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

Fright of the Bumblebees continues to evolve Telltale Games' formula for small doses of funny adventure gaming, and is my favorite production by them yet. Part of it is my preexisting affection for the Wallace and Gromit characters themselves, which isn't quite as true for Strong Bad or Sam and Max (although I've come to be a big fan of the latter). The world is just so charming, from Wallace's innocent buffoonery despite his technical genius to the way Gromit silently puts up with everything. The other people who live in town aren't as immediately likable and probably talk a bit too much, but they did a good job of growing the setting a little bit. It's not as laugh out loud funny as other stuff but it's just pleasant to experience.

There are some small gameplay improvements, like finally the ability to walk around using the mouse keys, making getting around less of a monotonous click fest. The puzzles are mostly intuitive without being too easy, although there are a few moments where you're supposed to talk to a person you already have to activate something when there was no indication you should. You bounce back and forth between the two main characters, and the whole thing plays out feeling like one of the old animated shorts. The final sequence is the best one I've seen from the company, involving a high speed chase using one of their elaborate, gadget-filled vehicles. I thought it was the perfect length, giving me enough content that I felt satisfied without wearing out it's welcome. I await the second episode in May.