It sounds like a marriage made in animation heaven: Telltale Games who were responsible for bringing us the episodic adventures of Sam & Max, and Aardman who created the lovable duo that have become a national and highly exportable treasure. The plan was to produce four downloadable mini-stories that would be rolled out in consecutive months, beginning this month for an all-in price of $34.95 (approx. £24).

Bang on schedule arrives Episode 1: The Fright of the Bumblebees, in which the accident prone inventor Wallace has the opportunity to pay off a debt to a local shop owner by producing fifty gallons of honey in a day.

Ever resourceful, he manages to fast-grow some giant flowers to feed to the hive in his basement, only to discover the disastrous side-effect that results in giant bees ravaging the town. It's time, as ever, for Gromit to save the day.

Fans of the movies will of course be on high alert over how authentically this game represents their beloved heroes and they can all breathe a huge sigh of relief. Not only is the 3D animation spot-on but all the important details - such as Gromit rolling his eyes in disbelief and Wallace's favourite cardigan - perfectly match the originals.

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The characters range from the officious copper and crazy retired colonel to a flower-mad neighbour and grouchy news vendor and all maintain the strong undercurrent of madcap humour that is the hallmark of the Wallace & Gromit franchise.

Thankfully Telltale have abandoned their usual point ‘n' click method of getting around in favour of the WASD keys, using mouse clicks purely for interaction with people and objects.

You can make use of the built-in hint system if you get stuck, but while the solutions to many of the puzzles are quirky, the answers are usually contained in the objects you collect from your immediate surroundings and there's a useful map for teleporting around the locations. At a couple of points you take a break from the usual object search to man firing objects, which makes for a thoroughly enjoyable diversion.

Although there aren't many scenes where our protagonists work together, you do play alternately as Wallace or Gromit and, as you might expect, cheese plays a significant role in the proceedings.

Purists might bewail the fact that the voice of Wallace isn't the usual Peter Sallis, but Ben Whitehead does a highly creditable imitation. The only annoyance is the inability to separate the game music from the dialogue, which means sometimes it's hard to hear vital tips on what to do next.

Fans of the incompetent inventor and his clever pooch sidekick will be delighted that Episode 1 has so well captured the spirit of the series and, although it won't take too long to finish, you'll get three more instalments soon and plenty of amusement along the way.