Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures

[Scratch]

I tried the demo just now and it is what I expected it to be. I simply loved it. I have played the Sam & Max episodic games from Telltale and I knew Wallace & Gromit would be a great addition to Telltale's style of games. It just fits in perfectly. On a side note, I saw some people bitching on gametrailers.com about how Wallace's voice actor is different from the original claymation cartoons. Personally, I didn't notice a difference and I would like to think that it was the same voice actor. But who cares?

Also I don't know if this is only in the demo, but I liked the "Yes!" button on the messages that pop up explaining the situation, giving objectives or hints etc. I feel it's a nice change from the dreary old "OK" or just nothing at all. It's a tiny thing in the whole game, most people wouldn't even notice it, but I like it.

I noticed that the trailer announced four titles. So I presume four episodes released each month starting March. That's awesome.

[Jake]

Also I don't know if this is only in the demo, but I liked the "Yes!" button on the messages that pop up explaining the situation, giving objectives or hints etc. I feel it's a nice change from the dreary old "OK" or just nothing at all. It's a tiny thing in the whole game, most people wouldn't even notice it, but I like it.

Put your coat back on, and you're welcome for that button saying that.

I noticed that the trailer announced four titles. So I presume four episodes released each month starting March. That's awesome.

The first episode comes out so late in March that it's best to think of it as the April episode, as the monthly schedule starts for earnest in May. (March 24, May, June, July.)

[brkl]

I played through the short tutorial, but the updated engine is a bit too much for this laptop (can't be helped). Looks really promising, nicely detailed and well animated (as always!). The new interface seems ace. Pre-ordered the series, will play when I'm back in Finland.

[elmuerte]

On a side note, I saw some people bitching on gametrailers.com about how Wallace's voice actor is different from the original claymation cartoons. Personally, I didn't notice a difference and I would like to think that it was the same voice actor. But who cares?

It's a real shame its not the same voice actor, but I guess I have to get used to it. At least Gromit is still voiced by the same person.

[Thyroid]

I've already posted my quick 5-minute playthrough thoughts on TT's forums and Mixnmojo, but something just occurred to me. This is nitpicking, but it'd be great if Telltale fixed the mouth-syncing it does. I'm not saying I don't like the stuff they do - I love it. Telltale is the only company whose games I play on any regular basis (seeing that all the other ones release a game every billion years). But I do wish that mouth movements at least looked believable.

Unless this has been implemented in W&G. I have a hard time running it on my crappy laptop even on minimum specs, so it might be just me.

[Jake]

I think the lipsync is better in W&G than it is in Sam & Max. Sadly for some reason the lipsync in the tutorial (which is what starts the demo and is where most of the talking occurs in the demo -- the stuff with the chess machine), is worse than the main game. It might have been processed really early on and then never re-assessed after the game was cleaned up, or something. Not sure.

[gdf]

I think Jake's up to something.

Need to check the demo out though. It must have been great fun working with this license, no?

[Noyb]

The tutorial was insulting enough to put me in a bad mood as the demo started, which is a shame because the chase scene at the end was pretty fun (apart from trying to use the closed sun-roof showing a placeholder text instead of an animation). I got used to the different voice actor pretty quickly. Looking forward to this, although I'll probably wait until I have a chance to finally play the Strong Bad episodes first.

The mechanics feel a lot less streamlined than the Sam and Max games. It doesn't seem like direct control adds anything to the game. Is this a result of developing with XBLA as a lead platform?

[brkl]

I can't tell you how many times I wish I could control the characters in previous games directly.

[ysbreker]

I just finished playing the first episode and it was quite fun I'd say.

Had to giggle when I saw Eggerton Eggerton Greene making his appearance in the credits.

[elmuerte]

Finished it yesterday (yay, I'm better than ysbreker, hooray for me)

And I also liked it. This whole WASD walking around was sometimes very annoying. For example when I needed to clear the bees from the village center, I would often walk into the bees or out the screen and return back home.

One thing I really find awesome is the presence of finger prints on the characters. It really gave them a clay look.

