Sam: “Where should I put this thing so that it doesn’t hurt anyone we know or care about?”
Max: “Out the window, Sam. There’s nobody but strangers out there.”
– Sam and Max Hit the Road

That alone should tell you what kind of humour we are working with for this review of Sam and Max: Freelance Police Season 2 (and for that matter, Season 1) Sam & Max, of course being the demented brain bastards from the mind of Steve Purcell.

For those of you who will not likely have a clue what Sam and Max are, I’m going to have take you all on a slight history tangent, though don’t worry it doesn’t get wibbly wobbly and black and white with sound crackles. Not unless you want it to.

Sam is a dog in a suit and Max is a rabbit, well sort of rabbit, I do think he’s rabid though as suggested in the first season of these games. All in all, their strange adventures seem to involve wandering around solving crimes of a bizarre nature all the while over articulating everything they see and do. Violently if possible.

Now the first game, Sam and Max hit the road was released by Lucasarts back in the heyday of Adventure games back in the mid nineties, before this internet doo-hickey took off, along with multi-player bitch slap contests and was one of the finest examples of “funny stories being told through a point with the mouse and click randomly until things happen” game.

There was meant to be a sequel released by Lucasarts but they decided to cancel that, instead preferring to release the same Star Wars games over and over again until we wanted to use the force to inflict harm on ourselves and possibly others.

At this time in history, Adventure Gaming was all but dead. And not Resident Evil Dead, nothing is as bad as that. But can anyone remember any good title since…er…um….. Ok so it’s been a fair while. Granted you could argue about the 2005 game Fahrenheit but I never played that so nerrrr. (Can nerrrr really be written down like that?)

All was lost with the townsfolk wandering who will save them and along came Telltale Games, who are a group of former Lucasarts people who banded together with Mr. Purcell to produce episodic (or shorter) game versions of Sam & Max, which has been met with it should said some success and busty wenches eager to give themselves.

Right, that’s the dull history crap over with; let’s see what the fuss is about:

As stated above both Sam & Max Series are Adventure games where you, the discerning and more than likely human person move your computer’s mouse around the screen, clicking on objects which have a name which hover over, use them and then you use talk to various characters in the game until something interesting happens. Oh, and if you click twice somewhere Sam moves quicker.

That’s it.

Sorry but it’s hard to go further into the gameplay of Adventure games because even back in the big time days, the interface was not very hard to master, and thankfully that is the case here. But between Season 1 and 2, there are differences.

That fast movement, not there in season 1, I’m glad they have put it in. It was a wee bit silly having to wait for Sam to walk across the screen at times. As time has gone on, the graphical options have got better, supporting whatever res you want. The game doesn’t demand Uber high specs as per your Crysis baloney, and all the better for it. The team have done a very good job creating the scenes and the characters in all the settings look good enough to kiss. If you want to that is…

The music is certainly worthy of note throughout, as it adds to the ambience and comic feel to parts of all the games. The title music is truly of the ilk of down and dirty cop flicks, with a hint of custard pie throwing contests for good measure.

Season 2 began last November with Ice Station Santa and involved Sam & Max after discovering that their goldfish Mr. Spatula has become corrupt with power. Max orders the fish’s execution only to find that a giant robot has saved them the job and is after them next.

The slightly unhinged pair of freelance freedom fighters go forth to save their building from said giant robot, who seems to love crappy songs like “Do you really want to hurt me?” The answer of course is yes. After doing naughty, you discover that the robot was not sent by Mr. Spatula, instead it was sent by Santa Claus.
And all Max probably wanted for Christmas was a new chainsaw.

Once they decide to pop up to the North Pole to have a word with the old fat guy, it appears Santa has his knickers in a twist and wants to shoot everyone who comes near him. Fair enough you think.

Now it’s up to you to save Christmas.

Now before you give up with despair, let me tell you, it’s all done in quite a clever way. Summoning demons, running over a blue character which is slightly different from Sesame Street for copyright reasons, spooking a paranoid shop keeper, rigging a dodgy quiz and time travelling all in the name of getting those presents to kiddies is certainly one of the more original ways of going about the task, and it’s done in a really funny manner.

The jokes made are still some of the best lines you are ever likely to hear in a computer game, Sam making valid comments, while Max tends to focus on the best way to beat the person you are talking to. I wish I had space for all of them, but that would ruin the experience.

Dialogue trees are pretty simple with occasions you get the chance to say lines for both Sam & Max, and this is one of the main ways the story often progresses. Of course, when they start repeating what they said, you know you’ve reached the end. Just do something for me, every new setting you go to, just talk to Max a couple of times. Go on…

In each episode since Season 1, you have had recurring characters with various problems which would help you out because they could either give you a new Bosco-tech device or get you certified to enter a home for former child stars. And they are back for Season 2, albeit in different Capacities.

