XXL Game Corner: ‘The Wolf Among Us—Episode 5 Cry Wolf’ Review

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, PS Vita, and iOS

Release Date: Available now

We've finally reached the end of Telltale Games' episodic series The Wolf Among Us, a journey that has been filled with its share of ups and downs. With the final episode, Cry Wolf, you get an action-heavy chapter, featuring both a boss fight and a car chase, plus the option to kill a fair few supporting cast members.

Cry Wolf maintains the tension and nastiness that has typified this largely great miniseries, doing a particularly good job of creating visually unsettling characters and a constant, gnawing doubt about whether what appears to be the right thing is really anything of the sort. Cry Wolf wastes no time thrusting you into the action as Bigby find himself surrounded by the Crooked Man and his nightmarish posse. You'll have to make a decision between who to attack first in a brawl or who  to focus on during an exhilarating car chase. Every scene feels justified and leads to a satisfying conclusion or confrontation, and the action sequences and Quick Time Events (QTE) feel well-placed and paced. It is a bit of a disappointment, given the chemistry Telltale has built up between her and Bigby, that Snow White barely features in this episode at all, whilst peripheral character are given more screen time. Hopefully if there is a season 2 some of these concerns will be addressed. One thing to note, this episode is much heavier on the QTE action scenes than any previous entry. A hefty chunk of the episode is just Bigby on his own, fighting and chasing rather than interacting. These stilted, shallow, button-mashing and thumbstick-aiming moments, chopped up by dozens of little loading pauses, have been the clumsiest parts of The Wolf Among Us, so there are moments when things can get kind of lethargic. Still on the whole Cry Wolf was a satisfying ending filled  with conflict, violent outbursts and surprises around every corner.

The XXL Endgame

Cry Wolf is a gratifying end to a highly uneven season of adventures, which manages to show off the art Telltale’s storytelling. While the clumsy QTE sequences and the fact that too many of the difficult decisions are either ignored or taken out of your hands detract from the overall experience, overall Cry Wolf is a wonderful cap to Telltale’s season. -written by DJ Rhude (@DJRhude)

XXL Rating: L (Good)