Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
PC version minimum requirements: Windows XP / Vista (Vista64 unsupported); 2.0 GHz or better processor; 512MB RAM; 64MB DirectX 8.1-compliant video card; DirectX 8.1 sound device; DirectX Version 9.0c or better
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: Available now

Synergy is a wonderful thing. For years it’s been the buzzword of the techno world, with talking heads droning on about how our TVs would one day interact with our toasters and broadcast our breakfasts live across the Web for the entire world to enjoy. While this techno-wizardry is sweetly significant, it’s on the fringes that we find its real benefits. For starters, the ability to download anything on demand has breathed new life into beloved gaming archetypes we thought lost to the ravages of time, and this in turn has led to the evolution of episodic gaming, which the fine artisans at Telltale Games have taken up as their cause. Telltale has worked wonders providing adventure gamers with a new lease on life through their expert handling of beloved series such as Strongbad and the sublime Sam & Max. Now joining their growing stable of prized properties is the celebrated duo Wallace & Gromit in their first of four planned Grand Adventures, Fright of the Bumblebees, another example of Telltale taking familiar characters and building old-school adventure games with nouveau production values around them.

In Bumblebees, players take control of Wallace and his faithful canine companion Gromit as they labor to reap the expected benefits of Wallace’s latest cockamamie scheme. Wallace creates a honey-selling business and soon finds himself in a sticky situation (excuse the pun, but that’s one of the side effects of spending hours with a game that is positively buzzing with them). Anyway, Wallace decides that they’d produce a lot more honey if they could find a way to grow larger flowers, and thus, larger stocks of pollen. Of course, more pollen leads to more bees who don’t take kindly to a Claymation coot that can’t seem to mind his own beeswax.

Bumblebees plays similarly to other adventure titles. Players guide the characters through lovingly crafted environments, pointing and clicking on items of interest in a bid to solve puzzles, further the plot or simply enjoy the litany of humorous asides that are scattered throughout the environs. True to form, the majority of the puzzles involve clever item management, with players called upon to think outside the box when constructing some of Wallace’s Rube Goldberg devices, which power his home and propel the plot. Like most episodic games, Bumblebees can be finished in an evening or two. A low purchase price and the promise of future installments dictate a more bite-sized entertainment experience.

Telltales Games has crafted a loving tribute to Aardman’s dynamic duo; their first interactive adventure feels much like their silver-screen exploits. Fortunately, the game is very friendly to newbies, which is a testament to the strength of the characters and the game design. This first story might be brief, but it’s involving and entertaining, and fans of adventure games will find a lot to enjoy here. While the majority of the puzzles are of the standard inventory-based variety, Telltale did find opportunities to toss in some curve balls, including a winning bit of wordplay that occurs once you’ve ventured outside the opening locales. In addition, they’ve done a masterful job of rendering the environments and characters, featuring a deliberate stutter effect meant to mimic their subject’s Claymation roots. The effect is as charming as the characters themselves.

Fright of the Bumblebees deviates from the standard adventure-game formula in one notable way. While the PC version employs the mouse for some onscreen navigation, this isn’t a pure point-and-click adventure. Instead, you’ll need to rely upon the directional keys or a gamepad for movement. As the game was built with both a PC and an Xbox Live release in mind, it’s apparent that console concerns are behind this interface variation. It’s not a barrier, but it does take a little time to get used to the new scheme.

Fright of the Bumblebees plays similarly to other adventure titles, but with one notable exception. In playing through the initial PC release, I noted that the game employs the mouse for some onscreen navigation, but it isn’t a pure point-and-click adventure. Instead, you needed to rely upon the directional keys or a gamepad. This is a result of the game being built with both a PC and Xbox Live release in mind, as it’s apparent that console considerations dictated this control scheme. The Xbox pad provides better control between the two options.

As an ardent fan of adventure games, and with more than two decades of fond play experiences, I’ll admit there are painfully few new puzzle types available to entertain genre fans. Therefore, the pleasure in these titles often comes from the narrative and how deftly the developers combine brain teasers with character-based humor. Telltale Games has nailed their formula, and Wallace & Gromit have become welcome additions to their growing cast of characters. While the experience is over before you know it, the beauty of this format is that we know another episode is right around the corner. I’ve logged it as appointment gaming, and I’ll tune in next time for sure.

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