The Wolf Among Us Overall Review (PS3)

Review Context: I have played many interactive active adventure games such as The Walking Dead Season 1,  Beyond Two Souls, and Heavy Rain. I enjoyed them all immensely and i hope to play more games like these in the future.
Date of Playthrough: July 2014
The PSN Version
Minimal or generic screenshots for these type of reviews to avoid spoilers

The good folks at Telltale games have established themselves as a top tier gaming company as of late; this is largely due to their first game, The Walking Dead winning a game of the year award at Spike TV’s video game awards show a couple years back. Hoping to continue their winning streak, they have released their new project: The Wolf Among Us; another episodic interactive adventure. So is this next project a triumph or a misfire? Let’s find out.

You play as Bigby, the sheriff of Fable town whose sole job is to keep the peace and maintain order. Fables range from toads, pigs,and ogres all the way to famous fable characters such as Snow White and The Wolf. A mandatory law in Fable Town requires all fables to glamour themselves into a human body and in doing so concealing their true form. Bigby himself is the wolf; known for terrorizing the three pigs and having a violent streak therefore causing nearby townspeople to fear him. His few friends include Snow, popularly known as Snow White and Colin, one of the three pigs. Bigby became a sheriff to start anew and change his ways, but bizarre cases involving the decapitation of women’s heads and extremely dangerous encounters threaten to hinder his resolve as he tends to transform into his wolf form when he feels that his life is in danger.

 I found this game’s presentation to be quite stellar. The production was groundbreaking as it mixed well with the game’s tone and the remarkable voice acting brought the various characters and story to life. I really enjoyed the intro, which would be shown early in each episode. It was accompanied by a great soundtrack and it definitely helped set the mood. My only real major gripe with the presentation were the ridiculously long load times, which would occasionally seem to freeze my game; giving me the option of either restarting the system or just waiting for this annoyance to pass. There were also some noticeable clipping issues such as Bigby’s hands going through his pant pockets, but these were just minor issues and did not take much away from the otherwise excellent presentation.

I did not find the graphics to be the cream of the crop, but I thought they looked great and definitely mixed well with the game’s dark tone. The characters and environment are highly detailed, which is important in a game that you spend hours looking at various cutscenes and engaging in epic encounters. The art style is very similar To Telltale game’s earlier title, The Walking Dead and the popular first person shooter/rpg known as Borderlands. For the most part, this particular art style is successful at bringing these mythical heroes, villains and environment to life.

Gameplay involves examining objects in the environment for clues, making dialogue choices and action sequences in the form of quick time events. Dialogue plays an integral part in the game as it influences how other characters feel about you and shapes up future events. These occur frequently and require focus since some choices will be tough and timed which means taking too long will result in you missing out on the dialogue option you wanted. My favorite parts of the gameplay were the quick time events in which you have to press the corresponding button to the one that appears on the screen. Telltale games gets a little creative with these; Fights involve using the right stick to properly aim at your opponent’s desired body part and pressing the right button to succeed. A highlight for me was when Bigby, in wolf form, was leaping from building to building and evading oncoming cars while chasing down a fleeing enemy. Oh and I cannot forget about the wolf transformations; These are among the best I have seen in any video game or any other form of media for that matter and they left me absolutely speechless.

I found myself highly immersed and on the edge of my seat throughout my entire playthrough thanks to an incredible story, intriguing characters, and immersive gameplay. If you enjoy games such as Beyond Two Souls and Heavy Rain I highly recommend you add this gem to your list. I think it is safe to say that Telltale games has done it yet again and I cannot wait to see what future projects they are cooking up.

Similar Games Liked:
Heavy Rain (PS3)
Beyond Two Souls (PS3)

No mini-reviews for this review yet.