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Review:

13th October 2005:
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Bunnies to the left of them, bunnies to the right of them, bunnies to the front of them. All with pointy teeth.
Posted by Chris Snook - PlayStation 2,Xbox - UK and Europe

Every operation has a mastermind and as one of the posters for the film of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit there can be a master and a mind, one but two distinct parts. Which also in a way describes the tie-in conversion. It is at once a single entity that operates nicely but has two very different and at times uncooperative elements that seem to be at odds with what the other is trying to do.

Anti-Pesto, the greatest and most humane way to rid places of life's little pests, is Wallace's latest genius idea. An alternative to sending small defenceless animals to kingdom come and it is about to gain the biggest contract of its existence. Lady Tottington's prize lawn is overrun with cute, fluffy bunnies which as Wallace points out appear to be breeding like - well Rabbits. It is up to the brave duo, to dispose of the furry blighters before the sinister Victor Quartermain persuades the good lady that a twelve bore is more effective.

From here the Dynamo Duo arrive and put the BunVac through its paces as the game swings from the FMV intro through to the tutorial itself. Events continue apace, with more gadgets and gizmo's being used and occasionally abused, ranging from the BunGun's the pair use, through to the Mind Manipulator-Matic that proves pivotal later on in the proceedings.

The reason for all the haste to remove the hopping fiends is that the annual Giant Vegetable Growing Competition is due shortly and everyone is growing the largest veg to be seen. From pumpkins through to marrows and beyond, thus the command from upon high is that they must be protected at all costs and naturally the despicable Quartermain has plans to disrupt that and inveigle the hand of the Lady Tottington.

The first thing that is noticeable is the attention to detail, from the way that the characters move to the slight imperfections that exist. The exaggerated look that recreates the originals and the script that provides much of the momentum for the game as you solve puzzles, fix problems face off against angry killer weasels and ultimately make your way to face off against the biggest most heinous relative of Bugs that had ever hopped the Earth.

The visual look is impressive. Movements are right, expressions are spot on and there is a feel of crafting behind things. The backgrounds are attractive and say out of the way for the most part they catch the eye but do not distract, which is handy as there is a lot going on screen as you create mayhem in your wake as you try to clear up your patch. Some of the best images come from things that are not part of the main action, the bunnies in the BunVac and some of the activity in the Town.

As expected the voice acting is out of the top drawer with Peter Sallis deftly conveying the bumbling nature of Wallace perfectly and with aplomb. Sounds are clear, crisp and tie in with the action nicely, things squeak, crash, clunk, thud and follow the wonderfully anarchic nature of the original almost seamlessly. The only weak point is the music, for some reason despite being there is barely registers.

There are hours and hours of play available, the tutorial itself takes up a good hour or so and delivers the basics nice and simply, there are side quests to complete as well as the main arc - discovering who or what is chewing the vegetables and who is responsible for the random acts of sabotage against one man and his dog. It is this basic premise that is the strength of the game, it also leads to some of the problems that are encountered along the way.

The biggest difficulties are the controls and that there is a seemingly manic desire to make every section in someway dependant on jumping or platformer skills. Yes Gromit's neat trick of bouncing from wall to wall looks good but get the timing wrong and it's back to the bottom again. Some of the puzzles are timed and often you first need to locate how to get to the puzzles end, which is shown to you from various odd angles, and arrive there. Usually by bouncing around like a madman, before the timer runs out and it resets, repeatedly as mistakes will be made and even one can cost too much time to recover.

Controls wise things are relatively simple but within some of the sub-games, football for instance, there are oddities that take a few seconds to adjust, not helped by at times control accuracy that seems a little less than optimal. Which can cause problems, the basic responses are fine but fine control is hard to achieve, mostly whilst once again jumping. Camera angles also can be irritating as they reset each time you enter an area, or initiate a times puzzle. Where they are rarely the best for the task and you have to spend time either setting them and loose seconds or put up with then and misjudge jumps. Neither is really acceptable. There are also two functions that are available but were not mentioned in the manual, the ability to turn off and on the Radar and a health status screen. Activated by R3 and L3 respectively.

Other minor gripes are that some of the side quests and even the main narrative can stall as you fail to stand in the right spot to start them, it is possible to become completely lost as what to do at times as periodically the only clues are audio based and these become swamped in the background bustle. Further the side quests themselves often do not look to tie in with things at all and once or twice weaken the main plot by distracting you from your objectives.

That said there are nice flourishes. Milk bottles can be used as mortar shells, you can wallop people upside the head with your BunGun, appropriate cash from Pillar boxes and the like and generally be such a nuisance that an ASBO should be given on the spot. Not to forget that it is possible to fire gumballs if you find the right piece of scenery to hoover up.

There is gold here, it is not a bad game by a long chalk, just that there are a few small things that seem to detract and in just the wrong areas to drop it down from a potentially grand day out to being something that means well but just doesn't thrill.

Chris Snook

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Review Summary:

Not quite as cracking as it could be, with an over reliance on the ability to jump, timed puzzles that are too involved and at times imprecise controls and collision detection. Despite this Curse of the Were-Rabbit is full of ideas and touches that will reward those willing to mine the gold.

Related Games:

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
for PlayStation 2

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