Review

Developed by:Telltale Games Published by:Telltale Games Genre(s):
  • Adventure
  • Platform:
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    Cost:$24.99 (For Full Season) ESRB Rating:MATURE Players:1 Release date:October 11, 2013 Reviewed on:PC Episode Release Date:May 27, 2014
    8.8

    The Wolf Among Us Episode 4: In Sheep’s Clothing

    The episode before the season finale is supposed to be a memorable one. It’s the one where the overall tensions are raised to absurd heights – the roller-coaster’s climb before the big drop, if you will. That’s the sort of thing I expected from the fourth Wolf Among Us episode. While “In Sheep’s Clothing” isn’t a bad episode, it doesn’t do a great job of building anticipation for the finale!

    This episode is all about finding the truth. Bigby, who’s been asked to take things easy after a suffering from multiple life threatening injuries, has his work cut out for him. Snow has made it her job (literally) to make sure the investigation is done by the book from now on. This includes her normal dealings with the denizens of Fabletown; problems that were present before the murders are no longer able to take a back seat. Ultimately this ties Bigby’s hands as he’s expected to back up all of Snow’s decisions.

    Sticking to the rules isn’t easy. For instance, due to Crane’s underhanded dealings, the makeshift Fable government doesn’t have a lot of money. So of course when Toad visits the Business Office to ask for a loan he’s quickly turned down by Snow. As they argue another character walks up and demands to be heard. In an effort to avoid a line of discontent, Snow asks Bigby to pull one of them aside and deal with their problem. If Toad is picked, he’ll explain how Snow is trying to send him to the farm because he can no longer afford glamours for him and his son. It would be understandable to send him packing, at least until you realize why he can’t afford them. Besides the fact that they are expensive, his apartment building isn’t the most desired place to live in Fabletown due to all of the crazy things going on there. In the first episode Bigby and the Woodsmen wrecked one of the rooms during their fight which ended in them both crashing through a window. Knowing this information, how do you decide to proceed – back up Snow or help Toad? They both are the right (wrong) things to do…

    Getting back to the murder case, this episode reveals that there is much more going on behind the scenes. I would actually go as far as calling it a conspiracy, as multiple Fables are caught up in dealings with the Crooked Man, the main suspect. Unfortunately, it isn’t very exciting news; it’s great to finally get some answers but these answers are revealed isn’t a mystical as one would expect. Powerful spells are being used to keep people quiet, a villain that uses a movable magic door to hide his hideout, and…basically, all of these extraordinary uses of manipulation and misdirection seemed to hint at something really nefarious. In reality, they were used to cover up something rather mundane. That’s not to say that the Crooked Man’s scheme doesn’t make sense – it’s actually pretty genius. It just isn’t “fairy tale” enough for me. Not only that but it didn’t take much to get people to start talking. There weren’t any difficult decisions to make about the case itself. Even a violent encounter late in the game wasn’t an issue as the player seemed to be pushed to make one specific decision. It felt like I was on rails and was being spoon-fed what information I sought as opposed to actually doing the searching myself.

    Like I said before, In Sheep’s Clothing isn’t bad. The social commentary about the rich and poor in Fabletown is always interesting. There just wasn’t much action or exciting reveals this time around, making it feel very ho-hum. The good news though, is that there are still lingering questions that need answering. For all of the shady business going on, we still don’t know why certain Fables were murdered and left for Bigby to find. Where they left by the Crooked Man in order to lure Bigby into a trap? Or was it someone else leaving clues for the Sherif to find? I’m looking forward to finding all of this out when I play the last episode!

    Gameplay:

    8

    The experience isn’t as engaging as I’d come to expect from The Wolf Among Us.

    Graphics:

    10

    The game still looks great!

    Sound:

    10

    The voice acting is still top notch.

    Replay Value:

    7

    Same as before; I’d rather wait unit my saved game makes its way through the entire season before replaying.

    Final Score:

    8.8

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