No Need To Bee Frightened
Written: Apr 02 '09 (Updated Dec 08 '09)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Price, nostalgia, humor, gameplay, visuals
Cons: Frustrating bits
The Bottom Line: Good game!
|
|
|
| SLOW's Full Review: Wallace and Gromit's Fright of the Bumblebees for ... |
Joey B. and me used to play those adventure titles over at his house, first on his Commodore 64, in the classic verb-noun text-only motif, then, eventually, with some sparse side-scrolling graphics (which were often more confusing than elucidating) on his brand spanking-new Macintosh. We learned some basic tenets of gaming which would carry through all games ever created after...straightforward stuff like, "If it's not nailed down, pick it up-- the designers wouldn't have let you manipulate it if it wasn't going to be part of the game at some point," and "As soon as you open a new area, go in there and find the stuff you need to open the next one."
Well, Joey B. went and got a doctorate in some physical science discipline I can't even pronounce, and is now Doctor Joseph B., working in a Silicon Valley startup to create efficient solar cells. And I'm down with "Wallace And Gromit: Fright of the Bumblebees," because it harkens back to that old style of play, with whimsy and fun.
For those of you who have never had the pleasure, Wallace and Gromit are a pair of British characters in a popular animated/claymated series of television programs, films, and sundry adaptations. Wallace is the human figure, an archetypical ditzy inventor, and Gromit is his long-put-upon canine sidekick and conscience (as well as the major mover in all plot development). They are funny, and adorable, and quite dry and English. I was never really into the property much, until their feature film, "Curse of the Were Rabbit" (check it at IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0312004/); that single title amused me so much, I became a fast fan.
Plus, Wallace is a cheese addict, which makes any person redeemable, in my book.
So when my buddy Andy Hartzell told me he was working on a Wallace and Gromit game, I was enthused, to say the least. Hartzell is an amazing cartoonist, graphic artist, and writer (I've reviewed some of his other work, here: http://www.epinions.com/content_385624477316). His work has been featured in all sorts of media, from newspapers, to magazines, to Web content; he's been written up in the New York Times Sunday Review of Books. I've worked with him on a couple projects, including a newspaper series about gubernatorial candidates in Nevada, and a foreign-language multimedia curriculum for schoolkids.
If you haven't figured it out, I am totally biased about the guy, and his work. Totally. He even reviewed one of my books for Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/1001-Things-Do-You-Dare/product-reviews/1598691201/). I was stoked to see this work hit the scene.
Now, I'd never used TellTale before; I was unfamiliar with their format and engine. But the purchase and download process was simple: I just bought the game from their site with a credit card, and downloaded the title to my machine that night. It took a little while (a couple hours), but wasn't too onerous.
After that, install was a snap; straightforward and easy. It took maybe ten minutes.
Gameplay...gameplay is a hoot.
Look, if you've never seen your friend's name scroll across the screen during the opening credits of a creative work, let me be the first to assure you that it is a trip and a half..."Written and Directed by Andy Hartzell" is just a killer phrase to read.
And the animation...wow. It feels like the W and G three-dimensional clay-mated stuff, even though it's quite obviously just well-rendered graphics. I don't know how they do that, but they do, and do it well. It's rich, and deep, with bright colors.
The game itself...man, that game takes me back to Joey B.'s house, and those INFOCOM titles...you pilot your character (first Gromit, then Wallace) around the house, and around the neighborhood, solving mini-puzzles in order to achieve the overall goal. I am not going to include any spoilers here, but let me just state that Wallace's love of cheese will play a role in your success, as it is always bound to, and thinking in creative ways (like the classic adventure gaming of yore always encouraged) is part and parcel of the storyline.
Some bits can get frustrating...as is true in all such games, where not every bit of background and furniture can be manipulated, although you so sorely may want to use certain pieces. Certain puzzles are tricky, and require peculiar thinking. If you're not a gamer, you might not see the point or the possible outcome on specific problems (my girlfriend, for instance, also a friend of Andy's, gave it a try, finished the tutorial, and lost interest).
However, there is enough humor, panache, and silly-fun style (look for the names of books and films scattered throughout the game) to keep gamers amused, no matter their age group. I have yet to finish the game, although I crank through about one puzzle every time I fire it up.
It's a blast. I recommend it, especially for the price. Go. Buy.
If you dug this review, you might like my books, which you can find on Amazon, by typing "Ben Malisow" into the search bar. Enjoy!
.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
SLOW
|
|
Member: Ben Malisow
Location: Vegas
Reviews written: 119
Trusted by: 124 members
About Me:
You wish you were me.
Now buy my books.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.