Fairy Tale Ending

As you'll see by any stroll through the Games label, I tend to enjoy games that have strong stories. Not that I don't enjoy mindless games from time to time, but in general, I want to be playing something that's more like an interactive book/movie than just blasting away at some zombies. Luckily, this is a great time to be a gamer if you're into stories.

One popular model lately is games divided into multiple episodes/chapters, and although there are some actions, things mostly hinge on the conversations you have and the choices you make. I finally dipped my toe into this genre with The Wolf Among Us, a game based on the comic book series Fables (which you'll be hearing about again very soon). This universe posits that various fairy tale characters escaped their homeland during the onslaught of attack by a great evil. They've wound up in our world, but no longer lead charmed lives, having to scrape along like all the rest of us now.

In The Wolf Among Us, you play as Bigby Wolf. In the old world, he was the villain, who hunted girls in red cloaks and blew pigs' houses down. Now, he's the Fabletown sheriff, and you soon find yourself trying to establish law and order in a community that hates you. The game opens with a simple call to break up a fight, but it doesn't take long to spiral into a grisly web of murder and corruption.

Whether you're teaming up with Snow White to track down clues or fighting with Georgie Porgie about how he treats the strippers at his club, the responses you have to the questions and challenges of the Fabletown citizens can change the course of the story and how the other characters treat you. Wanna be a goody-two shoes? Go for it. Wanna be a huge jerk? You can do that, too. Show mercy? Cruelly cut a swath through your enemies? It's all available to you.

Just because I like this style of the game doesn't mean I necessarily would like the game itself, but this one definitely struck a chord. I enjoyed the dark and disturbing twist on fairy tales. I enjoyed the art and animation design. I enjoyed the difficulty of trying to pick a play style that would cause other characters to cooperate while staying true to my moral code. So, whether you were relieved when Hansel and Gretel got away, or thought they deserved to get eaten for destroying an old woman's home, I think you'll find something to like here.

The Wolf Among Us: B+