Wallace and Gromit are all set for a day at the beach, but foul weather has foiled their plans and forced them to stay inside. Rather than turn to a game of Monopoly or Cluedo, Wallace sets about building an artificial beach in their cellar to cheer up Gromit. However, he simply can't let things be, and soon converts their entire home into a beach-themed indoor theme park for the entire town to enjoy, as well as turn in a healthy profit. Of course, running a beach is a lot harder than simply enjoying one, and Wallace and Gromit find themselves charged with first pleasing all their customers, then solving an Agatha Christie-style mystery when one of the customers is mysteriously 'thumped'. As you can see, the plot is all over the place, which the development team seems to have realised by dividing this episode into four 'parts'. The problem is that none of these four parts are terribly interesting, and the murder mystery especially is horribly clichéd.
Not much going on out here, chuck.
We also have to question the shift of focus in this episode onto the vast array of supporting characters. As anyone who's watched the films would know, one of their joys is watching the interaction between Wallace and Gromit, the energetic and idiotic master and his long-suffering but faithful companion. The Last Resort instead devotes much of its time to dialogue with a large cast of frankly clichéd characters. While we were charmed by a few of them in the first instalment, their one-note personalities are beginning to wear thin this time around. Mr. Paneer is friendly, Constable Dibbins is by-the-book, Mrs. Gabberly is a kind but tough old lady, Ms. Flitt is self-involved, etc. The only new characters are an angry Scotsman and a pair of deceptively cute dogs named Poodgie-Woo and Tinkie-Wee. The fact is that nobody is likely to care about these characters to engage in conversation with them, let alone play a game based around pleasing their every need.
Which is exactly the problem with this episode. Seeing as the main puzzles of this game revolve around seeing to these characters' needs and solving a murder-type mystery, you'll have to talk to all of them a lot. And don't think you'll be visiting any exotic new places either, as there are no new locations in this game. In fact, we think there are probably fewer than the last episode. Certain rooms of Wallace and Gromit's house have been re-dressed as they become part of their new resort, and there is one new room we gain access to (their living room), but they don't stop the game from feeling a little too cramped. Some of the puzzles also contain a few too many convoluted hoops you have to jump through. In one instance, you'll be spoon-fed the answer, but then actually communicating this feels needlessly complicated, indeed like many of Wallace's inventions.
Pure evil.
It's not all gloomy news, as the voice acting is once again spot-on. Both Wallace and the supporting cast do a fine job in their roles, although be aware that if you are easily irritated by silly British accents, this game forces you to listen to them at length. The visuals still remain absolutely true to the series, although due to the gloomy atmosphere of the episode, it's not as colourful as we'd like. It's another well-produced episode, something which Telltale have consistently shown they have a knack for.
Seeing as The Last Resort is part of an episodic series, it may be appropriate to apply a television metaphor. Essentially, it's what would be called a 'bottle episode', an episode that doesn't cost a lot to produce by confining the proceedings to existing sets and making the story 'character driven'. The thing is, this is only the second episode. We should be building on the momentum gathered in the first, rather than stalling to talk at length with characters we don't really care that much about. The new Sam and Max games gave us plenty of interaction between the duo, so why can't we see Wallace and Gromit interact in a Wallace and Gromit game? On a gameplay-level, the puzzles are serviceable, but not a lot more. We've seen that Telltale are much better than this, so we can only hope that the final two episodes of Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures live up to their grand reputation.
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