We all know, or should know by now, that Telltale Games have made quite a name for themselves in the adventure game department. They have made some of the best games of recent years, like their take on The Walking Dead games, and Back to the Future. With the final episode of The Wolf Among Us out, and the wait for Tales from the Borderlands and Telltale’s Game of Thrones on the horizon, I thought it was time to review The Wolf Among Us in its entirety. So, what do I personally think of this specific Telltale series? From what I have seen, people have mostly enjoyed it with a few mixed reactions thrown in, depending on how you thought the story was panning out. Let’s dive right in and see if we should fear the big bad wolf. This is The Wolf Among Us.
The game takes place in Fabletown, New York, where you play the sheriff of the town, Bigby Wolf, voiced by Adam Harrington. After dealing with an incident with a prostitute named Faith, and her customer, the Woodsman, Bigby ends up back at his place of living to find the head of Faith on his doorstep. He brings up the situation to Snow White and Ichabod Crane, the people in charge of Fabletown, They are voiced by Erin Yvette and Roger Jackson respectively. As the story progresses, you find out someone is killing off Fables, and it is up to Bigby to solve the case and bring order to the town of fairy tale characters. I have no knowledge of the comic book series, but going in head-first made the story more interesting to me. I liked the gruff and somewhat unlikable Bigby, because even though he was a person feared back in the fairy tale world and people still hold a grudge about his past, he just wants it to be let go of. It’s that feeling you get when you have known someone for quite some time, and even though he isn’t what he used to be, you still can’t forgive a couple of things that person has done in the past. I also enjoy the grungy and questionable living arrangements all of the characters have. Their lives are not so perfect when they don’t have the trappings of their fairy tale lives to fall back on. The story does have some pacing issues, but the overall story experience is one of the best that Telltale has done.
If you have played any other game from Telltale Games, you would assume that The Wolf Among Us is another cinematic point-and-click adventure game. You would be correct. You will play as Bigby Wolf as you traverse across the town of, well, Fabletown, encountering other fairy tale characters who may or may not be a part of the killing of their fellow kin. I will say that before The Walking Dead Season 2 came out, The Wolf Among Us was probably one of the more action-oriented adventure games around. I mention this because you will need to get through fights between Bigby and other characters from the comic book series. They are basically fights filled with QTE elements, but they are done well enough, and I felt myself clenching my controller in certain fights. Like with any game made by the talented studio, all the conversations in the game will have some consequence, depending on how you respond to everyone or the situation in front of you. The individual chapters will take you about an hour and a half, or two hours to complete each one. Plus, with the multiple endings that any of the situations can result in, you have reasons to replay through this game.
I love the look of The Wolf Among Us. It does look like they ripped the characters right out of the comic book. Heck, this game doesn’t even have a lot of those weird animations like in The Walking Dead Season One, where the facial expressions of characters’ eyes were downright creepy. I also found the voice acting to be pretty good. I know Bigby has the same gruff-sounding voice like a majority of edgy, tough-hearted detectives, but his voice actor Adam Harrington makes sure that Bigby doesn’t seem like a generic detective. You even get some voice actors from Telltale’s past game, The Walking Dead Season One, with the character Blue Beard being played by Lee Everett’s voice actor Dave Fennoy. The music has the right amount of intense, atmospheric, and somber tones that fit the entire game. I especially love the tunes for the startup screen and the opening theme that reminds me of a crime drama I have seen on HBO. The composer for the game is named Jared Emerson-Johnson. He has done the music for games like 2004’s The Bard’s Tale, 2005’s Bone: Out from Boneville, 2012’s Double Fine Happy Action Theater, and well, a majority of Telltale’s other games.
Like usual though, this game has some problems. For me, some of the technical issues that plague Telltale’s games were present during the first two or three episodes, and it seemed like they didn’t know about these issues, or weren’t paying attention to the complaints. I also found the story to drag in a few areas, like in episode two and in some segments of episode three. The overall story is filled with great character development between Bigby and Snow, some rather dramatic moments, calm moments, and the overall story is good, but you get the feeling that they dragged out a few parts to extend the playtime. The ending, while satisfying, could have been more developed in a few other areas. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but you will get what I am saying once you play through the entire game.
In the end, The Wolf Among Us is another great title from Telltale. I think these guys have a knack with making great licensed games, and I can’t wait to see what Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones will bring us, and I am betting that they will be just as good! If you want to play the game right here, right now, you can download the season pass for $20, and I would highly recommend it. If you want to take your time buying the game, there are retail versions of the game for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 coming out later this year. If you love crime, drama, and a good adventure game, check this game out!
This game gets an 8 out of 10.
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