Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures: Fright of the Bumblebees

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures: Fright of the Bumblebees

Wallace and his smarter canine chum Gromit are something of an institution in this country. So what kind of job have Telltale Games - the Californian developers of the Sam & Max series - done in bringing the duo’s Grand Adventures to PC?

Fright of the Bumblebees is the first of four downloadable episodes and, in answer to the earlier question, the job appears to be a good ‘un at first sight. Our heroes are well-rendered - right down to the mock thumbprints in their virtual Plasticine - the characters are large, the animation is smooth and Wallace’s familiar world is pleasingly intact. Pretty soon, though, a couple of small cracks begin to show. But a bit of context before we get to those.

This first episode concerns the pair’s attempts to run a honey business. Problem is Wallace’s bees are hungry for flowers, his garden is bare, his green-fingered neighbour won’t share her blooms and there’s a massive order to fill by tomorrow. On top of that Wallace’s patented cheese-sniffing device has run amok in the local grocers and is now cruelly incarcerated by a jobsworth copper - and Wallace himself isn’t going to start sorting any of this out until he’s had a decent breakfast!

Thus it initially falls to Gromit to assemble the eggs, toast and honey required. All of which involves padding from room to room, pointing and clicking on the various items that might help him in his quest. But how is the poor mutt going to make toast when a malevolent squirrel keeps stealing it, and how can the pulley that delivers the newly-laid egg to the frying pan be fixed?

And so it goes, with the action swapping between the two protagonists, the puzzles increasing in complexity - some running concurrently - and play extending beyond the chintzy front room as the pair encounter new characters and embark on the main task of assembling the ingredients necessary to grow a garden full of flowers overnight. For the most part the tasks are pretty straightforward, at least once you start seeing things from W&G’s off-kilter viewpoint. Fortunately the context-sensitive pointer clearly indicates what can and cannot be clicked, combined and collected, meaning you don’t waste too much time in fruitless exploration.

All good so far, but what about those cracks? Well, in the first instance - and there really is no ignoring this - Wallace is voiced by an impersonator. He does a decent enough job of mimicking Peter Sallis' cosy tones and it doesn’t affect the action one iota, but it does take a certain shine off the product. Then there’s the gameplay itself, which is largely slow-paced, disappointingly light on the madcap mechanisms the franchise is famous for and is occasionally frustrated by the amount of to-ing and fro-ing involved in many tasks. But Fright of the Bumblebees’ worst sin by far is the brass band soundtrack that parps so loudly and incessantly as to often obscure the dialogue. We couldn’t find a menu option to turn it off either - gah!

But those are small grumbles compared to the largely splendid job that Telltale has done in bringing the duo to life - certainly it’s their finest and best looking video game outing to date. The pace may be slow and the puzzles quirky but mostly untaxing, but you wouldn‘t really want it any other way, would you? Wallace and Gromit fans won’t be disappointed, we think. Likewise those in the market for an adventure that doesn’t involve sword, sorcery or steroidal elves. It’s cracking stuff in the main, then, and we can’t wait to see what the next three adventures bring.

4 out of 5