[miffy495]

Got Fright of the Bumblebees free as part of my Monkey Island pre-order and I just played it tonight. Have to say, it was pretty excellent. I was chuckling the whole time. Most of the time I didn't have any issues with it, although the controls took some getting used to. At times I started feeling as if the game was a touch on the easy side, but a good chunk of that may have been because I've been playing adventure games since before my vocabulary should have been able to support them. I found myself solving a few puzzles by accident, because using one thing with something else just seemed like the adventure game thing to do and the puzzle that it solved would then present itself a few minutes later. The only thing I got stuck on was

getting rid of the bees in town. I had no idea that the gutter was a hot spot, and it was so far to the left of screen I didn't even wander over there until Paneer told me there was a gutter in the first place. I even had the trap set up with the pan and the awning, but no idea how to get the bees to it.

Other than that one issue, I really enjoyed the episode. Having been a big Wallace and Gromit fan since my friend lent me his VHS tapes of the original shorts when I was 8 years old, I couldn't be happier with how it turned out. The only reason I waited until I had a coupon was my nervousness about how faithful the game would be to the source material. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. Wallace's voice got me a little bit at first, but within about 10 minutes I'd grown used to it. All told, the voice actor that Telltale picked did the job very admirably.

So now I want to order the other three. Preferably with the DVD pack, as I've really appreciated that with the Sam and Max games. Unfortunately, near as I can tell there's no way to take the fact that I already own one of the games into account on the site. I really would like to purchase the whole thing, but having to pay the full price for the pack would kind of kill the point of getting one episode "free," wouldn't it? In the past, I've always just ordered whole seasons of Telltale games at a time, (and hell, I've ordered all of them...) so this is a new issue to me. Anyone been through this/able to offer advice? Is there a way to get the pack without having to re-purchase Fright of the Bumblebees?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Yes! I have a solution... They're releasing the rest of the episodes one at a time. Buying them individually will equal $27. Seems simple enough (there's a thumbs up here)

[miffy495]

But, as I mentioned, the DVD is also a very welcome thing for me. Would there be a way to get that if I bought individually?

[ThunderPeel2001]

Oh sorry, I've no idea. Hmmm... I'm guessing the "free DVD" bit is just part of buying the complete package - I doubt there's any way around that.

[Patters]

But, as I mentioned, the DVD is also a very welcome thing for me. Would there be a way to get that if I bought individually?

I seem to remember that ttg had a system for this with the sam and max seasons, you could always email to ask.

[miffy495]

I did so, and was told that I could buy the next two episodes on sale at the $5 rate (which expired yesterday, I believe), buy the last one at regular price, and still be eligible for the DVD later having spent less than US$20. Pretty reasonable advice, I thought, so I did just that. Finished The Last Resort about 3 minutes ago. Not quite as spectacular as Fright of the Bumblebees unfortunately, but still very good. There was only one puzzle I didn't have a clue how to do, but it was essentially the last one before the finale section.

Seriously, I had to strike the same pose as the sign? How is that intuitive?

Aside from that one, it was a pretty constant stream of being puzzled for a minute, getting a eureka moment, and feeling pleased with myself. The only thing that holds it back from being as good as Fright is that I felt much more constricted in my movements. Even areas which were fully explorable in the previous episode were cut off, and really the whole game took place in about 4 rooms. Hell, one of those rooms was barely used even then. There was even less time spent downtown than in the previous game, and then it was back to the house. For a series of films that's always had very mixed settings, spending two games essentially exploring their house is a little disappointing. Here's hoping the setting gets a little more varied for the next game. I'm guessing I'll find this out soon enough, as I've already got it downloaded. Probably going to be a Sunday night playthrough. Looking forward to it!

[elmuerte]

Finished episode 3 yesterday, not as good as the previous 2. It just didn't feature enough contraptions, also it felt either short or way too easy. So I'm giving episode 3 a [noparse][/noparse] in comparison with the first two episodes.

[Garple]

Put your coat back on, and you're welcome for that button saying that.

You really seem to be a master of creative artistry and subtlety in UI, Jake. You're probably one of the only auteurs in that area of game design. I really need to play more of your stuff. Jake: or someone who is not Jake, but has played a lot of Telltale games: what are your "greatest hits" i.e. the pieces of work you're most proud of...also...will Telltale games run on an integrated graphics chip? I have all the consoles, but I'm wondering if you guys have made stuff that's exclusive to PC. I suppose that'd be easy enough to look up...but, you know...