| Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures | |
|---|---|
Official Game logo |
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| Developer(s) | Telltale Games |
| Publisher(s) | Aardman Animations |
| Distributor(s) | Steam Telltale Games Xbox Live Arcade |
| Designer(s) | Nick Park |
| Engine | Intel With HP Invent |
| Version | 3D Motion Picture Game |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Xbox 360 (XBLA), iPad (Last Resort only) |
| Release date(s) | March 24, 2009 |
| Genre(s) | Graphic adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E PEGI: 3,7,12,18 |
| Media/distribution | Download |
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures is an episodic series of adventure games by Telltale Games based around the characters of Wallace and Gromit created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations. The first episode was released on March 24, 2009 for the PC. The Xbox Live Arcade version of the game was released on May 27, 2009 starting with Episode 1: Fright of the Bumblebees.[1]
Episodes are developed by Telltale Games in collaboration with Aardman Animations to develop the story, characters, and setting.[2] Players control both Wallace and Gromit at times through the gameplay.[2] Ben Whitehead, Aardman's official backup voice actor, portrays Wallace, instead of Peter Sallis, who has voiced the character in all screen appearances.[3] A playable demo of the first episode was made available on March 16, 2009 and can be downloaded from the official site as well as Yahoo Games. It is also included on the Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray releases of A Matter of Loaf and Death as DVD-ROM content.
Contents |
| # | Episode | Release date (PC DVD-Rom Game) |
Release date (Xbox Live Arcade) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Fright of the Bumblebees" | March 24, 2009 | May 27, 2009 |
| 2 | "The Last Resort" | May 5, 2009 | November 4, 2009 |
| 3 | "Muzzled!" | June 16, 2009 | November 4, 2009 |
| 4 | "The Bogey Man" | July 29, 2009 | November 4, 2009 |
While initially, the second episode was due to arrive on Xbox Live on September 8, 2009, the announcement was shortly retracted; instead, the final three episodes was released simultaneouly on the service on November 4, 2009.[4]
Wallace has opened a new business, "From Bee to You" specializing in delivering freshly made honey to his customers. He takes up the offer to provide fifty gallons of honey in repayment to the local grocer after his electric cheese-detecting machine accidentally rampaged through the store on a test run. However, Wallace has used up all the flowers in his garden, and is forced to improvise a growth formula to turn some daisy seeds provided by his neighbour, Ms. Flitt into giant flowers. The formula is a success, and he meets his client's demand but things soon go wrong when the bees react to the growth formula, becoming huge and terrorizing the town and Wallace's home. Gromit is able to trap most of the bees, but Wallace is stolen away by the giant queen bee. Gromit gives chase in Wallace's honey tanker truck, and is able to rescue Wallace. The two work together to feed the queen more honey dosed with more of the growth formula, forcing the bee to become stuck in a tunnel. Wallace works out an antidote to the growth formula to restore the bees to normal, though he accidentally shrinks himself in the process.
Using their profits from the honey business, Wallace prepares to take Gromit to Blackpool, but the weather both spoils their plans and creates a small flood in the cellar. Wallace comes up with the idea of converting the water-logged cellar into an indoor holiday resort for the rest of the townsfolk, and seeks to keep them all happy, though Ms. Flitt's two puppies raise much havoc. When Ms. Flitt's boyfriend, Duncan McBiscuit is mysteriously injured, Wallace and Gromit deduce that the puppies, upset at having their chew toy taken away from them, attacked Duncan. In the episode's finale, the cellar drain becomes dislodged, and the puppies, chasing after their chew toy, follow it and end up in a prison cell, while Wallace starts to clean up the mess. Just as everyone leaves, a whistling man with a mustache posts a flyer for a charity fair through the door to Wast Wallaby.
Shortly after the holiday season, a charity fair comes into town, run by Monty Muzzle, to raise money for a new dog shelter, the old one being destroyed in the storm last episode. After dealing with three strays in their home, Wallace and Gromit go to the fair with Wallace's new invention to create any flavor of ice cream. At the fair, Gromit discovers that Mr. Muzzle is actually attempting to steal away the townspeople's donations and using the strays as manual labor for the fair. When Wallace and Gromit uncover Mr. Muzzle's intentions, he escapes on a makeshift balloon, but Wallace and Gromit give chase, denying Mr. Muzzle of his ill-gotten money while saving all the strays. Ms. Flitt, who dumped Duncan McBiscuit earlier in the episode and has grown to admire the "bravery" of Wallace (unaware that it was actually Gromit that stopped Muzzle), mistakes his confusion at finding a loose fastening nut as an engagement ring and a marriage proposal from him.
In order to defuse Ms. Flitt's mistake, Gromit manages to make Wallace a member of the local country club, Prickly Thicket, which Ms. Flitt's aunt loathes and soundly rejects her niece's marriage to Wallace. The local constable, jealous that Wallace was admitted over him, uses an obscure bylaw to threaten the club with closure since it does not have a golf course–or rather it does, but members do not know where it is because the deed is missing, safely held in a security system designed by Wallace's (apparent) ancestor, Goodman Witless (and his faithful dog Gimlet). Using his detective equipment Wallace manages to find the deed, but discovers that the entire town was built on the golf course, and a vengeful Duncan decides to have the town destroyed in order to rebuild the course. Wallace challenges Duncan to a golf tourney so that he may become chairman and tear up the deed, saving the town, and manages to win with Gromit's help. However, as he goes to tear the deed, the security system traps him and the other townsfolk in a room, and Gromit is forced to disable the trap and free everyone. Wallace tears up the deed, and is thankful to find that Ms. Flitt has cancelled their engagement and gone back to Duncan, who her aunt now approves of since he is no longer the club chairman.
Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures has gained favorable reviews.
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