Since there were complaints last month, I will not, for the entirety of this review, reveal any of the following facts:
1. 3D graphics are totally, totally ugly and should be banned from videogames as a whole—but especially from adventure games.
2. This new Sam & Max series has an absolutely killer sense of humor that’s absolutely comparable to that of the original game.
I will also fail to mention—to preemptively ward off any complaints—that:
3. You don’t need to have played the first three games to appreciate this latest Sam & Max title, though you really should just because—just like Sneaux shoes—they are darn good.
4. The game is short (about six hours), but well worth the nine-dollar price tag.
5. The game definitely lives up to the weighty legacy of its predecessor.
6. This game is a point-and-click adventure, and for more on what that actually means, read any of my reviews of the last three games in this series.
7. The pointing and the clicking is innovative inasmuch as you don’t have to choose “pick up” or “talk to” or anything like that; you just click.
8. The dialogue is also innovative inasmuch as you only choose the general topics you’ll be talking about—not the actual words.
9) If you like classic Lucas Arts adventure games, you’ll definitely like this one as well.
That said, I will try my darndest to keep this review as fresh and exciting as everything else you’re reading in the ‘Cola this month (especially Top of the Heap, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite columns); however, please keep in mind that these games, being episodic, don’t change that much from title-to-title, so there’s only so much to write about.
For an intro, let’s say that the plot of Sam & Max Season 1, Episode 4: Abraham Lincoln Must Die! was not, in any way, completely stolen from an episode of Pinky and the Brain. I know that, if you check this game out, you’ll probably think that, as part of this game’s story is almost identical to an episode of Pinky and the Brain; however; I can assure you of the following: The plot is so similar, so totally identical, that there’s no way anyone involved in the creation of this game ever saw said episode, because, if they did, they’d know they’d be setting themselves up for some hardcore maxxxtreme lawsuit action.
So don’t think of the plot, which I realize I haven’t told you about yet, is at all a rip-off. It’s not. It justhappens to be exactly the same.
The plot is, by the way, this: HAH! No way. I ain’t telling you. The press release for this game told me not to. All I’m going to say is that there’s trouble at the White House in the form of the president passing all kinds of wacky new laws, so Sam and Max—freelance police—gotta hit the road and travel to D.C. Everything else is up to you to discover for yourself; it’s much more fun that way. And it requires less strain on my fingers.
So, uh…let’s see…what else is new in this game? This is, according to developers/publishers Telltale, the first episode of this series in which they were actually able to incorporate feedback from the other titles. From what I gather, the complaints they listened to the hardest were “the games are too short!” and “the puzzles are too easy,” as this game is, in fact, a little longer and a little harder. So, hey, thumbs up for that. It was hard enough that I had to actually resort to a walkthrough at one point, though, keep in mind that I’m the weenie who needed a walkthrough for…actually, it’d be easier to just list the games I haven’t needed a walkthrough for:
1. Tetris
Oh, there’s also this! Another big thumbs up for the music in this episode—specifically, the background msuci in the outside-the-White-House screen, as it was a nice goofy take on GUNG HO THESE COLORS DON’T RUN!!!!! patriotic music.
My notes on this game are starting to run dry; so it might be time to begin the conclusion of this review. Here, right here, is the conclusion, taken directly from my notes, actually: “THIS GAME IS GOOD AS OTHERS IF BETTER FOR LENGTH.” So I think I’ll just leave it at that. Refer to the above unstated facts if you need any further information.
