Have you ever had one of those experiences when you lose something extremely important, like your car keys or wallet? You run around in circles, frantically searching for the missing item, on the verge of hysteria. And then, when you’re absolutely certain that you’ve searched every nook and cranny, from the top of the house to the bottom, you find what you’re looking for right in your pocket?
For most people, these experiences aren’t what usually get classified as "fun". Yet for some reason, when Telltale games takes the idea of searching for items that are right in front of your nose and combines it with Wallace and Gromit, fun may be the very first word that pops to mind.
The Wallace and Gromit series takes the simple idea of searching for items scattered throughout the game world and adds the charm of the beloved claymation series. The games in the series are appropriately referred to as episodes, since players are essentially experiencing the story as much as the games, themselves.
The overall gameplay is deceptively simple. In order to interact with something, you highlight it and select it. If it’s something that can be used at the moment, Wallace or Gromit will interact with the item. If it’s something that will need to be used later, the item goes into the inventory that can be selected at any time.
The challenge of the games is finding out where the necessary items are and how to use them together. For instance, in one of the episodes players will need to make breakfast for Wallace, but a pesky squirrel keeps taking the bread needed for toast. Players need to figure out a way to stop the pest in his tracks by combing a certain item in the kitchen with the breadbox.
As the story progresses, the puzzles get more complex, and the occasional mini-game pops up. The simplicity of these tasks may not seem like anything special, but they’re precisely what make the games in this series so charming.
Adding to the charm even more is the presentation of the series. Each episode is set up like an actual Wallace and Gromit television show or movie. All of the wit and humor of the series is present, with the actual voice-actors contributing to the games.
Fans of the series will immediately recognize Wallace’s tendency to get himself in over his head, and Gromit’s heroic attempts to keep his owner out of trouble. At the same time, many of Wallace’s gadgets also make appearances, some helping Wallace, and others causing him even more grief.
With actual voice-actors and the familiar art-style present, fans of the series will know that there’s only one thing missing: the witty writing.
Fortunately, the series doesn’t disappoint, with humor riddled throughout the game and all of Wallace’s usual antics. One of the hallmarks of the Wallace and Gromit franchise-whether games, shows or movies-is its ability to take a simple event and make it funny, and that’s what makes this game series so successful: it’s downright entertaining.
When it comes right down to it, there’s nothing about the Wallace and Gromit series that stands out to make it seem like a fantastic, earth-shattering masterpiece. What makes the series so well-done is its weaving together of elements perfectly. A humorous story, simple gameplay, great presentation and a charm that can’t be matched all make for a great series of games.
The Wallace and Gromit series gets 4 GiN Gems out of 5 for the simple fact that it’s good, clean fun.
They can be bought by episodes for a very reasonable price off of Xbox Live, or downloaded from a PC game service like Steam.