Like Fish ‘n Chips, torrential rain, and Big Tesco, Wallace & Gromit is a cornerstone of British society. Twee, a little bit cheeky, but endlessly endearing, everyone from this little island has seen the Yorkshire inventor and his genius dog at least once.
WithWallace & Gromit In the Grand Getaway, the duo star in a delightfully faithful, albeit basic, VR adventure. This won’t beat out any of the medium’s greats, but when it forgets about gimmicks and just focuses on Aardman’s signature magic, The Grand Getaway becomes one of the most awkwardly endearing games I’ve played in a long time.
The setup is classic Wallace and Gromit fare. Wallace wants to practice his golf swing, and the new Audo-Caddy robot assistant, so it’s time to head off on holiday to sunny Bognor Regis. Mishaps and shenanigans occur, though, and Wallace, Gromit, Auto-Caddy, and super-radio Beryl find themselves stranded on the vastly superior holiday destination of Mars. By scavenging the red planet’s surface, you need to find all the bits and gubbins needed to fix your ship and make it back to Earth.
As a VR game, The Grand Getaway feels very ‘baby’s first VR’. Its in its VR-iness that the game stumbles, as the controls can be fiddly and unnatural. For instance, to throw something, instead of just lobbing it with your hand, you need to mime the act of putting it into your mouth and spitting it out. To move around scenes, you must put both hands up to the sides of your face and stare at a location for an awkwardly long time, as if you’re dancing to Tragedy by Steps and forgot the moves halfway through.
The challenges you’re stumbling through are very simple, like matching a musical pattern by awkwardly pawing a massive piano, or grabbing fruit out of the air with mechanical hands (and another awkward control scheme that isn’t just grabbing with your real, meaty hands). It even starts off with a hidden-object section where the biggest challenge is opening a drawer to find some oil. If you’ve played at least a few VR games already, you’ll be doing the same things here as you did in them. Nothing here pushes the boat out on what VR can do, and even the basics feel clunky.
Ben Whitehead took over the role of Wallace in 2017, following the death of original voice actor Peter Sallis.
But The Grand Getaway completely nails the feel of the shorts, which feels more important for an experience like this. Everything moves with that jerky stop-motion style, and it all has that slightly imperfect plasticine look that defines Aardman’s work. Add to that the excellent vocal performances from Ben Whitehead and Miriam Margolyes, and there is a surprising amount of love and polish on display here.
You’re not playing Wallace & Gromit in VR for the next Half-Life Alyx, you’re playing to step into 62 West Wallaby Street and fiddle around with Wallace’s inventions. You’re trying to make toast and jam in zero-gravity (a particularly impressive sequence), and giving Gromit the thumbs-up when you work together to save the day. You’re here to exist in the world for a bit, and A Grand Getaway more than delivers in that.
The Grand Getaway isn’t a good VR game, there’s no getting around that. But it is an excellent Wallace & Gromit short, matching the humour of the likes of A Grand Day Out or A Matter Of Loaf And Death perfectly. Full of heart, all its VR misfires are forgiven when you’re sat in Wallace’s kitchen with a giddy grin on your face.
