Gamertell

Title: Wallace and Gromit: The Last Resort
Price: $34.95 (includes four episodes)
System(s): *PC, Xbox Live
Release Date: May, 5, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Telltale Games (Aardman Animations)
ESRB Rating: "Everyone"
Pros: Very funny, easy objectives and you get play as both Wallace and Gromit.
Cons: Some chapters are too short. No real mini games.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 98/100; A; * * * * 1/2 out of five.

Wallace the nutty inventor and his faithful dog Gromit are back in their new adventure, The Last Resort. In this one, the duo and the rest of their town are ready for a nice beach vacation or holiday as they say in jolly ol' England. The problem is, the forecast says rain all summer long. No good.

Wallace comes up with the great idea to make a beach resort right in his own basement. He then decides that everyone in town would enjoy his resort and soon he has his own little business. Which, of course comes with problems.

The game is played in four chapters, each chapter has it’s own objective. For instance, in the first chapter you have to gather the supplies to make the beach, then in the second you already have your beach and customers but now you have to make them happy or they will demand a refund.

A Little Sun, A Lotta Fun

I thought this one was better than the first Wallace & Gromit game (Fright of the Bumblebee) by a mile. For example, you get to know all the characters more intimately and interact with them more. In the first game, you talked to a few people but didn’t really get to the know the characters. You mainly interacted with Gromit.

There are some especially fun characters in this game, including the Major, who is completely nuts after being in the “war” for too many years. Even though he says some crazy things, he usually ends up being right, which makes him even better. For instance in chapter 3, a character is attacked and you have to figure out who did it and such. The Major gives this outrageous description of the suspect, and ends up being correct.

I also thought it was more fun then the first. There are more chapters, which means more objectives. The third chapter was fun because you got to play detective. It’s pretty obvious what happened, but figuring out the details can be a bit tricky. I would suggest grabbing everything you can pick up, then talking to people, it makes it easier.

There was this one little part in chapter two where one of the characters is upset because this jerk is making fun of her. So to cheer her up, you click on various objects on the table and Wallace will make a comment about it, which ends up unintentionally making her feel better. For instance, she will say, “Oh I can’t be the only one who feels this way, what do you think oh him?” You click on a slice of cheese, Wallace will say, “That is a stinky cheese!” and she will respond, “Oh he is a stinky cheese isn’t he?” It takes some trial and error but I thought it was a cute little game.

A Wee Bit Sandy

I really don’t have many complaints about this game. I guess one complaint would be it is a bit short. It is suppose to be a short game, intended to be beaten in a day or two, but the puzzles were so easy that it makes the game seem much shorter.

When it comes to the puzzles, most of the time you know what you are suppose to do but don’t quite know how to go about doing it. For instance, I know I need this item for a character, but I don’t know how to get it from him. This is better then having absolutely no idea what you need to do, which can just be frustrating.

I have complained before in reviews about mini games and I will again. I am a firm believer that an adventure game should have mini games in it. The only thing that can be considered a mini game is that little game I mentioned where you click on the items to comfort that woman. However, it’s really part of the objectives (ie not optional), so it’s technically not a mini game. Mini games are important because it gives you a little break from the puzzles (which can be frustrating) and also because their fun.

A Holiday to Remember

I really enjoyed this game. I thought the chapters where fun, the puzzles were not too hard and the characters are great and hilarious at the same time.

I was a little disappointed with the last game Fright of the Bumblebee’s because it was very hard and frustrating. This one seemed much more straight forward and the objectives were much more fun as well.

I would definitely recommend this game to adventure fans and fans of the Wallace and Gromit shows. This game is only available through a four-game bundle available on Telltales website.

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