Wallace and Gromit Impressions

Bam Entertainment stopped by recently with builds of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of its upcoming game based on Wallace and Gromit. The pair of characters, created by UK filmmaker Nick Park, first came to public attention in the short claymation film A Grand Day Out and have since starred in a number of shorts that have garnered critical acclaim. The action adventure game is being developed by Frontier Development and will put players in the role of Gromit the dog.

The game's story revolves around the pair's attempts to stop an insane penguin called Feathers McGraw. The evil, flightless bird has kidnapped all the baby animals in the local zoo in order to force the adult animals to make diamonds using a machine called diamond-o-matic. When Wallace and Gromit discover Feathers' scheme, the pair set out to stop him.

While the game puts you in direct control of Gromit, Wallace will be an integral part of gameplay as well. The pair will have a symbiotic relationship in the game, with Gromit doing the bulk of the work and Wallace pitching in with some help at key points. As mentioned, Gromit will be the game's action star, and he will have a wide array of moves. The perky dog will be able to run, jump, climb, swing, sneak, and manipulate switches. However, despite all his abilities, Gromit will have to rely on Wallace to help him progress through levels by fixing broken machines that impede his progress and by inventing useful items such as a porridge gun, a coal flinger, a banana launcher, a turnip cannon, and springy boots.

The game will be broken up into six massive levels whose settings will range from the different animal environments in the zoo to the mines where McGraw has the animals working for him. Each level will feature a number of baby animals to rescue along with secrets to discover.

The PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the game we saw featured comparable graphics that did an impressive job of capturing the unique claymation look of the characters. Wallace and Gromit's polygonal models looked quite close to their clay counterparts and animated pretty well. The environments were massive and featured a high level of detail and an art style that was reminiscent of the claymation shorts.

Wallace and Gromit is currently slated to ship this October for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox.