Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, A New Comedy Game Series from Aardman Animations and Telltale, Premieres Today

First of four monthly, digitally-distributed episodes now available from www.telltalegames.com






New screenshots are here.





Celebration! 50% off sale





To buy Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures or download the free demo, visit the game's webpage.

If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, check out the GameBoomers interview with Dave Grossman that touches on a couple of aspects that just came to light in the new screenshots.

Thanks Becky! I got my download email this morning. Can't wait to download after work.

Ana

I got my download email too. The theme song is playing in my mind...

Just bought it last night and downloaded already .
I played it and passed the first part i dont want to spoile anything .

The game is just great . Funny with great graphics .
Im in love

And no bugs or glitches .

Just a great game .

I'm also enjoying this one. It does a better than usual job of catching the spirit of the source material, while still being a fun adventure game.

I have encountered two glitches so far--one non-repeating crash, which cleanly crashed to the desktop with a standard error report, indicating that the application needed to be closed. Restarting the game got me past that one.

The second glitch was relatively minor. Bookmarks (saves) suddenly stopped working. I would press Esc, click Your Game, then click "Bookmarks," and the button wouldn't respond.

Exiting to the main menu auto-saved the game, however, and continuing from the autosave returned the bookmarks button to its working state.

So yes, I encountered some glitches, but both were easily bypassed.

The voice/music imbalance from the demo also seems to be gone now, which is great. That means I can turn off the subtitles.

The game also handles Alt-Tabbing well enough, which is the only reason I'm here typing right now.

I just started the game tonight and am already enjoying it. I agree with Demosthenes that they capture the source material very well. If you are a Wallace and Gromit fan you will most likely enjoy this one. The puzzles and style are similar to the Sam and Max games, but, again, distinctly Wallace and Gromit. I especially like that you occasionally get to play Gromit.

It's a good thing that Wallace has an inexhaustible supply of eggs! I left the kitchen an eggy mess.

I love the bookshelf in the dining room -- especially Rebecca of Honeybrook Farm.

Anyone else get to the "Mad Libs" puzzle? Very clever I thought and fun. I don't get to play every night but I am enjoying this game!!!

I agree. Telltale usually manages some fun puzzles in their games, but this one in particular had some well thought out, enjoyable little puzzles in it.

They also took some interesting risks. The game has WASD controls, timed puzzles, and even one or two point-and-click quasi-action sequences--all handled fairly well, I think.

I was on the fence about this game, but now hearing it is WASD controlled, with timed puzzles and "quasi-action sequences"--I don't think I can manage it. Too bad.

Mary -- it's an interesting combination of WASD (or arrows) and mouse control. The hotposts in the environment, when clicked on, often cause Wallace (or Gromit) to move over to have a look, so clicking does frequently make the character move. However, there are times when there's nothing to click to go in the direction you're choosing, and then you use the arrow keys or WASD to move in that direction.

Mary, for an idea of how the controls work, try the demo. You do have to use the WASD keys from time to time. But it's fairly intuitive, is not always necessary, and is nothing like the annoyance of trying to navigate around in, say, Grim Fandango. All your interactions are handled with the mouse.

As for the rest, it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. The timed events are simple use-the-item-in-your-inventory-before-it's-too-late events, and if you don't manage it the first time, you can just try again. You can even accomplish the task in pieces--puzzles don't reset if you mess up partway through.

The action sequences require thinking more than reaction time. Controls are point-and-click in those sequences. Once you've figured out what you need to do, you have at least a few seconds to accomplish an action, or sometimes an unlimited time, and if you don't manage it, then as with the timed puzzles you can just wait a bit and try again. There's no coordination or split-second timing required--just the ability to point and click. Like above, messing up halfway through doesn't reset everything--you just keep trying from where you left off.

So I think almost everyone will be able to handle the game, although I'm certain each of the above aspects will lend a little minor frustration for some. I know with one timed event I had to do it three or four times before I got everything exactly right, and in between had to watch a short, unskippable cutscene every time. So mostly you'll need patience.

My goodness, I just remembered the "fun" I had with Grim Fandango. That poor man was spinning around in circles and walking into walls more than he was walking a straight path.

I had the same experience with Grim Fandango. I wonder what kept those dry bones together after I walked Manny into all those walls?

I had such a hard time with the controls in Grim Fandango. Luckily the Wallace & Gromit controls are nothing like that.

I just finished the game here and just had a wonderful time playing it. I was smiling the whole time. For those who do not care for arcade sequences, there is only one really, and there is a puzzle behind the game. Once you figure out what to do all you need to do is just be patient and mouse click near the correct time. It's fun and uses more mental effort than physical/arcade effort. The final scene is fun too. Can't wait for the next one!