REVIEW: Wallace & Gromit in The Bogey Man (PC/360)

Scribbled on November 12th, 2009 by Jonah Falcon
Filed in Adventure, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC, Reviews, Xbox Live Arcade

Finally, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures comes to an end, with The Bogey Man, and it continues the storyline from the third episode, Muzzled! If one recalls, Felicity Flitt wrongly thought that Wallace had proposed marriage to her, mistaking a lug nut for an engagement ring. Poor Wallace had no intention of marrying his neighbor, but the word spread throughout town that the West Wallaby Street duo were now engaged.

The only way out? Wallace discovers with Gromit’s help that Felicity’s stern aunt Prudence would never allow her to marry anyone from the local country club. However, club head Mr. Paneer has a choice between Constable Dibbins and Wallace, and unfortunately, Wallace has no athletic skill. From there, we descend into a series of incidents that forces Wallace into some odd situations featuring contraptions by the club’s founder who bears a striking resemblance, along with his dog, to a certain inventor and his companion.

The Bogey Man is perhaps the best of the four episodes in terms of puzzles. They are harder and more non-obvious than the previous eps, while remaining logical. Similarly, some of the lunacy is ramped up from previous episodes, though in a more subtle, less obvious way; it’s a slow burn that culminates in one scene that is basically a sliding tile puzzle, with a twist, but heightened greatly by the dialogue – especially when Felicity discovers her one true love. That is followed by Gromit’s daring rescue attempt that is sheer madness in an action puzzle.

The episode ends happily, of course, with all of the loose ends tied up. Taken altogether, it was a Wallace & Gromit story as fully realized and cleverly written as any of the Oscar-winning shorts, and one hopes for yet another visit to West Wallaby Street in the future.