The Wolf Among Us Episode 2 left us with a pretty big cliffhanger—something Telltale is great at doing. Needless to say many fans were eagerly waiting for the third installment to see where the dark crime story was heading next after being left in such a stupor. After a successful first two episodes, the third has a lot of living up to do. While it does entertain and show deeper insight into this creative world, Episode 3 A Crooked Mile lacks the enjoyment the previous two episodes had.

Before getting into why that is so exactly, let’s get the normal stuff out of the way first. Everyone who has played or seen a Telltale game at this point knows the gameplay, but for those that haven’t. The gameplay is a point-and-click adventure. You walk around, examine objects, interact with the environment, and other such little actions to further the story. The real game is all about interacting with other characters. The game shines with its well written story and deep characters. The real fun in this game comes from answering questions or trying to make someone else talk.

the wolf among us episode 3 bigby

The story is just as dark as it has been all season and the characters are as interesting as ever. The gritty lines characters spit out are always wonderfully fitting for the dark city they all reside in. Every character seems to be getting closer and closer to that breaking point. There are some very heated moments that will make you feel nervous for what is about to unfold and the entire scene is only dialog. Achieving that is something only a well written story filled with interesting characters can accomplish. The atmosphere in The Wolf Among Us series has always been great and A Crooked Mile continues further into the darkness.

The other thing Telltale is well known for is the animation style they use, which is Cel-shaded graphics to present an overall cartoon vibe. The third thing that is becoming a staple in a Telltale game is the poor technical issues. Telltale can always scoot by on poor performance because everyone cares about the story and characters. A stuttering frame-rate doesn’t matter to a person when they are only asking questions, but seeing these same problems persist every game is starting to grow slightly annoying. Nothing takes you out of a game more than seeing the screen freeze for a moment and then jump forward to where it should be. Walking into a different room or having a camera angle switch should not make the game struggle so much to perform. One scene an entire character disappeared except for their arm which floated there magically as all the other characters continued speaking. In other games this would be faulted more extremely, but since the main importance in The Wolf Among Us is the story, it can sneak by. However unfairly, that does seem to hold true in this case, but is definitely worth stating.

the wolf among us episode 3 dee and dum

Now onto the new stuff. A Crooked Mile starts out immediately after the second episode and you are tasked with important decisions almost immediately. Without revealing what happened in the last episode, you are now chasing a new suspect. You find out that the suspect is meeting someone at 2:00 AM. You are given between three choices where to look. You need to figure out who they’re meeting and where they’re meeting before it’s too late. Pretty cool concept, but sadly, it doesn’t matter. No matter what place you choose first, no matter what you learn, you will inevitably end up late to the meeting point. Fake decision making implies you have agency as the gamer when you really don’t. That’s a letdown when the Telltale series flaunts its decision making gameplay.

The only real decisions you make in this game revolve around how you want Bigby to be represented. You can be the ruthless Big Bad Wolf and let your fists do the talking, or you can try to play the nice puppy. Whatever way you want to play, you need to get answers out of people. Sometimes sweet talking them will work, but other times, you really want to punch someone, especially when they give you sarcastic answer after sarcastic answer and you know they have information you could use. Knocking someone’s teeth out may feel satisfying, but when your friends look at you with those disapproving eyes, you suddenly regret that moment of retribution for their mocking comments.

the wolf among us episode 3 magic mirror

A Crooked Mile is a solid episode that will certainly entertain you, but it doesn’t keep up to the standards of the first two episodes. There was only one moment that felt intense enough to remain memorable. The rest of the episode felt like you were along for the ride, at least, more than the past two episodes. Playing through the story multiple times I realized how little I affected anything in this episode, and was led to the same conclusion no matter what. The first episode was introducing the world and every moment felt intense. The second episode really had you investigating like a detective and pulling answers out of people. This episode I didn’t feel the same pressure in getting people to talk or digging for clues. Everything I was searching for was easy enough to find, and I wasn’t blown away by anything happening either.

That doesn’t mean this episode is boring or not worth playing. Very important players were introduced, albeit briefly, they clearly will come back in later episodes. That makes this episode more of an introductory episode, or a setup episode for the next one. In that regard, this episode isn’t supposed to blow your mind or make your jaw drop. This episode was furthering the story, deepening the characters, and introducing new characters to steer the story in a new direction. It is one of those necessary episodes that will make the overall story better, but won’t stay in your mind as anything particularly amazing.

the wolf among us episode 3 big bad wolf

The Wolf Among Us Episode 3 does a good job of continuing the characters and story, but besides the ending, nothing happens in this episode. There was no major cliffhanger that left my jaw hanging and I didn’t feel like I did anything important in this episode. Sure I made a big decision here or there, but I didn’t feel the pressure or intensity in my decision making as the past two episodes. I felt I continued the story and was setting up for the next episode. There were major players introduced in this episode and they will clearly have more screen time in the upcoming episodes. The only really important thing in this episode was the introduction of those new characters, and that happens in the last five minutes. I liked the ending a lot, but I didn’t have that moment where the credits rolled and I thought “wow.” This installment was entertaining, but it isn’t anything special.

This review is based off a retail copy of the Playstation 3 version of the Wolf Among Us developed and distributed by Telltale Games.

Not Enough Bite | The Wolf Among Us Episode 3: A Crooked Mile Review
Overall Score7.5
Positives
  • Great Atmosphere
  • Superb Writing and Characters
Negatives
  • Technical Issues Still Persist
  • Illusion of Choice
  • Didn't Captivate As Much As Previous Episodes
7.5Overall Score
Reader Rating: (0 Votes)
0.0

About The Author

Neil has had a passion for video games ever since the Atari entered his life so many years ago. He's been writing about them for over two years and sees no end in sight. Reach out to him on twitter @nconnors13