver, as he absolutely flips out during this episode. While not completely original, especially considering the wide arrange of character seen both in game and comic series, it’s worth noting how doubt can spring into your mind even in regards to someone seemingly as evil as his character.

On the other end, the rest of the cast does an admiral job in smearing what we’ve come to expect from their roles, from past episodes. In Clem’s case, episode three develops her personality even further, giving you the choice to be even more influential in how her little head is shaping up to be. None of the decisions are easy to come up with, since like any good fiction, none are inherently right or wrong. We’re way past any moral lines in season two, In Harm’s Way makes sure that we get that point, early on and throughout, all the way to the very end, credits roll.

2014-05-14_00001Granted, little action gameplay is featured in this type of game but the little there is is handled extremely well and hardly ever require any redos. Telltale’s learned from previous series how to craft a good balance between tension and frustration, and season two so far has yet to draw out a dud when push comes to shove and we’re thrown deep into trouble.

It’s tough to pinpoint where it’s all heading down to. Episode Three does its part in mixing everything up again, leaving us dazed and confused as to how everything will turn out in the end. In Harm’s Way is a fantastic mid point to what’s shaping up to be the best content when it comes to The Walking Dead fiction. No one is safe and we’re starving to eye up what’s coming up next, whenever episode four rolls around.

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