By Jeremy Hannaford (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: October 23, 2013
The Big Bad Wolf is now a sheriff, trying to right previous wrongs in a world full of characters from old-time fables who loathe each other. Based on the critically acclaimed Fables comic series by Bill Willingham, the first episode of Telltale Games’ The Wolf Among Us shows that they haven’t lost any steps from their success with their Walking Dead game. It also shows that they haven’t learned from some previous mistakes.
You play as Sheriff Bigby Wolf, the reclusive lawman of Fable Town, a small area of New York full of fabled creatures who hide among humans. The most captivating ideal of The Wolf Among Us is the world the game is based in. A prequel to the original comic series, the world is full of twists on well-known fables. Beauty and the Beast are having marriage issues due to their lack of wealth, the Woodsman is now a violent drunk due to lost popularity, and Snow White is in charge of Fable organization and sorting. With detailed descriptions of all the characters in the extras menu, I was engrossed in the world-building before I actually focused on the game.
When I did, I found the characters engaging and the gameplay smooth, for the most part. The user interface has been touched up and offers more style than the bland menus of The Walking Dead. Bigby is a Fable trying to right all the wrongs he did back in the Homeland by making sure Fables don’t kill each other.
The discussions the player is given are meant to forward the investigation, rather than make friends to survive with. Choosing between being the concerning sheriff or the vengeful lawman was difficult for me at times. Sometimes I was kind and understanding and other times I felt the need to rip characters’ arms off!
Bigby doesn’t receive much gratitude for his work, but he does it as a means of redeeming himself. Within the first five minutes, you are defending an estranged girl from the Woodsman who is on a bloodthirsty drunken rampage. The interactivity in the fight scenes is much more diverse than Walking Dead’s, but a choppy frame rate and laggy cuts break scene momentum and I found myself tapping the triggers furiously instead of actually trying to aim for a target.
The Wolf Among Us follows the murder of a Fable and the hunt for the killer. Turning away from the horror survival aspect of Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us is a mystery game, and the player must find clues in order to forward the case. One thing this first episode offers, far better than in Walking Dead, is choices. While the concluding climax is the same no matter what, Bigby can take several different roads and begin to twist the story.
The deceptions of some characters are unique and interesting while others borrow from the original stories but slightly twist them a bit. Always prepare for surprises. After I saw a pig conversing with Bigby while smoking a cigarette, I knew that these weren’t our regular fables. The conversations are also well-written, and are filled with references. The pig still holds a grudge against Bigby for blowing down his house, while the Woodsman flaunts his victory over the Wolf in his face. This feeling of updated nostalgia never wears off and only grows. Meeting the tight-ass Ichabod Crane and the narcissistic mirror was great fun.
Anyone who has read the comic will find it entertaining to see these characters brought to life in a video game, and newcomers will enjoy the world building and characters. While there still are some heavy frame rate issues and at least one scene that felt entirely pointless, the first entry of The Wolf Among Us is a solid start to another great episodic series from Telltale Games.
