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. Itās not long before it all goes horribly wrong and the team must try to prevent everyone from wanting a refund. After thatās dealt with, the game enters an odd āwhodunitā 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 heās the victim of the āwhodunitā 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 canāt figure out what to do, thereās a full walkthrough on Telltaleās 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 canāt wait for them so I can earn achievements, but those who know me will know Iām an achievement whore anyway. The episode lasts a few hours and when youāre done, you probably wonāt have a good reason to come back…which is another reason I canāt wait for the XBLA version.
The overall story for āThe Last Resortā is great and rivals āFright of the Bumblebeesā. 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 isnāt Peter Sallis…but the person who does play him does a good job and 2 episodes in, Iāve 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. Itās impressive to see, and maybe it doesnāt get enough credit.
The Verdict
The Last Resort takes the crown for the best episode so far. Itāll 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, itās a small thing but worth mentioning nonetheless.
