The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile
Score: 95% Publisher: Telltale Games Developer: Telltale Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Adventure
Previously on: The Wolf Among Us: The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile follows fast on the heels of Bigby Wolf's investigations of Lilly the troll's murder. By the end of Episode 2 - Smoke & Mirrors, it is clear that the murderer has to be Ichabod Crane, and Crane's final act, destroying the Magic Mirror, before disappearing only helps to incriminate the Deputy Mayor. The events that lead up to this conclusion include everything from a rough interrogation session with the suspect you captured at the end of the first episode, the discovery of the Snow White body's true identity, and exactly what Lilly was doing to earn a bit of extra money. This investigation leads to a sleazy pay-by-the-hour motel and Lilly's murder scene.
Reacting to the News: The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile starts off with Bigby having to deal with his immediate feelings on uncovering who was changing prostitutes into Snow White's likeness. From there, its off to find Snow to break the news to her. Much to Bigby's awkwardness, she is attending Lilly's funeral along with Holly, Lily's sister, and Grendel as well as some of Georgie Porgie's other entertainers. One of this episode's notable choices comes when you have to decide if your news is important enough to interrupt the funeral or not. With Snow on stage talking about the recently deceased, the only way you will have a word with her quickly is to possibly make Lilly's friends and family very mad, and Bigby isn't exactly in their good graces right now. It also doesn't help that you aren't the only gate-crasher as a pair of familiar characters eventually appear at the funeral and cause even more of a ruckus than Bigby's worst decisions could have made.
The Search for Crane: When the dust settles after Lilly's funeral, The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile is all about finding Crane and getting some information out of him. With the Magic Mirror out of commission, its once again down to some snooping and investigating. The player is given three possible locations to check out. When Bufkin remarks about a call Crane made just before leaving, the group realizes that Crane could be trying to meet up with the rogue witch that has supplied Crane with black market enchantments. The player's choices are to either investigate Crane's apartments, look through Lilly's belongings at the Trip Trap, or poke around at Tweedledee and Tweedledum's office. Meanwhile, Bluebeard makes another appearance and seems intent on "helping" with the investigation and he is insisting on going to the places that Bigby won't. The episode concludes with some shocking revelations (a theme with this series) and a fairly involved fight scene that lets us get a good taste of Bigby's real power. We meet a few new foes and we start to realize that maybe we don't know everything that's going on.
Next Time On: The Wolf Among Us: As is typical with most Telltale games, The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile has you making some hard choices, and one such choice occurs in the heat of the episode's final battle. Not only will the next episode have to deal with the plot's real mastermind, but the consequences of your choices will most definitely play into Episode 4 - In Sheep's Clothing. The Wolf Among Us has been a solid series since the beginning. Elements of the game feels a lot like Telltale's The Walking Dead games, but there were aspects that just didn't have the same punch as the other game. This episode, on the other hand, is great and packs a lot of punch in its hour or so of gameplay. The game's first two episodes of build-up are well worth the effort, especially if the last two episodes are as hard-hitting as A Crooked Mile.
-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer
Related Links: The Wolf Among Us Homepage Buy The Wolf Among Us on Steam Game Vortex’s The Wolf Among Us Coverage Vertigo Comics Homepage
Bioshock Infinite: Burial at Sea - Episode Two The Wolf Among Us: Episode 3 - A Crooked Mile