What’s immediately striking is just how well Nick Park’s characters have survived the transition from plasticine to polygons, and while you would never confuse Fright of the Bumblebees with a stop-motion episode, the facial expressions and movements have been recreated commendably well.

The quality of the presentation extends to the wider environment; Nick Park’s nostalgic, quintessentially British northern town is highly authentic, and Wallace’s home is just as full of jerry-rigged gadgets and haywire machinery as you could possibly expect.

Like any point and click adventure, the game stands or falls on the quality of the puzzles. If they’re too obvious, there’s no challenge; too obtuse and you’re left with frustration. Fright of the Bumblebees often treads the line; some puzzles (particularly one fairly early on) have ridiculously obscure solutions, while one scene, which sees Wallace suggesting insults to a local shopkeeper, boils down to pure trial-and-error. On the positive side, Bumblebees never degenerates into the hotspot finding easter-egg hunt that can so often bog the genre down; pressing the tab key will even highlight points of interest should you get stuck.

Bumblebee’s audio is also worth a mention. In a twenty minute television show, it’s perfectly fine to have jaunty, slightly repetitive ‘oompah’ music running constantly in the background. In a video game, it can be downright infuriating at times, particularly when you’ve been stuck on a puzzle for what seems like hours, and you just want the brass band to SHUT UP. This particularly applies to the giant bees, who have an astonishingly bad taste in blaring jazz music. The quality of Bumblebees’ voice-over work isn’t always up to the standard of its television twin either, which while sounding authentic for the most part, often sounds stilted and unnatural. Download the game and you’ll hear what I mean.

Fortunately, the loveable quality of Nick Park’s characters carries the game through its shakier moments; you’ll forgive the occasional frustrating puzzle and the odd stilted line simply because this is Wallace & Gromit. Wallace is just as hopelessly likeable as ever, and it would be a cold, cynical heart that didn’t warm to poor old Gromit. Bumblebees’ story is as full of broad, cheese-obsessed humour as the television specials, and while the majority of players will most likely complete the game within just a few hours, they’re certain to enjoy the journey while it lasts.

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