There’s exploration, puzzle solving, new characters, and very clumsy gunplay (Telltale should never, ever make a first-person shooter without refining its interface skills). The series’ technical limitations still show up, and it actually gets in the way quite a bit in one cumbersome sequence where Lee is fighting off zombies while stuck in wood. It’s par for the course, though one positive turn from Episode 3 is that the extended adventure-game puzzle segments have been truncated.

In short, the controls themselves aren’t bad — it’s the execution of how they’re implemented in the world that can be frustrating.

Nutmegs and other tricks are possible too, and much of this involves timed usage of R2 while you have the ball. Off the ball, defense is based on containment-style approach — holding “X” down locks you to an opponent while the left analog finesses your distance until you want to pressure, tackle, or hold up.

I can’t tell if it’s real-time physics (spin, speed, bounce, etc.) or if it’s algorithm-based, but it’s implemented well enough to be present without overwhelming. As a casual footy fan but an avid sports gamer, it’s little touches like this that impress me.

When we last left Lee, Clementine, Kenny, and whoever you chose to save (by now, the cast will be based on several of your key decisions), they’d just escaped a horrific scene at the farm of a surviving family. Now they’re back at their fortified motel, and as The Walking Dead, Episode 3: Long Road Ahead opens, food and supplies are getting scarce.