Gamertell

Title: Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumblebee
Price: $26.00 (for four episodes)
System(s): PC
Release Date: March, 24, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Telltale Games (Aardman Animations)
ESRB Rating: "E for Everyone"
Pros: Great humor right from the films, you play as both Wallace and Gromit and great adventure game action.
Cons: Rather hard and frustrating at times, confusing and an annoying mini game.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 89/100; B+; * * * 1/2 out of five.

Wallace and Gromit is tale of a quirky inventor and his dog who, for the most part, is the brains of the operation. Wallace thinks he is training Gromit the dog, but it’s really the other way around. Anyone who is a fan of the BBC cartoon would know that this game is anything but straightforward.

In Fright of the Bumblebee Wallace has invented a spigot that takes honey directly from the beehive to the jar and hopes to market it. In an effort to create more productive bees, he creates a formula that will cause flowers to grow giant so that he can better feed his bees. The only problem is the formula works on the bees too causing enormous bees to wreck havoc all over town. You need to both keep the honey flowing, and stop the bees before they cause too much trouble.

Fright of the Bumblebee is the first of the four downloadable games bundle available from Telltale.

To Bee or Not to /Bee

If you have played any of the Strong Bad or Sam and Max games by Telltale, then you are already familiar with how these games work. There is always at least two objectives and they take equally long to complete (half the game each).

The first mini objective is, as Gromit, to make breakfast for your master Wallace. After this short objective you switch to Wallace and find out what you are really suppose to do in the game, make 20 lbs of honey for a shopkeeper who’s shop you destroyed with one of your new inventions.

One of my favorite parts of the game was when you visit an old women who owns a news stand that wants to get back at her verbally abusive husband by coming up with a good insult for him. She’ll ask you for a descriptive noun, verb, etc. (sort of like Mad Libs). You get these by clicking on the products in her stand like a product called “Savage Frogs” or “Chewy Turkey Jerky.” It took a lot of trial and error but I had fun with it.

I love the dialogue in this game, too. There are some funny characters like the “General” who of course is still stuck in 'Nam and believes that a snail in his shell is predicting and air raid. Also, listening to the old couples banter back and forth can be quite entertaining.

The game has the type of puzzles that you will struggle with, but then when you figure out the solution, you will slap yourself because it was right in front of you. For instance at one point you have to get your cheese sniffing robot out of prison because they arrested him for ransacking a grocery store. It took me forever to figure out how to break him out, but when I did it seemed like I should have known the whole time (I don’t want to spoil it for you guys!). It’s almost like the puzzle was so easy that seemed illogical.

Fright is Right!

One thing I will say for this game is it was very annoying at times. There were some puzzles that just stumped me for the longest time. At times I had to start the game over because I missed an item early in the game. Now, I don’t know if I needed to start over if there was another way to get the item, but either way it wasn’t very clear.

Also, because you switch back and forth between Gromit and Wallace, I wasn’t sure if I should save the item for one character or not. Turns out only specific characters can pick up certain items which made it easier, but I was not aware of that till much later (and after starting the game over again).

One thing that really got to me was this obnoxious mini game in the second half of the game where you have to shoot down the giant bees with a make-shift gun. First, if you simply shoot the bees they will fall to ground and then get up a second later, so you have to find a strategy to keeping them down (have one fall in the garbage and slam it shut for instance). It’s hard enough trying to shoot the little buggers in the first place, then you have to figure out how to keep them down! I must have screamed out in anger several times during this mini game.

Nothing turns me off of a game more then mini games that are impossible or frustrating. You are suppose to have fun with a game, not want to throw it out a window. Other than that, the rest of the puzzles can be solved with much trial and error. Without having a walkthrough (since I was playing the press release) I wanted to give up at certain times because of the difficulty f some puzzles, including the very first puzzle of the game (again I don’t want to spoil it).

Bee Very Prepared

OK, so bee puns aside, I gave this game a B+ because of the difficulty and frustration it may cause, but it was still a funny little game. If you are a fan of Wallace and Gromit, you should definitely pick this up to see your favorite characters in action. It might even make the game easier.

For all you other players, heed my warning when I say that some puzzles will completely baffle you at first but think hard about it. Look at all your items and it will eventually come to you. You may even have to start over again a couple times like I did.

Hopefully for the next game, Telltale will not make annoyingly hard mini games and just let us enjoy it for it’s quirkiness and dry humor.

This game is only offered as part of a four-game bundle available on Telltale's website. If you buy it now you will get a 10% discount and two free games, one from the Sam and Max and one from the Strong Bad series. There is also a trailer and demo available.

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