Long time ago, when Microsoft Windows was an exotic “file commander” and advanced “text editor”, and most computers have worked under DOS, LucasArts (a subdivision of LucasFilm company) made world-best quests for Amiga and PC. Everyone who love quests is familiar with the “Escape from Monkey Island”, “A Day Of The Tentacle”, “Maniac Mansion”, “Full Throttle” and, of course, “Sam and Max Hit the Road”. These quests allowed us to immerse into the magical world created by the best storywriters, artists, animators and sound engineers. Each game was a cartoon and each story have made us love, share and laugh for many times before it comes to an end…

That is why I was very impressed to know that Sam & Max are back - with a modern 3D graphics, and with the story written by the same people who did it for LucasArts!

But before we continue, I have to warn you that this game is not recommended for kids and those, who don’t accept a slight violence (no blood, but lots of “your momma”-like jokes and *censored* words, wich are beeped).

Sam and Max are private investigators who call themselves a “freelance police”. Sam is a steady anthropomorphic dog who wearing a hat and a suit. He is usually the brain of the operations. Max is a rabbit with unnaturaly big jaw and razor sharp teeth. He love violence, and who knows how many creatures owes Sam for stopping Max to do most of things that he usually wants to do. Max is definitely a “bad cop” in this game.

They both are comics characters created by Steve Purcel (he designed them based on his brother’s childhood drawings). But the comicses wasn’t as popular as the computer game. For many years Sam and Max have been forgotten. Until the TellTale Games company have announced their return in “Sam & Max: Season I”. For now there are 2 seasons of Sam & Max released, with 11 episodes in total.

My biggest impressions about the new Sam & Max is the time parallels that writers have inserted into the storyline. Some objects and characters from past episodes are quite useful in the future. Some actions that you doing now will help you in the next episodes. Its really impressive to see how solid is the storyline!

Each character in the game has a very strong personality. You will love or hate them, and even recognize some real people under their skin. All characters have dreams, hopes and secrets. And some of the secrets are very, very unexpected when you will discover them.

(On the picture above is a Bosco. He is a conspiracy maniac. Bosco spend most of his time and money on different stuff that should help him to take cover from T-H-E-M. The rest of a spare time he dedicate to his very conspiratorial shop. This guy will make you laugh for many times - trust me, trust me. )

The game is filled with many curious situations that will make you rolling on the floor laughing. Its not any kind of brutal or stupid humor. What I like the most in Sam & Max, is that each comical situation is always developed for some time, which makes you really enjoy the culmination. Too sad that game storywriters doesn’t nominated for Oscar, ’cause I am sure that the one who wrote Sam & Max will get all of them. The storyline, the idea and the characters are just great and completed in smallest details.

Sam & Max is a 3D game with a simple but very stylish graphics. I have successfully ran it on my laptop that have a very poor video card. The animation is just great! Almost like in Pixar’s cartoons. Sam, Max and other characters are moving very naturally and even has the facial expressions. The music is very professional, and all voices were recorded by actors.

Most of the tasks are pretty simple. And if you get stuck on something, there is a nice tutorial for each episode on the developer’s website. The game has a configurable hint level, and when you set it to the maximum, Max gives you some hints when you don’t know what to do.

Sam & Max is my favourite quest for now. Unlike many real-life based or mystical quests, its fun and very unpredictable. Can you believe, for example, that a golden fish that lives in your room is making plans about the world domination? Or that Santa will send a robot to kill you, and you will need to complete an exorcism to get the corporate presence monster inside of him? If you love cartoons, some magic, and if you like to have fun, this game should be a perfect choice. And, by the way, you can try each episode before buying it.

ps. One of the episodes is completely free

Filed under: Game Reviews