Wallace and Gromit PS2 Review
The dynamic plasticine duo is back! The lovable Wallace & Gromit have taken the box office by storm with their brand new film so it's a tough act to follow for the PS2. However, the combined forces of Konami and Aardman (notorious for their plasticine expertise) have produced something special.
Wallace & Gromit, The Curse of the Were Rabbit, has all the usual features you'd expect from a Wallace & Gromit film/game. Frequent and enjoyable clips are included which have you chuckling unknowingly to yourself.
The genius of Aardman (known also for Morph, Chicken Run and Creature Comforts) has succeeded in bringing the plasticine look of their films right into your living room and under your control.
In the Curse of the Were Rabbit, Wallace & Gromit take on the form of 'Anti-Pesto' a team intent on ridding their neighbourhood of veg-hungry rabbits.
Equipped with rabbit sucking guns your job is to take Wallace & Gromit on an adventure leading to the extermination of hundreds of hungry rabbits. And with the largest vegetable competition looming, timing has never been so crucial for a team like 'Anti-Pesto'.
The game allows you to switch between Wallace (a clumsy, adorable plasticine-human) and Gromit (a determined dog, to this day not having spoken a word.) This ability is great and both characters have different capabilities the other may not possess. The game is largely based on teamwork and the vast array of tasks available for selection usually needs a team effort to succeed.
The setting of the game is perfect and a lot of detail has been put in. It is set in the village where the duo live and there is a large area for you to explore which is great. You have to find different people who will give you tasks to fulfil to earn cards which make up a picture in the menu bar. You can also find these floating around in hard to reach places and also gold coins which will pay for different remedies to increase the growth of your marrow or decorate your greenhouse ready for the veg competition. I also had good fun attempting to suck up people in the game and firing rabbits and turnips at unsuspecting villagers. This can keep you occupied for hours and is a great stress reliever as well!
The graphics on the game are also fantastic and I tended to be sucked into the realness of the game and become attached to Wallace & Gromits' humorous characteristics. Especially Wallace, whose comments and catchphrases are the most hilarious and entertaining you're likely to hear in a video game. Some of the challenges and tasks in the game are quite challenging. Most have a time limit to do them in and rabbits to deposit down holes which lead to the 'Anti-Pesto' truck. There is a wide variety of tasks to do and you can usually choose whether to use Wallace or Gromit depending on your favourite, personally the feistiness of Gromit is a good asset to have when kicking bunny butt!
The two player mode is good as well in the sense that both characters are on the same screen so the wide angle in one player mode is not sacrificed for two players. It is basically the same objectives and tasks as one player but you have a friend to lend a hand. Although the problem with two player is that because both Wallace & Gromit are on the same screen you sometimes have to wait for the other player to catch up or have to stop because you are restricted to the amount the screen will zoom out. This is quite annoying but does not make the game much worse in my opinion.
I think this game is brilliant and I had a good laugh playing as a couple of the greatest plasticine legends of all time! I would definitely recommend this game for some light hearted fun, especially for all the Wallace & Gromit fans out there.
9 out of 10
Joe Standerwick
