Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
W&G return to rid the world of veggie-munching hares. We go hands on with their latest video game adventure.
Published: August 31, 2005
By now, most readers will know the kind of disdain we have for licensed video games. They're usually rushed, shoddy, quick cash-ins that are shat out in time to make a movie or TV show's release with little apparent attention paid to how the actual game turns out.
Under most circumstances, this means the gamer (usually a kid) and the buyer (usually a kid's parent) end up getting ripped-off, and since games journalism is a joke to the mainstream press, most parents have no idea they're perpetuating things.
The solution, then, if the buyer doesn't bother to beware, is to just hope that licensed games get better, and make sure we scream and shout when we come across one of them. It's happening, though slowly, and seeing a good game is cause for us peanut gallery types to get all happy and dance around. This is exactly the reaction we're having after spending a few hours with a build of Konami's first Wallace & Gromit game (BAM! Picked up developer Frontier's first effort).
Our joy comes from the fact that a) the game seemingly doesn't suck and doesn't pander to the younger gamers that it's aimed at and b) there's enough variety and care taken with the license to make it feel like a real game, and one that even older gamers can get into. It's still early, of course, and we'll have to see how long that variety holds out, but there's real reason to be excited here.
The game follows the plot of the big-screen movie that'll hit theatres all over the US in October, wherein a feral bunny powered by moonlight is terrorizing green thumbs all over Wallace and Gromit's fair cit--er town. It all starts with a call to W&G's Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control Service from one Lady Toddington. She explains there are rabbits -- dozens of 'em -- investing her palatial grounds and wants the man and his canine companion to take care of them.
Opposed to this is the very clearly money-hungry Lord Victor Quartermaine, who pines for Lady Toddington (or at least her estate), and favors a more direct approach. With guns. And bullets. Being the kind-hearted lady that shit is, Ms. Toddington gives W&G a chance, and this serves as both the intro to the plot and a handy dandy tutorial level for gamers.
Both Wallace and Gromit carry Bun Guns, vacuum-powered rifles that can suck up all manner of things and then shoot them out with a bit of force. Ordinarily, this is used to rope in stray bunnies (hence the name), but we quickly learned it could be used to open doors and shutters and the like. After trying to reel in a chubbier bunny (literally, we had to pull back on the analog stick like a fishing pole to suck the bunny in), it became apparent that the game was more than just a simple affair.
A couple more tutorial bits revealed some of the other mechanics of the game, including releasing traps via a lever or a crank (both are done by holding the Triangle button and then pulling or rotating the left analog stick), using tag team tactics to coax bunnies out of hiding (pressing the L2 button switches characters, and L1 will whistle for a little help during co-op situations), and a bit of wall jumping bits that Gromit is uniquely suited.
The changes between the two characters are subtle, but they're there; Wallace is taller, which means he can jump up to taller places than Gromit, and he wields a more powerful blast with his Bun Gun. Gromit is a bit faster, and can use the aforementioned wall jump to reach out-of-the-way areas (or just take a shortcut to get to them).
The whole process of rounding up bunnies is actually rather entertaining. Sucking up just one and firing them out (if they hit a wall, they do a great pancake slide down it, and it's adorable) is well and good, but the game borrows liberally from Herdy Gerdy's herding mechanic to guide big groups of bunnies toward suction points created by W&G's mobile holding tank on the back of their truck.
After the training level and a few cutscenes outlining Quartermaine's revenge and the subsequent escape of all those rabbits, the heroic pair captured, it was off to the game proper, where we had free run of the city. The game's main motivation for completing tasks is to acquire cards that eventually reveal a full picture. Along the way, coins can be fished out of hanging planters, mailboxes and from ledges.
The currency goes to good use in a greenhouse the pair own where a vegetable is being grown. It's a nice little distraction, allowing you to spend the money at a shop to buy things like pH-controlling chemicals, thermometers, water buckets and stuff like wallpaper and ribbons for the veggies (yes, really). It's not necessary, of course (well, not that we can tell yet), but it is a fun little distraction.
The proper game, however, is mainly relegated to bunny collecting. Talking to the different residents all over the town will yield a handful of challenges and sometimes net you a few handy items. We tried out a mini-game of sorts where rolling produce had to be guided into the proper crates with a little cranking of the left analog stick to pitch some of the ramps in the right direction. If a rotten item rolled down, it had to be dropped into a chute with the L1 button.
Another sequence made for a short "hacking" mini-game that had us rotating the left analog stick until a face button symbol appeared in the rotary phone-style slots that powered a security gate. The whole rotating and button-pressing element lasted perhaps 20 seconds, but it was actually rather fun.
These side quests help break up the bulk of the bunny-napping, which itself is rather entertaining. Later on in the game, it becomes possible to shift between day and night cycles when different enemies appear and the tasks change up a bit.
