Score
Gameplay:	8
Graphics:	5
Sound:	7
FunFactor:	8
PlasmaFactor:	7
Overall:	7

Sam & Max: Seasons 1 and 2 Review
October 12, 2008 by Brittany Vincent

I was lucky enough to grow up in the golden age of LucasArts' point-and-click adventures. My father introduced me to the likes of Day of the Tentacle, Monkey Island, and the classic Sam and Max: Hit the Road. When I had the opportunity to check out their first new adventures in about 12 years, I was far beyond excited. Sam and Max: Seasons One and Two contain eleven episodes of crime-solving mayhem and hilarity. Originally released on GameTap on a weekly basis, they've been collected on disc so that you can enjoy them at your leisure on your computer. Not only that, but if you flip the discs over, you get bonus content that can be played as a DVD for on-the-go Sam and Max mayhem. Content such as a blooper reel featuring the voice actors of Sam and Max, cartoon shorts that you can enjoy without exerting the actual effort of getting through the game (for you lazy gamers!), and various other extras that are guaranteed to please any gamer who loves to get a little more bang for his buck.

As a veteran of the original Sam and Max adventures, I was very satisfied with what was presented. After years of a dryspell, I was literally jumping for joy at what these discs held. It's been so long since I actually got to play the first one (which will no longer run on my computer), so it was well worth a trip down memory lane to see how the games have aged and improved. What I found was definitely no disappointment.

Gameplay

Sam and Max plays out simple enough. It's just like any other point-and-click adventure out there. As a God-like third party who decides what their every move should be, it's your job to navigate the duo through various cases that they have been put on in order to make things right. Sometimes you will happen upon various items that can be used in conjunction with locations, people, and even other items. This is imperative to success. You'll need to talk to and ask questions of various characters of different shapes and sizes, including some former child stars, the head of Abraham Lincoln, and some distressed European vampires who happen to work at nightclubs. As you can see, you'll come into contact with quite the motley crew, which makes playing the game that much more fun.

If you're not familiar with the two already, Sam is the anthropomorphic dog dressed in a navy blue suit, very much the straight man to the short white rabbit Max's comedic stylings. They're private investigators who like to call themselves "freelance police," taking on cases because they feel like it, and when they feel like it. Firmly rooted in New York City, they aren't content to stay there all the time, and find themselves traveling all over the globe and even into space, at some points.

Both seasons of Sam and Max are split into 6 episodes apiece, but the seasons at large have recurrent themes. For example, the first season deals mainly with the theme of mind control and hypnosis. For instance, in the very first episode of the first season, you meet a man named Brady Culture (a play on the "culture" that followed the cult classic TV show The Brady Bunch) who wishes to hypnotize a trio of fading child stars known as the Soda Poppers to commit crimes in his name so that he can get tons of publicity and make money again for his fitness business. It's up to Sam and Max to get to the bottom of things and clear the Soda Poppers' names. The first season contains six episodes that follow the story in a similar vein, including the story "Situation: Comedy", where a TV host is under the vengeful control of a hypnotizing teddy bear, and the crowning glory of the season, "Bright Side of the Moon," (a definite nod to Pink Floyd), where the pair travel to the moon in order to keep humanity from being hypnotically enslaved by the diabolical Hugh Bliss. 

Amongst all of this mayhem, navigating each episode is as simple as using the mouse. Your inventory is displayed at the bottom of the screen, where you can get to when you need to figure out what item goes where. Either Sam or Max will input a snappy comeback with whatever you choose, like if it's not the right choice they'll be quick to reprimand you. When you get something right, you'll be treated to a scene with dialogue that pushes the story along.

 

 

 

It's definitely the humor that moves the game along. Sam and Max are both incredibly quirky characters with wit and dry humor that not everyone will appreciate, but if that's your style of humor then it will be right up your ally. It's really quite the hilarious game, filled with over-the-head pop culture references as well as snide remarks that you might not get by just listening to passively.

 

My only gripe with the gameplay is that each episode can easily be completed in half an hour to an hour, which makes the total gameplay time of each season around 6 apiece, and about 12 for seasons one and two. It makes sense that they are short enough for casual gamers to enjoy since they were originally released through GameTap, but it really doesn't feel like enough to satiate the hunger for point and click adventure junkies. It only left me wanting more after it was all said and done, but luckily for myself and many other Sam and Max fans, there is a third season in the works that should add another dimension to the story and tie up any loose ends that were left open.

Graphics

 

Sam and Max have been given a total 3D makeover, but the graphics are not very much up to par with today's graphics. The game honestly looks to be more suited to the Wii. When characters speak, their mouths don't really match the words coming out of them, and instead they look like they're just flapping their jaws. It's kind of embarrassing when you think about the original game and how flawless the characters looked when they spoke as their previous 2D models. Colors are bright and vivid, and there is a wide range of environments to explore, but I can't quite get over how ridiculous the characters look when they speak. It was more than a step backward in terms of graphics. Perhaps Sam and Max should have stayed a 2D game, for both nostalgia's sake as well as reputation's sake. In the animated shorts included on both discs, the characters speak like normal characters, so one has to wonder why they couldn't have implemented that same look into the game. It's very awkward to watch Sam attempt to question witnesses while looking like he's a cow chewing its cud.

Sound

The sound in the game isn't the best, but it isn't the worst, either. It's fairly subtle, except for when music kicks in when key moments of the game are initiated or what have you. Sam and Max seem to both have the same voice actors as they have always had. I do enjoy listening to all of the different characters' one-liners tossed in as well as the various conversations that you can listen in on throughout the game. Sound quality is, however, crystal clear, and nice to listen to through headphones.

PlasmaFactor

 

It's quite the fun endeavor to solve all 12 cases contained within the two seasons, and it's enjoyable to traverse anywhere from New York to the moon, to greasy spoons around the world in search of hypnotists, crazed doctors, and used car salesmen. The charm and the attitude of the original game is still very much intact, and it's an enjoyable (if short) romp with nostalgia and the good old days of LucasArts adventures.

Conclusion

 

Sam and Max: Seasons One and Two are fantastic point-and-click adventures that are quite true to the original entry into the series. It brings tons of humor and charm, as well as the interesting puzzles to back it up. However, I wasn't too pleased with the visual revamping it's received, as I feel it's taken a turn for the worse. Both seasons can be completed in a relatively short amount of time, which will leave you wanting a lot more than what you're given, but overall a very enjoyable purchase that will bring you back to the glory days of PC gaming. One can only hope that someday the Maniac Mansion series receives this treatment.