Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Sometimes an idea comes along and one has to wonder how it will actually succeed when translated to a different medium.  For Wallace and Gromit, they have always been a success on the small and big screen, bringing the art of Claymation to new heights.  However, one had to worry how you capture the magic of pudgy clay when displaying it on a digital display.  But once you start to play Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumblebees, you start to understand that not only did Telltale get it right, but they put together a clever adventure game that takes all the puzzling contraptions from the show and adapts them into and adventure themed game.

For the uninitiated, Wallace and Gromit are creations of Aardman Animation, which puts out shows based on the two characters.  Wallace is the consummate inventor that has plenty of ideas and charisma, but unfortunately mixes in a hefty dose of clumsiness.  Gromit is the faithful dog of Wallace, and normally ends up being the one saving Wallace from inventions gone awry.  The two characters have a huge following in the United Kingdom, and over time have created a small but dedicated following here in the US.

In Fright of the Bumble Bees, Wallace has been hit with a bill from a local store owner, due to one of his inventions destroying the store owner’s shop.  The owner of the shop decides that Wallace can repay him by supplying honey for his shop.  A truck load of honey to be exact and without any time on his side, Wallace decides to make his garden grow very fast in order to get his bees to produce a lot of honey in a short amount of time.  Of course, being a Wallace invention means that things don’t go as planned and that Gromit will most likely have to come and save the day.

The biggest worry that I had when I started playing Wallace and Gromit was the fact that you were trying to digitally animate Claymation.  When you work with clay, there are little imprints, nicks and other impressions that end up in the clay, giving it a life and personality that may not come across in a video game.  I have watched many a Wallace and Gromit show and these are little details that mean a lot to the fans.  But my worry was for naught, because once you jump into Fright of the Bumble Bees, you notice the thumbprints, small gaps in the arms and unshapely areas that look like they have been formed by hand.  Telltale has totally caught the feel of the television show and made it seamlessly translate to the computer screen.

Telltale also managed to get the humor of the show and translated it for a new audience that may not be familiar with Wallace and Gromit.  Everything is there from failed inventions and Wallace’s unhealthy addiction to cheese, all the way down to the constant discarding of Gromit’s dog tags; it all makes a seamless translation from British to the US.  A few phrases might throw some off like biscuits meaning crackers, and the exclamations “Crackers” or “Cracking Good Time” is used in a way that may not seem familiar, but the big moments are there, and are easy to follow.

The voice work is all done by the main cast and crew from the television series and each one puts in a great performance.  I have to think that they brought these people in to do the voice work, because each character seems to have little gestures and quirks that were pulled from visual cues given during a voice over segment.

With an adventure game like Wallace and Gromit, puzzles are where the game proves itself, and the puzzles were a bit on the tricky side.  Some of the puzzles took a bit of thinking, but there were a few that really caught me cross-eyed.  I did not need a FAQ to finish, but I had to think about it quite a bit, and normally found the error after much trial and tribulation.  It would also leave you feeling a bit daft, because you would finally solve the puzzle and be sitting there saying “it was so obvious, why did it take so long?”

With so much good, there is a bit of bad news that may be offset.  The review code that was sent over for Wallace and Gromit had a lot of glitches and goofs.  One of the characters was completely missing save for his eyes.  Another issue had me reloading a game, because I got caught in a looping error, where the same two minute cutscene played over and over.  Normally polish is something that Telltale is noted for, so one has to hope that these bugs are sorted out in the final release code.

After three to four hours of play, and lots of little in jokes here and there, I finished my journey into Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumble Bees.  At almost every turn I was satisfied with the funny dialog and attention to detail in the characters.  Some bugs were apparent and a few of the puzzles were a bit more tricky than necessary.  But overall, Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumble Bees continues the fine work of Telltale Games.  Wallace and Gromit: Fright of the Bumble Bees gets 4.5 Aeropausonauts out of 5.