Fright of the Bumblebees is the first entry in Telltale Game's Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures series of episodic games - and if this first game is a sign of what's to come, Telltale have yet another strong Adventure franchise to add to their roster.
Players take control of both Wallace and Gromit as they manage their own Honey Production business - but when Wallace attempts to get more Honey from his bees by making them bigger, they break out of Wallaby Street and invade the town. The gameplay is typical Point and Click Adventure fare, following the same format Telltale use in their Monkey Island series amongst others. It can feel a little clunky when you first start, but once you get used to them they're not a problem. My only real issue on the gameplay side of the game is its length - it's a little on the short side for the asking price, but with the promise of more episodes and the quality of what's there, this is more of a minor niggle than a major issue.
Unlike many 3D recreations of Aardman Animatons classic duo, the character models of Wallace and Gromit in Fright of the Bumblebees hold up well as a great representation of the characters. Gromit's facial expressions are just as well animated as they are in his plasticine counterpart, and Wallace comes out looking better and more human and less bug-eyed than he has done so in other Wallace & Gromit games - and with Peter Sallis providing his voice once more to the role, this is easily the best representation of Wallace in a game.
However, the time spent on the two main characters was clearly much more than the other supporting members of the cast. The inhabitants of the duo's home town are much worse in both terms of graphic and voice acting quality than Wallace & Gromit, and it is this as well as the occasional stutter and duff texture that knock the game's quality a little.
In all, Fright of the Bumblebees is another great adventure game from Telltale, and the start of what looks to be a promising series of classic Adventure Games.