Episode Summary: Bigby finally finds The Crooked Man. He is in Bigby’s grasp now. Hs counterparts and everyone helping him are with him in his lair. Bigby’s mission is to capture him. The Crooked Man insists on talking (whether you agree or not). Everything comes to light. The Crooked Man explains his position and what he does and his influences. When he escapes, the hunt begins.
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Episode Review: This episode starts right off with where we ended: the meeting of The Crooked Man. Through the dialogue, it’s already apparent that this will be a battle of wits. This villain is dangerous in a dark sinister way. He knows how to control and manipulate. Its not only about catching him but also the trial that follows. Will he argue his way out of his accusations? This is where things get tense because the relationships you built with other characters will decide how much they trust you. That is the true challenge and its also what makes this final episode hold the highest stakes, making it one that really holds our attention right to the end.
The Moment In: The Wolf Among Us Episode 5: Cry Wolf
Cry Wolf is full of memorable moments. However, the moment that rings out the most to me is the sudden change in gameplay. This happens somewhere about a third into the episode. After a conversation with The Crooked Man, the situation escalates and with the help of his allies, he escapes. Bigby pursues him through his portals and end up having a car chase. Half transformed into a wolf, he must find a way to catch up to the cars. In the end, you need to choose who you decide to pursue: The Crooked Man or the other one with his allies, Georgie who has admitted that he was the one responsible for the deaths but under the order of The Crooked Man.
Why It Matters: Our game so far hasn’t been very “deathly.” The actions scenes always gave us sufficient amount of reaction time. In Episode 5 Cry Wolf, the game finally decides that we know what we have to do. It switches up a situation that demands immediate reaction times before we lose our opportunity. It makes sure by a car chase (which leads us into another moment later on with Bloody Mary) that this fight is a life and death situation. You have one moment to do it before you lose completely. What happens if you don’t do it in a timely fashion? Would that mean The Crooked Man gets away? Its definitely not an option I’d want to explore while I was playing. It’s a moment that doesn’t quite feel fully part of the story but one that pulls the player into a more focused and attentive gameplay where we know it’s important because we could lose our mission or we might get killed. It’s done so well because in reality (not that I’ve been in one but I’d assume), a car chase should be high octane and intense. Its like a practice round to warm up before we jump into the ring for a one on one battle with the top henchman, Bloody Mary, not that we know it then. The new setting and the quick reflexes make this gameplay a great moment in this episode.
Full Series Review: The Wolf Among Us is my first PS3 experiences of episodic an interactive movie/novel adventure. The art is one of the most admirable traits of the game. I’ve never read the source material where this is a prequel of but the smart take on the known fable characters really intrigued me. Why can’t the characters of multiple fables really be one person? For example, Bigby is the Big Bad Wolf. He’s the guy responsible for The Little Red Riding Hood’s demise and also the Three Little Pigs. With interactive gameplay and plot heavy games, it’s important to strike a balance of where we make choices and have enough action gameplay that keeps it entertaining and dramatic at the same time. The Wolf Among Us does a fantastic job at it. It has smart dialogue and twists and turns around the corner. It utilizes the characters efficiently and limits the amount of characters that have a complicated back story to make sure the investigation we’re conducting is always our main focus. As the game closes, that’s when the gameplay becomes more frequent and very much needed because this is where the stakes are the highest. With its multiple endings, it definitely strikes my curiosity to go back and explore other reactions to the same situation and find out what other resolutions we’d find with this story. Overall, an entertaining and thoughtful novel adventure that deserves to be played.
