Wallace and Gromit turn their basement into a holiday resort; nothing can possibly go wrong with that…right?
Fright of the Bumblebees was a great entry into the episodic series for Wallace and Gromit, it set a standard that each episode should come to, I hoped that The Last Resort might even overtake it as the best so far, and my hopes were well founded. The Last Resort is simply priceless and a typical story for Wallace and Gromit.
Wallace and Gromit were planning to take their holiday in Blackpool, but the weather is miserable and so they have to cancel. Wallace gets the idea into his head to turn his flooded basement into a beach, and then he thinks he can profit from it by inviting everyone over. It’s not long before it all goes horribly wrong and the team must try to prevent everyone from wanting a refund. After that’s dealt with, the game enters an odd “whodunit” story of who hit a character. The answer is laughably obvious, but trying to prove it is a little difficult.
There is only one new character to be found in this episode and he’s the victim of the “whodunit” part. He winds plenty of people up, so motives are aplenty. As usual though, it all comes down to Gromit to work it all out while Wallace takes all the credit. Puzzles in this game are a bit tougher than in the first episode, but they are still fairly straightforward…and if for some reason you can’t figure out what to do, there’s a full walkthrough on Telltale’s website, just like they did for each game they have made so far.
The controls are the same; you can use the keyboard and mouse to move around, select items and so on. Or you can use an Xbox 360 controller when plugged into the PC, which gives a good idea of how the XBLA version will handle. I honestly can’t wait for them so I can earn achievements, but those who know me will know I’m an achievement whore anyway. The episode lasts a few hours and when you’re done, you probably won’t have a good reason to come back…which is another reason I can’t wait for the XBLA version.
The overall story for “The Last Resort” is great and rivals “Fright of the Bumblebees”. It has more laughs and a better script; the characters are hilarious and meet the British feel of the series that you would hope is there. Sure, the voice actor for Wallace isn’t Peter Sallis…but the person who does play him does a good job and 2 episodes in, I’ve gotten used to the voice more and like it a lot more. The visuals are the same, but they are still great…you can see little imperfections like if they were actually made of clay. It’s impressive to see, and maybe it doesn’t get enough credit.
The Verdict
The Last Resort takes the crown for the best episode so far. It’ll be interesting to see if the next episode can topple it, I just hope they can come up with some way to make the game worthy of replay for PC gamers, it’s a small thing but worth mentioning nonetheless.
