Wallace and Gromit in The Grand Getaway review (Quest)

Older readers will no doubt remember Wallace & Gromit, and the iconic British duo recently made their VR debut in Wallace & Gromit In The Grand Getaway, which is being published by Astrea and was developed in collaboration with Aardman. Launched on Meta Quest, this interactive journey captures the essence of Wallace and Gromit in a brand new adventure.

The Grand Getaway opens with a classic kind of Wallace and Gromit misadventure, with the duo gearing up for a golfing getaway that quickly goes astray. With the addition of a new contraption called the Auto-Caddy and their trusted assistant Beryl, the duo finds themselves on Mars due to one of Wallace’s customary mishaps. As such, the premise is charmingly faithful to Aardman’s signature style and will immediately resonate with long term fans, although you might also say it’s a tad formulaic, sticking with familiar territory without much attempt to break new ground.

In the realm of VR, The Grand Getaway has a fairly basic gameplay concept. The controls can be fiddly at times, but overall you’re mostly looking at very basic tasks that you’ve seen many times before in VR games, such as throwing objects and manipulating objects in the environment. This has mostly been applied to very simple puzzles that won’t pose much of an obstacle, allowing players to interact with the world around them as well as Wallace’s inventions without breaking the immersion. This allows you to have a Wallace & Gromit experience that’s full of charm, but low on gameplay.

The controls have their quirks and briefly break immersion though, as for some reason the developers have decided to go with some rather unintuitive motion controls for fairly basic actions – like moving both your hands towards your face in order to teleport. Perhaps an attempt at being silly for the sake of the source material, but those seasoned in VR will feel a bit lost in this sense.

Visually, The Grand Getaway excels in capturing the stop-motion charm of Aardman’s work – it’s like actually being inside an episode or film. The hand-painted, plasticine-inspired world is a testament to the attention to detail, making it feel like players are stepping into the quirky universe of Wallace & Gromit. The voice performances of Ben Whitehead and Miriam Margolyes add a layer authenticity and humor to the characters as well, though small animation glitches indicate areas that could have used a bit more polish.

In conclusion, while Wallace & Gromit In The Grand Getaway may not be this year’s most revolutionary VR experience, it’s undeniably a charming journey into the world of these beloved characters. The game’s imperfections are easily forgiven when you find yourself in their world, so for fans of Wallace & Gromit, this is a VR adventure worth experiencing at least one. If you’re unfamiliar with Wallace & Gromit, then there are far better games available.

Score: 6.4/10