Wallace has invented a new way to make ice cream. He has designed an ice cream truck that analyzes any object and creates a flavor from that object. He plans on taking his new invention to the fair and using the proceeds from ice-cream sales to help fund a new animal shelter. With a set-up like this and characters like the hilarious duo of Wallace & Gromit, Muzzled promises to be a hoot.

Muzzled is the third adventure in the now familiar episodic format from Tell-Tale games. As in Sam & Max, each episode is a complete “mini-adventure,” but I’m not sure if there is an overall story that ties the episodes together, as I haven’t played the previous two adventures. The animation style and presentation of the puzzles is similar to Sam & Max, but is still uniquely Wallace & Gromit, which is not surprising given Aardman’s collaboration with the game designers.

Of course, there is an obligatory villain. Monty Muzzle is a professional fund-raiser, who promises to raise large sums of cash for any charitable project. This time he has organized a fair, complete with rides, games and contests, for the new animal shelter that the city is building after the old one was destroyed. All the dogs that used to reside in the shelter are now running loose around town, causing mayhem and mischief. Monty has taken three of the dogs to stay with him until the shelter is built, because he’s such a softie at heart. Right.

Gromit is immediately suspicious, and soon begins to find odd notes scattered around that appear to be from the dogs that Monty Muzzle took with him. These notes are asking for help, but will need to be pieced together for the entire message.

The beginning of the episode starts with Wallace demonstrating his new ice-cream truck to Gromit. They soon get interrupted by three stray dogs from the former animal shelter. These dogs take off with several items from the ice cream truck, and Gromit has to figure out how to retrieve them and get the truck up and running in time for the fair.

All the puzzles are inventory based, in that Gromit or Wallace will either find items, or figure out some way to gain them from the characters in the game. The solutions to the puzzles are fairly straightforward in design and while some may require a bit of running around back and forth between locations, none are frustratingly difficult. And, there is a handy hint option wherein the characters will offer hints to the solutions. This is not to say the puzzles are too easy, just that they are not overly difficult.

Many of these puzzles are amusing, and watching Gromit’s expressions when he’s interacting with a character to solve a puzzle is priceless. Players will also be able to play as Wallace for a small percentage of the game. In this third episode, the main action has moved to the carnival, but there will still be tasks to accomplish in the town and their home. The puzzles at the fair, presented as fair games, are funny, especially the beat the chicken at tic-tac-toe game.

I love Wallace & Gromit, and have a few of their movies in my home. I especially love the Wererabbit one. Muzzled manages to capture the essence of Wallace & Gromit very well and fans of the pair will be well pleased with this game. The episode is short, and doesn’t present an overwhelming challenge, but does offer a few hours of amusement and anyone that has played the previous two episodes will definitely want to check out this one, especially since there is only one more episode after this one.

Gameplay: 7.0
The third episode of Wallace & Gromit is a good installment in the series. The episodes are short, but so are the Wallace & Gromit cartoons, and you can’t interact with the movies! The puzzles are well integrated into the story, and are thought-provoking without being overly difficult.

Graphics: 7.0
Everything looks great! The claymation style is replicated very well, and the characters are drawn just as they should be.

Sound: 8.0
The music and sound effects are good and fit the theme well. The voices are wonderful.

Difficulty: Medium
This game is not difficult or frustrating, as the puzzles are not very hard. There is an optional hint system.

Concept: 7.0
Episodic content is still fairly new, but the adventure game format is standard fare. The execution is good.

Overall: 7.5
A good, albeit short adventure. It’s worth $10 just to play Wallace & Gromit, and all four games are available for $35. Anyone who enjoys humorous adventure games on the line of Sam & Max will definitely enjoy Wallace & Gromit Muzzled.