The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

Hey, I finally completed the latest Wallace and Gromit episode, The Last Resort! Just in time to get the next one and not complete that one in a timely manner, I imagine.
How was it?
Well, it was definitely an episode of a Telltale adventure game, I’ll tell you that much! Which basically means “entertaining, but not really hard or anything.” Which is just fine with me. Here are some impressions which I am now realizing are kind of disjointed, but oh well.

I still know why I have to move Wallace and Gromit around with the WASD keys, which is so they can make the game more controller-friendly so they can sell it on XBLA, but it still kinda frustrates me. There seems such little reason for it, especially since I’m mostly just moving to get stuff into the screen so I can then click it, and they walk to it… it’s kind of awkward. But nothing that ruins the game or anything.

In past Telltale series, the first episode has always tended to be a little weak, and you could tell it was in the second or third that the series hit its stride. I honestly don’t think that’s the case for this. There’s nothing wrong with The Last Resort. It was a fun time. But I can’t say it was the leaps and bounds better that the second Sam and Max was over the first, or Strongbadia the Free was over Homestar Ruiner. It did benefit from having the supporting cast introduced, as you had to use what you knew about them to make them happy at the little resort, and then fiddle with them during the whole “murder but not really” mystery section. So I guess it’s a benefit there.

I think I’ve talked previously about how Telltale tends to put its games into three acts: An introduction, a center bit where the locations are slightly changed from the introduction, and a “boss” or grand finale. This episode actually had four acts, and just flat-out stated them as such. I think the game was all the better for just admitting it was in this format, and it worked very well.

Wallace and Gromit’s puzzles seems to depend a whole lot on “pointing towards objects for inspiration.” This is not a bad thing, and honestly, it feels a bit unique. There was a section in Baddest of the Bands which worked like that, (though with an extremely Homestar bent) but they are really all over this episode, in particular, and it stood out. It really seems that Wallace is the kind of person who looks around desperately for inspiration on what to say. These kinds of puzzles can be entertaining, and Telltale does them well. But they’re also extremely easy to solve, because it’s completely a multiple-choice test. At least in most Adventure game puzzles, you don’t know all the possible solutions. If you get stuck, you can attempt to take every item and use every item on everything, yes, but there’s always the possibility that there’s another item out there you didn’t think of using to let you think outside the box a little. There is no such thing in these puzzles. I basically fail them once, figuring out what exactly I’m doing, and then solve them the next time. I suppose I could try every fail case for funny dialog, which would be funny, I know, but once I solve a puzzle I just want to make sure I’m right, so I never do. Oh well.

…I can’t think of anything else to say about the episode, so I bring the disjointed rambling about said episode to a close. Seriously, any of Telltale’s stuff is completely worth your time, and Wallace and Gromit is no exception. The Last Resort is good. I just, perhaps, think a lot or too much about my vidjeo games. But you already knew that, didn’t you?