Telltale's Episodic title, Sam and Max is a "welcome back" from some old friends. Sam and Max, the lovable dog and maniacal rabbit detective duo, are back after their 13-year vacation. We last saw them in LucasArts' Sam and Max Hit the Road in which they set out to rescue a missing Bigfoot for the carnival. Now they're back and ready for action. Fortunately, Telltale seems up to the task of giving them the attention they need, as there already are six episodes released and a second season on the way.
If you're not familiar with the gameplay of old-school adventure games, think of this as an interactive story in which you explore, find items, traverse dialog trees and solve puzzles to figure out how to progress through the game's storyline. Traditionally, this meant clicking an item and selecting an interaction from the resulting pie chart, but Telltale has refined and simplified things a bit by removing the pie chart. If there is an action you can perform, you do so automatically when you click.
Telltale's Sam and Max is one of the first titles to really rely on its episodic content. This means that rather than dropping $60 on one large game, you buy smaller installments for $9 or so each time. It also means that the developer has the unique opportunity to listen to its fanbase between these "episodes," which usually come out each month.
Season One has a definite theme of Hypnotism. Each new episode pits our abrasive duo against mind control in one form or another, and it builds until the final episode reveals the shocking root of the problem. This being the first season, you can see a definite improvement in the quality of the episodes as they come. The voice acting gets better, the story more engrossing and the humor more edgy.
As I said before, Season One is complete. You can buy the episodes individually, or you can get all six episodes for $35 with the bonus disk. I'm going to try and give you a good idea of this game without ruining the story, because it's definitely worth checking out.
Episode one, "Culture Shock," presents an interesting bit of trouble when former child-stars. "The Soda Poppers" are brainwashed into obeying a madman. Through interaction with these kids, a wildly paranoid conspiracy theorist of a convenience store clerk and psychotherapist/tattoo artist, Sam and Max must find a way to break the mind control and bring the culprit to justice.
High points: The story is great. A simplistic interface helps players into the world. Good voice acting overall. ABSOLUTELY no bugs or glitches found during my playthrough.
Low points: The car chase scene is clunky, it feels forced and just isn't very fun overall. The villain's character pales in comparison to the store clerk and the psychotherapist. The comedy wasn't as sharp or edgy as I'd remembered from the Lucas Arts version.
Episode two, "Situation: Comedy," has Sam and Max investigating a situation in a local TV studio in which a talk-show hostess has her audience held hostage and is forcing free gifts on them against their will. (I know, right?) Before they can free this audience, they have to be granted admittance to the talk show by getting the hostess' approval. Expect lots of pop-culture satirical humor crammed into three or so hours of gameplay.
High points: The storyline is still good; it is interesting all the way through. There is hilarious parody comedy of Oprah, Letterman, Scientology, "American Idol" and other popular targets. The content doesn't feel rushed. They spent more time developing the characters (even the villain), and the return appearance from the Soda Poppers shows them as better-developed characters.
Low points: There's another car chase, and it's just as bad as the previous one for the same reasons, and Max's voice acting seemed to slip a bit more away from what I miss about the snarky little rabbit.
Episode three, "The Mole, the Mob, and the Meatball," begins with Sam and Max riding the wave of their recent successes. Unfortunately for them, they now have to deal with the Toy Mafia! A police informant has gone missing, and Sam and Max must infiltrate the Mafia in order to bring the mole out before anything happens to him.
High points: The scripting is only improving; they've really hit their stride here, and I laughed out loud on multiple occasions. Supporting characters play a huge role in this one with some shining moments — and finally, the sharp wit has returned here in full as the subtly cruel stylings permeate the dialogue and visuals.
Low points: This one is short, really short. There aren't many puzzles and it seemed very easy. I almost felt as if I was watching a tv show. Oh yeah, and there's still driving…
Episode four, "Abe Lincoln Must Die!," pits our devilish duo against one of the most famous U.S. presidents, who is passing wild laws while under the effects of hypnosis. This one feels more like a "game" as Telltale proves that they listen to the fans between episodes. The episode is longer, the humor is FAR more risquй (in a good way), and the puzzles are harder.
High points: Episode four has a longer completion time, both because of the puzzle difficulty and the amount of content. The humor is finally where it needs to be. I guess successful games can let loose a bit more plus, its politics — open season. Max's voice is great again.
Low points: More content without lots more locations sends you back and forth quite a bit, that's old-hat for the genre, but new for this series. It may bore some players. The driving is still bad.
Episode five, "Reality 2.0," is proof that as the episodes release, Telltale only improves. In this episode, Sam and Max are thrown into a world of virtual reality that is overlorded by a new villain named ... "The Internet." Expect and enjoy the technogeek humor that permeates this one. I laughed all the way through.
High points: Everything is redone; almost all items have new jokes associated with them. The humor is in a completely new tech vein, and it fits perfectly with the story. The puzzles are integrated with one another, and each is a building block to the next.
Low points: There really aren't many with this one… There is a musical number that's a little less shiny than those in the previous episodes, but they really nailed this one.
Episode six, "Bright Side of the Moon," is the final installment of Season One. As all episodes this season have hinged around hypnosis in one form or another, you are finally brought face to face with the one who's created all this mayhem. Strangely enough — or maybe it's not that strange for Sam and Max — you have to go to the moon to put a stop to him.
High points: This is the culmination of all that Telltale has learned in the past five episodes. The puzzles, storyline, voice acting and humor are all where they need to be, and it's the end of the series, so the buildup is finally coming to a head.
Low points: If you didn't play the previous episodes, you really wont know what's going on, but that's just part of episodic content now isn't it?
Overall, Sam and Max Season One is a great experience start to finish. No episode is bad, and it's interesting to watch the quality improve as the company moves forward. I'm definitely looking forward to the release of Season Two and will be one of the first to download episode one. If you're a fan of old-school adventure games, or if you like good humor, good acting and a good story, check out Sam and Max Season One.
