Written By: Tyler
 |
| Brazzers. |
Rating: 8/10
Verdict: Episode 2 doesn’t pack the same punch
as the first episode. I don’t know if it’s just the way I played the first
episode or not, but this one seemed lighter on action, and it was certainly
shorter. But it still delivers on a fantastic story. It’s just a little lesser in
all ways than the fantastic first episode.
Snow White is dead – that’s
what we found out at the end of Episode 1. Smoke & Mirrors picks off where
that one left off, with Bigby (the Big Bad Wolf) once again on the prowl to
find who killed her. It’s become a more personal journey for him because of his
clear feelings for Mrs. White, but are things what they seem?
Of
course they aren’t. What would be the fun in that?
Telltale hasn’t made a name for
themselves making games like everyone else. You will spend most of your time
making choices about how the story progresses, with occasional action scenes
depending on what you say to people. You will walk around whenever the game
allows you to control your character and investigate crime scenes. I enjoy
these types of games, but I can’t play them all the time because the lack of
control over your character is noticeable.
I’m not saying that you have no
control. Indeed, Telltale has done a wonderful job once again of making your
choices matter. Want to go the aggressive route with a pimp? Go for it and see
what happens. Maybe you want to handle things with a little finesse and understanding.
Or maybe you want to mix and match those elements like I did… admit it, some
people deserve to be punched. Anybody who gravitates towards these games are
coming for the narrative, and the things I liked about the first one apply here
as well. Namely, I haven’t read the actual comic books but the idea of the
fables we know and love being put into a different context appeals to me. When
fables aren’t Disneyfied, they’re generally pretty dark anyway, but The Wolf
Among Us takes it a couple steps farther, with familiar characters showing up
in, er, compromising situations.
For the most part the story
telling is on point, but there was one particular moment that baffled me because
I don’t understand why a particular character showed up given the knowledge I
had of the characters involved in the situation. It led to the most thrilling
part of this episode, but it seemed shoehorned in. That was the only part I had
a problem with, however, and the rest of the story was fluid and flowed well,
with a particularly emotional encounter early in the episode with TJ, Toad’s
son. I don’t think Smoke & Mirrors ended with the same oomph that Faith
did, but it was still a pretty surprising end and the final shot was a thing of
beauty. Telltale are very good at this kind of thing.
It helps that the artwork is
gorgeous. I imagine this is something I’ll say in my review for every single
episode as they’re released, but it is spot on with its comic book look and
feel. The game stutters a bit which is strange because it’s not exactly Crysis
and the lack of polish sometimes shines through. It got incredibly choppy when it was recapping what happened in the previous episode and when it teased Episode 3. This is a minor problem, ultimately, but it's there.
In terms of the actual gameplay,
the fight scenes do feel satisfying. You move your mouse over certain things in
the environment or on the person you’re fighting and once you click it you hit
the person with it/throw them into it/smash it… whatever. I didn’t run into a
lot of fights this time around but the one I did was pretty quick but throwing
him against the wall felt good. It is also heavy on Quick Time Events which I
know is controversial in the gaming community. So proceed with caution.
The actual investigation scenes
are nothing awe-inspiring, but they get the job done. You can’t really leave
until you discover what you need to, but it does allow you to connect the
evidence yourself. It was easy, because I’m notoriously stupid and even I was a
successful detective. Since it’s not an adventure game where you can revisit
places you’ve already been, the “puzzles” – if you can even call them that – in
these crime scenes are really just there to push the plot forward.
The main problem is the length.
We’ve waited a long time for the second episode and it ended in an hour and a
half. It was a good hour and a half, but it was still an hour and a half. But
if you put it into perspective, you pay $25 and you get five episodes, as they’re
released, and that amounts to over ten hours so it’s not really a bad deal. It
just seems like it when you wait this long for a game that ends up being so
ridiculously short. There is replay value there though, if you wanted to make
other choices.
The Wolf Among Us: Episode 2 –
Smoke & Mirrors is certainly representative of its title, and it’s filled
with a great cast of characters. These types of games aren’t for everybody, but
for anyone who wants a great, on-going story, it’s hard to find anything better
currently.
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