Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures Episode 1: Fright of the Bumblebees

I was always a fan of the Wallace and Gromit show when I was a wee lad (and I still am), so I had high hopes for WaGGA, from Telltale Games. What I got was different than I was expecting and/or hoping for, but not to shabby, regardless.

The plot sounds like it's an episode from the show: Wallace is struggling to make ends meet, but is hopeful thanks to his new honey-making business' commission to make 50 gallons of honey in one day for a party. His bees aren't producing, though, and (through a series of very British events) he ends up having to find the necessary ingredients for a super growth formula that will bulk up his newly planted flowers to "feed" to his bees. It's slightly absurd.

However, some of the characteristic charm of Wallace and Gromit is absent in WaGGA. I expected there to be a bit more humor, considering the material the game is based off of. Rather, the script turned out to be a little lacking in the laughs department.

WaGGA is a point-and-click adventure game, and with it comes the good and the bad of the genre. The good: there are a lot of clever puzzles. The bad: things take a RIDICULOUSLY long time to accomplish (you can't skip dialogue/interruptions), and the game relies heavily on backtracking. Because the gameplay moves along at such a halting pace, the game took me almost twice as long to get through as it needed to.

WaGGA delivers in terms of presentation, thankfully. The characters are rendered to look about as close to their clay counterparts as you can get with 3D. The environments are straight out of the show, and they're beautifully imagined. Not only does it look nice, but everything is voiced (not with the original voice actors, but they sound more or less the same), and the music is well-arranged.

While WaGGA is a fine game, it doesn't do anything to make it a draw for anyone but fans of the show. Even then, it's got enough gameplay grievances that it borders on being a chore to play.

Graphics:
Wallace and Gromit's animation style translates very successfully to 3D, and everything is silky-smooth.

Sound/Music:
The music is nicely composed and fits the mood well. However, when you move from one area to the next, the music abruptly stops and starts, which is kind of obnoxious.

Gameplay:
Without some of the aggravating details, WaGGA would be a very enjoyable point-and-click adventure. As it is, it has a tendency to feel like a chore.

Concept:
WaGGA is good concept that has plenty of potential. However, poor execution made it fall flat of being anything out of the ordinary.

Value:
WaGGA is the first of a 4-part series, which you purchase in advance and receive as the other episodes are released. It's hard to judge how it will be value-wise, since the next installments aren't around yet.

Fun:
While WaGGA had its shining moments, it never really felt like things "picked up." Perhaps the fact that much of my time was spent trying to find 3 ingredients for Wallace's super growth formula.

Overall:
I tried very hard to like this game. I really did. But even my history with Wallace and Gromit couldn't give this game anything more than a mediocre status in my eyes. There's a fine and challenging point-and-click adventure here for younger gamers, but it's not fresh enough for most. On the plus side, here's to hoping that the next episodes will do this series justice.