Wallace and Gromit go Episodic, in this first of four adventures from
Telltale games. Fresh off the two-season success of Sam and Max, and the debut
of the Strong Bad season, the adventure gaming greats strike again with Wallace
and Gromit: Fright of the Bumble Bees.
The adventure features a hapless Wallace, who doesn't seem to be able to
create an invention that doesn't have some obvious-but-unforseen-to-him
consequence, and his canine sidekick Gromit, attempting to feed some Bees so
they can produce several hundred gallons of Honey in time for the West Wallaby
Street Crumpet Festival tonight... of course, nothing quite goes to plan.
In a distinct change from the usual Telltale formula, the pure
point-and-click interface has been replaced with a directly-controlled
character. This is due to the series debut on the Xbox (Through Xbox Live), and
allows for either keyboard/mouse control, or control via a joypad (Obviously, it
was designed for the Xbox 360 controller, and works flawlessly with this on the
PC). Whichever control scheme you use works pretty well, though there is some
slight confusion when changing scenes, as the fixed viewpoint leads sometimes to
characters heading off in different directions than you actually intended.
Throughout the adventure you get to control both Wallace and Gromit, though you
don't get to choose when you switch between the pair. Each handles very much
the same, so the major difference is that Wallace will give the traditional
description of an item when you look at it, whereas Gromit will expressively
examine things.
The gaming is enjoyably difficult, though there aren't any massive
brain-busting conundrums, and usually you have some idea of what you need to do
next - even if you aren't exactly sure how to do it.
The graphics are very good, though the attempt to make the characters look
'clay' has worked slightly too well - they almost look over-done in that
respect. That said, the mouth and movement animations do nicely replicate the
'clay-mation' feel of the Aardman Animation originals, with a definite
stop-motion look to them that really works.
The voice acting is very strong, though sadly Peter Sallis did not reprise
his role as Wallace. The stand-in actor is good, but noticeably not the
originale at times. However, it wasn't enough to be jarring, and on the whole
worked well.
The real star of the show, however, was Gromit. I was somewhat worried how
they were going to handle the expressive canine, and the answer was brilliantly.
From looking at items through the world, where varius eye-brow raises, nods and
shakes of the head, and gentle shrugs indicate his feelings on things, to the
fantastic cut-scene animation that really nails the character there wasn't a
point where I thought, "That's not right."
Overall, an excellent opener, and we can only hope that things continue
onwards and upwards from here.
Review by LazerFX (8 months ago)
Wallace and Gromit go Episodic, in this first of four adventures from Telltale games. Fresh off the two-season success of Sam and Max, and the debut of the Strong Bad season, the adventure gaming greats strike again with Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumble Bees.
The adventure features a hapless Wallace, who doesn't seem to be able to create an invention that doesn't have some obvious-but-unforseen-to-him consequence, and his canine sidekick Gromit, attempting to feed some Bees so they can produce several hundred gallons of Honey in time for the West Wallaby Street Crumpet Festival tonight... of course, nothing quite goes to plan.
In a distinct change from the usual Telltale formula, the pure point-and-click interface has been replaced with a directly-controlled character. This is due to the series debut on the Xbox (Through Xbox Live), and allows for either keyboard/mouse control, or control via a joypad (Obviously, it was designed for the Xbox 360 controller, and works flawlessly with this on the PC). Whichever control scheme you use works pretty well, though there is some slight confusion when changing scenes, as the fixed viewpoint leads sometimes to characters heading off in different directions than you actually intended. Throughout the adventure you get to control both Wallace and Gromit, though you don't get to choose when you switch between the pair. Each handles very much the same, so the major difference is that Wallace will give the traditional description of an item when you look at it, whereas Gromit will expressively examine things.
The gaming is enjoyably difficult, though there aren't any massive brain-busting conundrums, and usually you have some idea of what you need to do next - even if you aren't exactly sure how to do it.
The graphics are very good, though the attempt to make the characters look 'clay' has worked slightly too well - they almost look over-done in that respect. That said, the mouth and movement animations do nicely replicate the 'clay-mation' feel of the Aardman Animation originals, with a definite stop-motion look to them that really works.
The voice acting is very strong, though sadly Peter Sallis did not reprise his role as Wallace. The stand-in actor is good, but noticeably not the originale at times. However, it wasn't enough to be jarring, and on the whole worked well.
The real star of the show, however, was Gromit. I was somewhat worried how they were going to handle the expressive canine, and the answer was brilliantly. From looking at items through the world, where varius eye-brow raises, nods and shakes of the head, and gentle shrugs indicate his feelings on things, to the fantastic cut-scene animation that really nails the character there wasn't a point where I thought, "That's not right."
Overall, an excellent opener, and we can only hope that things continue onwards and upwards from here.