Bosco, owner of Bosco’s Inconvience is paranoid about them to the point, Mildew and sulky would need to help him out. He does make handy devices though; it’s all a matter of money. But so far, he’s featured far less in Season 2 than 1, maybe because it’s time to move on? Sometimes I liked him (Bollocks!), other times he was slightly annoying so actually this is not a bad thing.

Other recurring characters include Sybil, who changes career more than I change my underwear (granted that’s only once every three weeks but still) and the old computer machines, the COPS (I will destroy you!) of which the funniest character is the arcade machine. You simply must listen to him to know.

Some of the characters you do start liking, and others you wish they go away, but the best bit about the episodes is that there are always new characters and locations to explore while keeping the street there as a sort of continuity. Nicely done.

Episode 2: Moai Better Blues features even more of the same humour and bizarre happenings, for example have you ever known anyone to be chased by the Bermuda Triangle up and down the street? Have you ever drank from the Fountain of Youth to get a kids special from a diner? But there is a part which I really didn’t understand.

There are babies of long lost famous people on the island you go to for the majority of the adventure and most of the references and jokes went right past me, save the DB Cooper jokes, and that was only because I watched Season 1 of Prison Break. So for history buffs, there is something for you there. For others, just scratch a relevant part of your body and move on.

The main aim for Episode 2 is to stop Easter Island from being slightly damaged by a rather silly volcano after some large stone head people who it turns out are cheapskates seek your help, so that’s what you’re going to do.

Some of the puzzles in Episode 2 did need a few hints from Max before I twigged as it’s not clear sometimes how to proceed, it’s just a case of clicking though and seeing what happens when you do something. This can get tedious but not overly so. You just have to laterally think sometimes, which is easier said than done for me, a man only capable of outwitting a cucumber after a good night’s slumber.

Season 2, it must be said is an improvement over season 1 in terms of story and humour, it’s not so much try it out, and if it don’t work try something else. Even some of the basics in gameplay mechanics in the new content makes the experience all better like the faster movement by Sam.

Overall throughout the two series the puzzles are pretty good to play through, some more difficult than others but such is the nature of the games. Some reviewers have complained that they are too easy, probably because they completed every adventure game blindfolded, using only their noses to move the mouse.

Bah I say, yes you can be right at times even I get through large chunks without getting stumped, but that’s only part of the experience surely? This is not a test for getting into Mensa!

The time for each episode has been at the three to four hour mark and being honest, that is fine, because if you were to add up all episodes so far, you have in the region of 27 hours game time, which is quite a lot and there is of course more to come.

The length of each game also factors in the release schedule for the episodes and for once, episodes have been released on time as opposed to Valve taking seemingly 16 years in-between Half-Life episodes, and you can play them all or just own the episodes of your choice as separate games. Well to some extent, they are separate. References are made throughout to past games in each episode and you need the complete set in order to get everything.

There are some other downsides I have noticed. The outline of each episode is the same; this is more obvious in season 1. First something bad happens which you sort out. Then you solve a main problem leading to three separate goals, and then another cut scene happens, three more tasks to complete, and then one final sequence to complete the show. Season 2 has mixed this up a fair bit so it is better, but you kind of know how things are going to play out based on past episodes.

Of course no review of the adventure game should be complete without asking about replayablity. Would the content keep you coming back for classic scenes and good times? For the stories and comedy, without a doubt, yes. But once you have been through a game like this, with the puzzles, I find it difficult to come back and play again. That perhaps therein lies the genre’s greatest weakness. You master a puzzle, you just flow past it the next time.

So what do I think in the end? Are adventure games like this dead? Should we only care about Super Zombie fest 73 for the Xbox 457385? Should Telltale stop now and instead work at Mcdonalds?

The answer is: Well done to them. With each passing episode, the developers are improving the content, the presentation is excellent with actually very few bugs on release which is hard to believe, save the unlocking of the games from the internet, sometimes that failed and all I could play was the demo, but a support email soon sorted that out. The stories and humour restore my faith that there are people out there who can write engaging content. Hell, the price per episode is great when you convert to pounds!

Rating:

And of course, using the outstandingly amazing 1-10 system (where 1 is complete nuts while 10 is the dog’s nuts, with 12 being given for nuts of unquestioning perfection) I hereby award the chunk of episodes of Sam & Max:

A very enjoyable romp with great characters, good story and Season 2 made the experience better and have proven Adventure games shouldn’t be committed to the ground just yet. Just not sure about how times you would play it again.

Game Link: Telltale Games