Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway review

Wallace & Gromit has been a staple of British culture much like tea and crumpets, Wimbledon, and Oasis. Some of my fondest memories growing up was watching the Yorkshire inventor and his pooch on Christmas Eve at my Auntie and Uncle’s house, eating homemade mince pies and having a tipple of Babycham. Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway does anything but reinvent the wheel in virtual reality. It can be clunky, clumsy, and awkward at times, but that charm Aardman is known for comes through in everything you do, and makes it a decent enough addition to the Meta Quest’s library.

Only Wallace could end up on Mars when trying to go to Bognor Regis on a golfing holiday, amiright? He doesn’t have the best of luck, but without his signature buffoonery, we wouldn’t get the types of silly stories we do. The Grand Getaway sees you try to fix up your rocket and head back to Earth, and while there’re some nice ideas, the controls and movement systems feel a little backwards, especially as we’re getting some real quality on the Meta Quest as of late. For those new to VR, it might not be much of a negative, but when you’re used to more natural mechanics, it gets frustrating.

For example, to throw something, you have to put it in your mouth, aim your head, then fire it out. To move, you have to hold you hands up to your face in the shape of a pair of binoculars, then scan the area for a point of teleportation. In a lot of other games, you can just pick something up and throw it, or move around freely, so these mechanics feel archaic, even with the relatively short life-cycle of the Quest. Once you start to get used to it, it becomes less of a problem, but I’d have preferred having a bit more freedom from the moment you embody Wallace’s latest invention, the Auto-Caddy.

Much of the fun in Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway comes from the puzzles and minigames you’ll get to take part in. They aren’t particularly tough, but there’s plenty of variety, and that humour Aardman is known for comes through throughout. You’ll have to hit asteroids with cricket bats, shoot jam onto moving toast, and more. There’s always new challenges and shenanigans to get stuck into, and with visuals that are able to stay faithful to the original stop-motion animation, it’s always nice to look around and admire the effort put in to making it feel like you’re watching one of their popular adventures.

It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway gives fans the chance to step into Aarman’s most famous franchise and meet two of the greatest characters to ever come out of the UK. Some of the controls are awkward, and a few of the mechanics could have been implemented better, but the variety of puzzles and visuals are two great reasons to give it a go. If you’re after a short little game that is filled with charming characters and silly humour, you can’t go far wrong with Wallace, Gromit, and Beryl. While there might not be a new adventure to watch on Xmas Day, this will be fun to show off to your family after your Christmas dinner.