  Forget Freddy, Jason or Ghost Face. A Frankenhen? Now, that's scary. |
It's time for the annual vegetable competition and the town's overrun by rabbits while evil creatures lurk in people's gardens at night.
In the video game adaptation of 'Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' from Konami, you take on the roles of the titular heroes as they "humanely" clean up the city and battle the were-creatures menacing in the dark.
Starting off at Lady Tottington's gardens, you must capture rabbits using your Bungun, a sort of vacuum cleaner gun you can use to pick up objects and animals, and store them in the Anti-Pesto van. But Wallace's presence has made them an enemy of Victor Quartermaine, Lady Tottington's suitor, and he hatches an evil plan to humiliate the duo and make himself into the hero.
With his dog Philip in tow, Victor releases the rabbits and they run rampant across the town. Wallace and Gromit must re-capture all the bunnies and perform various other tasks for the townsfolk, everything from sorting vegetables at the bank to helping a little girl find her stolen dolls, because, no one in the town, apparently, has the ability to do anything for themselves. And they're quite indignant when you refuse to help them.
Each time you complete a task, you receive a card. When you collect enough cards and notoriety, you gain access to a new area of the town, which is under quarantine because of attacks from the gigantic were-rabbit that terrorizes the town at night. Luckily, you don't need to complete everything in one area before you move on, as some of the tasks just seem downright impossible.
During all this, Gromit also has to grow his own marrow in his greenhouse for the vegetable competition, earning money by helping the townsfolk and hitting objects like streetlights and cemetery plots and collecting the coins that fall out, in order to buy supplies.
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The game looks and sound great. The town has great detail and an elaborate layout that makes each new place look different but still seem to be part of the same setting. And especially when you zoom in on them, it becomes hard to distinguish between Wallace and Gromit here and their claymation counterparts. Aside from the odd character mapping issues, Gromit partially disappears into a wall when he jumps at it, or Wallace pulling himself through a ledge as he climbs onto a roof, the motion is clean and smooth.
It also doesn't hurt that Peter Sallis voices Wallace, a part he has played since the original Wallace and Gromit short, A Grand Day Out in 1989. He breathes life into the character and gives Wallace his quirks. Helena Bonham-Carter also returns as the voice of Lady Tottington. The rest of the cast is different from the film version, but they all deliver performance s which are in tone with the game.
As for the game play, I quickly became sick of dealing with the bunnies. They seem to be everywhere, and it becomes rather repetitive herding them in to sewer drains, which are inexplicably connected to their van or house or some such thing. If only I had a recipe for hasenpfeffer!
At night, the game becomes more exciting, because you have the chance to fight all the were-creatures created by a device Victor stole from Wallace's house. The tasks you have to perform at night also are more dangerous as you can be knocked unconscious if you run out of life points. And it's often hard to see things because the landscape is so dark.
Because Wallace is otherwise occupied, Gromit's companion at night is Hutch, a rabbit who has been infected with the inventor's personality after a botched attempt to brainwash the bunnies into behaving.
What's enjoyable about the game is that you can switch back and forth between the characters at any time. Usually, whichever player you aren't playing follows behind, though sometimes he stays put. Of course, he often seems to do the opposite of what would you'd prefer.
It's also nice it acknowledges the difference between the two characters. Not only does Wallace have to perform certain actions, such as air blasting rabbits out of pipes, his size plays a factor in the game. It's easier for Wallace to climb onto things because he is taller than Gromit, but it also makes an easier target, if they're, for example, being shot at in the sewer system by evil garden gnomes with rocket launchers.
Two people can also play the game at the same time, but, at times, that's a little difficult to do. Because the game isn't split screen, the game has to choose which character to follow, based on how they are moving. And if the characters move to far away from each other, they just stop, because it's trying to keep both characters in view. For this reason, you also can't zoom in if the characters aren't next to each other.
If you get bored you can fight each other, which, in fact, is the true joy of the game. You can get interesting upgrades to your Bungun, such as an umbrella attachment that lets you float around the city or a harvester attachment that allows you to shoot vegetables like it was a machine gun. And you can jump around the city on a bunny hopper and smash stuff. But the game can get can get quite monotonous after awhile, especially if you get stuck somewhere. I had the most fun playing Gromit as a surly mutt who whacks people with his Bungun for no particular reason. If you position him right, you can even knock Wallace off rooftops or into the harbour.
Now, that's fun for the whole family!
WHAM! Rating: |
6.8 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
E (Everyone) |
Official Web Site: |
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