The folks at TellTale Games made a smart move when they made The Wolf Among Us Episode One available for free during a limited time. Even though this is the same company that has brought us The Walking Dead episodic series, the Fables comic franchise is...

While Smoke and Mirrors is a little on the short side, The Wolf Among Us continues to impress with its story-driven gameplay that adapts to your previous decisions in unexpected ways. The story gets even more sinister and takes us to the darker parts of...

TellTale Games has a great formula: get us hooked in an immersive dark story then yank the carpet from beneath us when everything gets interesting, the end of an episode, thus turning players into hungry fans desperate for their next fix. I can't fault...

Right, this is a short review.The Wolf Among Us Episode 2 continues on from episode 1, with surprises and plot twists galore! If you want to find out more, read my review of the first episode here. Essentially you play the sheriff in a community of fairy...

That's not to say it's not without its own unique pleasures, but while I'm curious to see what happens next, it so far lacks the edge-of-the-seat impatience that The Walking Dead conjured up at the end of each episode.

Spoilers ahead for those who haven't played episode one.Telltale Games started off with licensed games like Jurassic Park and Back to the Future. It wasn't until they released The Walking Dead: The Game that they became a studio on everybody's radar....

Smoke & Mirrors isn't quite as good as the superb Faith and is a little shorter, which is a kick in the flying monkey nuts after how long it took to turn up, but it's still an excellent and enjoyable adventure full of intrigue, surprise and emotion. If...

It's not easy being the big bad wolf. Whereas Episode One of Telltale Games' The Wolf Among Us gave us a glimpse of the beast within, Episode Two: Smoke & Mirrors lets you live it, should you so choose to. Picking up where things left off, the second...

CommentIt’s taken a bit longer than any of us would have liked for the second episode to Telltale Games The Wolf Among Us, but thankfully this week the wait is over for patient fans. This episode is dubbed “Smoke and Mirrors”, for reasons that’ll...

The middle parts of a story focused title like the Wolf Among Us are difficult to review.After all, this is like watching act two of a play and trying to give that individual experience its own score and critique.Instead, I'll keep this short and...

This episode has a fairly basic story, driven forward by great character writing and a compelling air of mystery, but it’s plain to see that there are many dramatic, earth-shattering moments yet to come. Now that everything’s been set up, I’m excited to see how it’ll all come crashing down.

Future episodes may imbue Smoke and Mirrors with retrospective significance, but on its own it feels like a brief setup for more important revelations to come. I'd give the series another episode or so before deciding to buy in, but I remain hopeful. The setting is fantastic. It looks beautiful. The Wolf Among us still simmers with potential.

There's a moment when Bigby lights a cigar and contemplates his next step. That's exactly where The Wolf Among Us stands now: percolating and pondering before the next punch to the gut.

Familiar camera angle issues and an oddly placed fight aside, The Wolf Among Us continues to deliver. The game is still a great bridge for new fans to familiarize themselves with the Fables lore and old fans to connect the dots only they know exist.

The writing in the second episode of Telltale's A Wolf Among Us series does more to investigate the dark corners of your soul than your shrink can in an hour. Sadly, you can play through the episode in just as much time.

That’s the risk with episodic gaming, however. Television never carries with it the promise of quality, regardless of what your personal investment may be. It does however; guarantee a new bit of content every week.

As bleak as "Smoke and Mirrors" is, it makes you want to help these characters, to give them something besides another day of nothing but despair and heartache. Things in Fabletown will almost surely get darker before they get better, but "Smoke and Mirrors" guarantees we're in this for the long haul.

Telltale shows enough of its hand to interest players in the rest of the story, but the unevenness of this second episode deflates the enthusiasm that first worked so hard to earn. It's difficult to tell how strong the series will become, but right now, it's tough to accept good when you're used to great.

After a shoddy narrative decision revealed within the first 15 minutes of Episode 2, my trust in the series has diminished. Shorter – and seemingly far less interactive – than what came before, the finale of Smoke & Mirrors will leave you wanting more, but it will also leave a slightly sour taste in your mouth.

I still can't wait to see where Telltale goes as it explores more of the seedy world of Fabletown, but Episode 3 needs to cover more ground. This episode hardly fails though; the "that's messed up" reactions that hit during this episode are its strongest offerings, making it worthwhile. I just wish it had a little bit more meat on its bones.