Telltale Games cleverly sews together a specific niche for themselves with classic adventure system and comic book style art. The Wolf Among Us, unlike their survival oriented The Walking Dead, is a one of a kind mix of noir and fable. While the concept itself has been done by TV series or comics, this game offers a unique muse rarely found in any other games. It doesn't escape the grasp of flaws, most notably from the lagging, and it's relatively short but like Cinderella's nocturnal escapade, it's also everlastingly sweet.
Without revealing much about the plot, the game revolves around Bigby Wolf, a more literal interpretation of wolf than expected, as the Sheriff of Fabletown, a glorified community-appointed fixer. While the jargon might sound too conservatively medieval, the game actually sets in modern metropolis of New York. Furthermore, its playful contrast between the two different realms works wonderfully, albeit in much darker tone than any tale would lead you to believe.
It's been a while since a game focused on detective work prowled by. The Wolf Among Us utilizes the sleuth aspect with magical properties and manages to create a mature and strangely captivating tale. As in The Walking Dead, choices are imperative and will heavily influence later consequences. The outcome of event is determined by how players ascertain situation, divulge secrets, exercise discretion or trust certain individual. Interactions between characters are varied, and these multitudes of decisions, even down to subtle dialogues or gestures, can immerse players to the bizarre world and odd predicament they are going through.
Players would be hard pressed not to sympathize with Bigby and his fellow mythical colleagues as wicked crimes terrorize them. Decisions or remarks made could have immediate or far-reaching repercussion, or they may just be merely fleeting words. There are also bits that need some timing or deduction skill to solve, but they are not particularly hard. The screenplay these personalities dance to is amazingly written with equal consistent pace, whimsical banter and the less glamorous daily profanity.
Action sequences still use QTE, as archaic mechanism as it may be, the game tries to make them more responsive. It doesn't possess much innovation, but it surprisingly makes for engaging combat, and it is a tad more polished than their previous one from The Walking Dead. Unfortunately, these instances are hampered by constant frame rate drop. It's a usual occurrence that the changing of scenery is accompanied by slight lag, which shouldn't happen much considering the technical aspect of the game isn't that ta xing.
For a game that has bountiful dialogues, The Wolf Among Us invests plenty towards the voice chanting, just like Little Mermaid did. Characters are well fitted, they sound very appropriate and have knack on wittily quipping on any given moment. Since the game is decision based and cycles through players' choice, the delivery might stumble, but the seasoned voice actors along with good editing produce coherent and continuous scenes.
There is not much melody aside from a few ditties, mainly humming and thumping that quietly very effective in setting the tone. Some simpler themes works to create noir atmosphere, and even though it has fable element, the game never quite sounds merry. One minor complain is sometimes sound effect doesn't fit the visual, perhaps due to slight frame rate drop, but it's not often enough to be a malady.
The game is divided into five episodes, each might last about one and a half hour, making the total playtime somewhere around eight hours. It's decent, but a bit short considering it's released across the span of several months. Players can replay the episodes to find branching outcomes or all entries to Book of Fables, a catalog of events and characters of the game, which is a nice touch, but nevertheless not a very enticing incentive to replay the game.
The Wolf Among Us is an alluring adventure game, one that belies its cartoon art and delves deep at the characters' and their motives. With the rate Telltale Games is going, they might just create a genre to themselves.
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Graphic: Artistically well done, good contrast on lighting, although a bit flawed by the frame rate stagger. 7/10
Sound: Great voice acting for everyone, no persona seems out of place, dialogues are meticulously crafted. Its deceptively hushed theme captures the ambiance well. 8.5/10
Gameplay: It's classic point-and-click adventure mechanic with a bit of QTE, but it fits its purpose and pretty engaging for such simple gameplay. 7.5/10
Presentation: Brilliantly told story with peculiarly dark touch. Characters are welcoming, funny and twisted in their own right. 9/10
Overall 8/10
