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Posted by  TheArtrix on 11/23/2006, 15:11 CET (@632 BMT) |
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/10
Way back in time, it's 1994, DOS was still the dominant operating system for the PC, the concept of CD-ROMs was slowly becoming mainstream, and so was the mouse as an input device.
It's the year in which Steve Purcell's characters, Sam and Max, came to life in their very own computer game. One of the first with spoken dialogue, and I still remember playing it when I was only 11 years old (and not able to understand English).
Of course, we wanted to see more where that came from. After Grim Fandango and The Curse of Monkey Island 4, a 3D sequal of Sam and Max was planned to be released in 2004, but was, sadly, cancelled by by the company who made it: Lucas Arts.
Since Lucas arts did not want to let go off the licence of the Sam and Max franchise, the world would not see another Sam and Max game till May 2005. Pissed off at Lucas Arts for only wanting to make Star Wars games, the adventure-game division decided split from Lucas Arts to start their own company: Telltale games.
As soon as the licence of Sam and Max became available, Telltale games teamed up with no other than Steve Purcell himself to create a new adventure game about Sam and Max.
Now, after twelve long years, Sam and Max are back. Since the franchise has the nostalgia value of Inspector Gadget, I saw no valid reason not to buy it. Of course, as with most re-makes of classics, does the new game live up to it's precessor?
Telltale games is trying to introduce a new way of playing adventure games: episodic gaming. Instead of releasing one whole game, the game is divided into episodes. The episodes cost about $9.00 each, but buying the whole 6-episode season costs roughly $35.00. You don't have to wait for it to be shipped too, the episodes can be downloaded after purchase.
For those not born in the early 80s, Sam and Max tells the tale of an inspector-type dog and his hyperactive-rabbit-thing assistant. They are freelance police, which means they can be hired to do police-y things. In reality, however, it's more like they see the world as their personal theme park, and act like it. This was pretty evident in the last game, where legal orders are stored in stray cats, they h4xx0r a carnival ride, and bigfoots marry long-necked girls.
The most notable change in the new game are, of course, the 3D graphics. The feel of the original game is preserved, and since it's 3D now, it also adds a cinematic flair to the whole deal.
The animation is generally good, especially the walkcycles. When the characters begin to talk, it's somewhat different. Lip syncing isn't always that good, and the character's expressions aren't always that convincing. Of course, in the original game, they just had a 8-frame talk-animation, but still, if only...
The gameplay is extremely easy, just point and click. This has it's disadvantages. Moving the character can be a real pain in the ass when your destination is in the other end of the room, and verbs and actions are no longer separate buttons. Other than that, the gameplay is pretty self-explanotary and easy to get used to, even without the non-existant manual.
And then there's the music and the spoken dialogue. This is definitely the stronghold of the game. The music is the same jazzy goodness from the last game, except it stopped being MIDI. The dialogue is witty as usual. Sam's voice needs your time to get used too, he sounds somewhat less aggressive now. This is definitely what the game relies on, just like the last game, especially since the visual aspect has changed so much. The music is also great to play outside the game, which I admittedly don't do with the MIDIs from the last game.
Unfortunately, there's also a dark side to the game: the puzzles are too easy. Where the original game had mind numbing puzzles, this game almost hands you the solution. The hints are all over the dialogue, certain objects a far too easy to find (like the sum of $10,000.00) and puzzles are too short. Of course Telltale games is trying to appeal to a larger audience, but as a experienced adventure gamer, it's dissapointed to finish the whole episode in a mere 2 hours. Perhaps it's all part of the concept of episodic gaming, and I hope the remaing 5 episodes can improve the experience.
Score: 8.0/10.0
Yes, it's a clean 8. Telltale games clearly put a lot of effort to pump a lot of life juice into the Sam and Max franchise. With their blog, webcomic, wonderful soundtrack, episodic game, neat merchandise and great reviews in the mainstream media, Sam and Max are fully revived to entertain the new generation of the 21st century. The game has it's glitches and difficulty issues, but for the mere $35.00 for months to come, you won't hear me complain. You can purchase and download the game directly at Telltale games.
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