All good things must come to an end, so they say. As it is in overused quotes, so it is with the delightful Wallace&Gromit's Grand Adventures from Telltale Games. This marks the fourth and final tale of England's favourite inventor and his clever canine companion. Alliteration aside, Episode 4: The Bogey Man closes up any holes left in the moderately overarching narrative of the tetralogy while leaving more than adequate room to follow up with a new story for this duo.
The Bogey Man is a story of love and revenge, though they're not directly related. Driving right off the end of the third episode, we find our hero in a bit of a pickle. (*SPOILERS*) In the epilogue of Muzzled, Wallace found himself kneeling in front of Felicity Flitt with a nut from a bolt in his outstretched fingers, causing Felicity to assume a proposal of marriage and accepting. Enjoying the life of a bachelor, Wallace had no intention of proposing, but also being a good guy and not wanting to embarrass Ms. Flitt, he needs to find a way for her to break it off with him. The revenge piece begins when Mr. Paneer chooses Wallace over P.C. Dibbins for new membership in Prickly Thicket, the exclusive golf club. When Constable Dibbins decides to use the law to take down the club, it's up to you to crack the case and save the club.
While there were some flashbacks to the surprise event, this was the first time that Telltale Games made an episode somewhat dependent upon your having played a previous episode. Any of the previous three could have been played without having played a prior installment. While it is not impossible to begin playing at episode four, I feel my enjoyment of this story was enhanced by watching the character evolution; a level I do not believe would have been attained without said prior knowledge.
Familiarity with the setting becomes useful when you once again traipse through the town center of Wigan and 62 West Wallaby Street. So, you will definitely know your way around and although you spend some time in the club, you find yourself staring at the same assets over and over, which makes some of the characters feel like props rather than interactive beings. One nice addition was finding Episode 3's antagonist, Monty Muzzle, still in jail with plenty he'd like to say to you.
The puzzles are much the same fare we've seen in the previous episodes. The puzzles range from using a device to find out more of the story's exposition to multi-step functions reliant on the proper sequencing to succeed. For those familiar to the adventure genre, many of the clues were straightforward and puzzles without clues were not necessarily difficult to infer the correct answer. Unfortunately, there were a couple of times in this episode I found myself cycling through my inventory trying every piece when it seemed like none of the pieces fit, especially at the end. As with the three previous installments, the end boss-puzzle was again more action-oriented and fast-paced than the rest of the game. Telltale really emphasized how good their game design was in this series through these final puzzles; they always have a sense of urgency that further immerses the player in the story as the conflict builds to an apex to finish out the tale.
The graphics continue their well-crafted claymation look that has been a gold ribbon for the series from the beginning. Contrary to previous titles, the usually disappointing sound and music was much improved in the concluding episode. I was able to distinguish most of the conversations clearly. The writing continued to live up to its predecessors with subtle wit and charm. If any fault is found in the writing and dialogue, it is that the story portrays all men as irresponsible commitment-phobes hell-bent on avoiding work and women in order to play golf.
Overall, The Bogey Man, episode four of Wallace&Gromit's Grand Adventures, is a fine addition and ending to the series. While it may not have captivated in the same way as the previous three adventures, it is still a fun romp through the wonderful universe created by Nick Park. If you have not already played episodes one, two and three, I strongly encourage you to wait on this and begin with Episode 1: Fright of the Bumblebees. Those already engrossed in the series will continue to enjoy the same wacky hijinks they've come to expect from Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures. Telltale Games finished off the series strong and continue their long lineage of excellent, intuitive and fun-to-play adventure games.
