Sam & Max: Season One

Rating ESRB: Teen Genre adventure Publisher The Adventure Company External Links Official The Adventure Company Website

Starting as a comic created by Steve Purcell in 1987 with a computer game following in 1993, the Sam & Max franchise has been dormant for many years until it was released recently in October of 2006 as an episodic game known collectively as Sam and Max: Season One, consisting of six episodes.

I was a rabid fan of Sam and Max Hit the Road and the staff at Telltale Games has not disappointed me. Sam and Max is a wonderful romp through wacky Film Noir humor and adventure style game play. Game play consists of speaking with characters and solving puzzles through a simple point and click interface unlike verbs usage in older adventure games. Other notable changes include the move from 2D to #D, which does not detract from the experience in the least with its color environments and cartoonish appearance. It's a good transition from the 2D feel of the old game.

I also like the fact they expanded on the little world outside of the Freelance Police office. I can now enter Bosco's Inconvenience Store and a tattoo parlor turned psychotherapy office. Carrying out dialogue as Max was also a refreshing change, as I always wanted to speak to NPCs as the strange Lagomorph. I also enjoy being able to play a mini-game that involves driving their token DeSoto police car, blaring a horn, yelling at motorists with your megaphone, and shooting out tires and taillights. Speaking of guns, Sam's revolver is one of the most interesting additions to the game. You can fire at just about anything in the game, whether it be to solve puzzles or for comedic effect.

If I had any complaints with the game, it would be with the SecurRom CD protection system used with the game. It absolutely refused to install or run on my main desktop system but worked fine on my laptop, so I didn't research the issue further. If you are a fan of the original game you will not be disappointed with the new game. I personally think the only issue at hand is the concept of episodic content, but that is for another article. Whether you sign up for a Gametap account and play the episodes as they are available or buy the entire season on CD, you will not disappointed.