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

By Lewis Denby

I always bite my nails a bit when a beloved franchise ventures into the videogame world.  Since the duo originally made their way to the moon in 1989, Wallace & Gromit has played an intrinsic part in my love of animation.  A series of point and click adventures by the lovely Telltale Games is about as safe as it could get, but still.  Nerves shattered, y’know?

Fortunately, and astonishingly, they got it spot on.  Not in a game design sense, and not necessarily even in a scriptwriting sense.  Some of the jokes are a little stunted, some of the puzzles a little convoluted.  But in every way that matters, Fright of the Bumblebees is the perfect Wallace & Gromit game.  That’s for one reason, and one reason alone: it’s Wallace & Gromit.  And that’s just grand.

Every detail is superb.  From the fingerprint marks on the models’ surfaces, to Gromit’s cynical glances to camera, every inch of Ardman’s TV show has been replicated to an incredible degree.  There’s no Peter Sallis, traditional voice of Wallace, but the filthy imposter does a damn good job of impersonating his Mancunian inflections.  That typical Northern English charm absolutely dominates Fright of the Bumblebees.  I could barely have hoped for anything more.

Sure, I could have hoped for slightly better puzzle design.  Only slightly, though, and the occasionally frustrating lateralism makes a fair bit of sense in this context.  Wallace is renowned for his barmy inventions, and everything follows the same logic as the source material.  Once you’ve remembered how the pair’s crazy life functions, everything slots nicely into place, and it’s a pleasant stroll to the finale.  This first episode is only a few hours long, and you’re only likely to stumble on a couple of the puzzles, but it’s important to remember this is only an introduction.  If Telltale can keep the quality this high, they’re on to a winner.

The story does need a kick up the rear, meandering frustratingly throughout Fright of the Bumblebees, but it does have the courtesy to pick up pace by the end.  Considering the ingeniously silly ideas conjured up for the TV shows, the ones on offer here do feel a little lightweight.  The jokes don’t all quite work, either – it’s occasionally very funny, but only occasionally, the rest falling slightly short.  Still chuckle-inducing, but nothing more.

No matter.  I don’t care.  What’s important is that Wallace & Gromit has been translated to the PC entirely intact.  It shows tremendous talent and dedication on the part of an American company to recreate something so quintessentially English.  Telltale have done so remarkably, and while Fright of the Bumblebees isn’t quite revolutionarily brilliant, there are still three episodes to go. I can’t wait to see where this preposterous partnership venture next.

7/10