If it seems like we're excited about Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it's because, well, we are. It's rare that a licensed game comes off as charming and entertaining as what we played, and while we'll have to reserve judgment until we can play the final, full game, what we experienced so far makes it seem like this could be one of the best licensed games released this year. We'll keep you posted with more info as we get it.
Under most circumstances, this means the gamer (usually a kid) and the buyer (usually a kid's parent) end up getting ripped-off, and since games journalism is a joke to the mainstream press, most parents have no idea they're perpetuating things.
The solution, then, if the buyer doesn't bother to beware, is to just hope that licensed games get better, and make sure we scream and shout when we come across one of them. It's happening, though slowly, and seeing a good game is cause for us peanut gallery types to get all happy and dance around. This is exactly the reaction we're having after spending a few hours with a build of Konami's first Wallace & Gromit game (BAM! Picked up developer Frontier's first effort).
Our joy comes from the fact that a) the game seemingly doesn't suck and doesn't pander to the younger gamers that it's aimed at and b) there's enough variety and care taken with the license to make it feel like a real game, and one that even older gamers can get into. It's still early, of course, and we'll have to see how long that variety holds out, but there's real reason to be excited here.
The game follows the plot of the big-screen movie that'll hit theatres all over the US in October, wherein a feral bunny powered by moonlight is terrorizing green thumbs all over Wallace and Gromit's fair cit--er town. It all starts with a call to W&G's Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control Service from one Lady Toddington. She explains there are rabbits -- dozens of 'em -- investing her palatial grounds and wants the man and his canine companion to take care of them.
Opposed to this is the very clearly money-hungry Lord Victor Quartermaine, who pines for Lady Toddington (or at least her estate), and favors a more direct approach. With guns. And bullets. Being the kind-hearted lady that shit is, Ms. Toddington gives W&G a chance, and this serves as both the intro to the plot and a handy dandy tutorial level for gamers.
Both Wallace and Gromit carry Bun Guns, vacuum-powered rifles that can suck up all manner of things and then shoot them out with a bit of force. Ordinarily, this is used to rope in stray bunnies (hence the name), but we quickly learned it could be used to open doors and shutters and the like. After trying to reel in a chubbier bunny (literally, we had to pull back on the analog stick like a fishing pole to suck the bunny in), it became apparent that the game was more than just a simple affair.
A couple more tutorial bits revealed some of the other mechanics of the game, including releasing traps via a lever or a crank (both are done by holding the Triangle button and then pulling or rotating the left analog stick), using tag team tactics to coax bunnies out of hiding (pressing the L2 button switches characters, and L1 will whistle for a little help during co-op situations), and a bit of wall jumping bits that Gromit is uniquely suited.
The changes between the two characters are subtle, but they're there; Wallace is taller, which means he can jump up to taller places than Gromit, and he wields a more powerful blast with his Bun Gun. Gromit is a bit faster, and can use the aforementioned wall jump to reach out-of-the-way areas (or just take a shortcut to get to them).
The whole process of rounding up bunnies is actually rather entertaining. Sucking up just one and firing them out (if they hit a wall, they do a great pancake slide down it, and it's adorable) is well and good, but the game borrows liberally from Herdy Gerdy's herding mechanic to guide big groups of bunnies toward suction points created by W&G's mobile holding tank on the back of their truck.
After the training level and a few cutscenes outlining Quartermaine's revenge and the subsequent escape of all those rabbits, the heroic pair captured, it was off to the game proper, where we had free run of the city. The game's main motivation for completing tasks is to acquire cards that eventually reveal a full picture. Along the way, coins can be fished out of hanging planters, mailboxes and from ledges.
The currency goes to good use in a greenhouse the pair own where a vegetable is being grown. It's a nice little distraction, allowing you to spend the money at a shop to buy things like pH-controlling chemicals, thermometers, water buckets and stuff like wallpaper and ribbons for the veggies (yes, really). It's not necessary, of course (well, not that we can tell yet), but it is a fun little distraction.
The proper game, however, is mainly relegated to bunny collecting. Talking to the different residents all over the town will yield a handful of challenges and sometimes net you a few handy items. We tried out a mini-game of sorts where rolling produce had to be guided into the proper crates with a little cranking of the left analog stick to pitch some of the ramps in the right direction. If a rotten item rolled down, it had to be dropped into a chute with the L1 button.
Another sequence made for a short "hacking" mini-game that had us rotating the left analog stick until a face button symbol appeared in the rotary phone-style slots that powered a security gate. The whole rotating and button-pressing element lasted perhaps 20 seconds, but it was actually rather fun.
These side quests help break up the bulk of the bunny-napping, which itself is rather entertaining. Later on in the game, it becomes possible to shift between day and night cycles when different enemies appear and the tasks change up a bit.
If it seems like we're excited about Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it's because, well, we are. It's rare that a licensed game comes off as charming and entertaining as what we played, and while we'll have to reserve judgment until we can play the final, full game, what we experienced so far makes it seem like this could be one of the best licensed games released this year. We'll keep you posted with more info as we get it.