If you're a fan of the films, then this collection is a delight; exploring the world of Wallace and Gromit is a treat, and you'll find plenty of references, if you look hard enough. The humor is mostly intact, and the absurd situations fit right in with the Wallace and Gromit brand. It's a little weird moving around with the keyboard at first, but it works surprisingly well. They are fairly short, so that may be a deterrent for some of you, but I didn't have a problem with the length. I will say that the first two episodes were my favorite, and the fourth and final episode wasn't great, but overall, it's a worthy collection of adventures.
This Point-and-Click Adventure starts out with some really interesting puzzle-solving, and quickly falls into a bit of a lull. There's a really neat mechanic with entering a sort of cyberspace and using programs and things to affect the real world that's a bit underutulized after the first chapter, after which it centers more around the characters, themselves. The problem is that their actions were questionable, and you're being forced to doing things you know are horrible for reasons that I, at least, didn't feel even close to justified them. Once it gets going, though, it was the characters that I really grew to enjoy; I know that's not exactly a point in its favor, but I did really enjoy the experience overall. It is unusually violent for a game of its genre, but beneath all the pretty neon and dashing rogue antiheroes, a cyberpunk dystopia is an ugly place, so I didn't find it to be completely inappropriate.
From the very beginning, the visuals and tone of the story really drew me in; it was shaping up to be the fantastical journey of a young boy, something like The Phantom Tollbooth or the Little Nemo movie. Though it gets a bit darker toward the end, it stays on this course, filling the player with a sense of child-like wonder. The problem is that this is a game, and while these 2 concepts aren't the least bit mutually exclusive, it does have a tendency to yank the mouse out of your hand and play itself for long periods of time. Another problem it has is this encroaching sense of dread that's well-developed, but while this starts out as a major part of the plot that just drops off until briefly returning as sequel bait in the ending. Speaking of the ending, it's mostly just a long text dump, explaining events that were vital to the story, but had been left out of the main game for whatever reason. I did enjoy my time with it, but with so many unplayable scenes that go on way too long, I think it'd work best to cut this down and make it into an animated feature; it'd be a wonderful movie to watch with the kids on a summer night.
If you've played the Cube Escape Collection, this acts as sort of a conclusion for one of the main stories. You start out not knowing who you are, but if you remember the Cube Escape games, things start to come together. You go through a daily routine, which changes slightly each time, solving puzzles and unraveling your story as you go. As usual, there are some obtuse puzzles, but the story more than makes up for it with a heart-rending conclusion you won't soon forget.
This is easily the best game in the main trilogy, though if you liked the others, you'll probably like this, too. You solve different puzzles each day on the same island, creating little variations to the routine. Elizabeth is easily the best character; she's so weird! This is where a lot of the mythology comes together, if you've been following along. The story here is just as dark and twisted as the rest, even if it's easy to figure out how it ends right at the beginning.
This entry took a different format: many little vignettes that were quicker to solve. It was neat how the story branched out in different directions, literally, even, as the puzzles appeared on a growing tree. The story is pretty dark and tragic, and I was surprised at a lot of what happened. Some of the puzzles are a little frustrating for how poorly explained they are and how ambiguous the potential solution could be, but that's at a minimum. It keeps with the Rusty Lake tradition of surreal horror and grim obligation, so if you liked the others, you'll probably like this, too.
This is a neat first-person Adventure that's pretty dark, but also dulls the senses; you're performing some pretty gruesome acts, but the way it's framed, it seems a bit mundane. Great artstyle, and very relaxing music, but it feels like it's building toward something it never truly reaches. Still worth checking out if you're a fan of the genre.
This is an Escape Room, but it's more focused on solving puzzles than escaping. The artstyle is lovely, and the music is very chill. Then, you start noticing that something's a bit off... There's this surreal dread just slowly creeping in, and by the end, you're drowning in abject horror. You're forced to do some horrible things, and some really messed up events occur. Not all 9 games are excellent - some of the puzzles are obtuse and infuriating - but this is definitely worthwhile if you like surreal horror.
Simply put, if you've liked the Sam & Max games up to this point, this is right in line with the rest of them. It gets off to a bit of a rough start, but the end, I was still laughing so hard it hurt; I couldn't believe some of the jokes they were making. The scenery is still imaginative, and the plotlines are still enjoyably ludicrous. Some of the puzzles are bonkers, but the environments are still small, so they're not too bad.
This Point-and-Click Adventure is separated into 6 short episodes, but despite the annoyance of having to exit and rerun the launcher each time, losing all of your settings, it's pretty good. The first 2 are a bit lacking, but after that, the humor really ramps up. Each episode has a small area to explore, so puzzles and solutions usually aren't too overwhelming. The different locales get to being pretty imaginative, too. It does have its share of bugs, but nothing game-breaking.
