Ahh, Sam and Max. Those two demented coppers who loved violence more than justice was one of my first experiences in the adventure genre.
Sam and Max Hit the Road and the other half-dozen or so similar titles to come out of LucasArts in the mid 90's got me hooked on problem-solving games and I never looked back. Now, years later, the
Sam and Max franchise has been picked up and TellTale Games has created six short adventures that each take just a couple of hours to complete. Now, these six episodes are together in
Sam and Max: Season 1.
The first episode to be released is Culture Shock. This adventure follows the freelance police pair as they track down a pack of brainwashed former child stars who are promoting a new ocular exercise video tape called Eye-Bo. As the pair attempt to foil the brainwashing scheme, they will have to knock out these former stars, pull over drivers for cash and (shudder) get psychoanalyzed.
Situation Comedy has Sam and Max attempting to halt a hostage situation taking place at the local TV studio. The pair won't be able to just waltz onto the set though. Myra Stump, the hostage taker, won't let anyone near the place unless they're famous.
The third episode, The Mole, The Mob and The Meatball, has Sam and Max being hired by the police to, as the name would suggest, infiltrate the mob and try to find out what happened to the mole that was planted in the organization. From the moment you enter into the Ted E. Bear Mafia-Free Playland and Casino facility to the end of this adventure, you will have a blast. Of the episodes in this collection, I'm pretty sure I would classify this one as my favorite.
Abe Lincoln Must Die is yet another twisted tale. Unlike the others, this one doesn't start off in their office, but instead you get control while the team is at the White House. When the President of the United States starts pushing through laws that are just plain wrong (like mandatory group hugs and gun registration), its up to Sam and Max to stop the mad politician and if necessary, replace him. This episode does contain one of my new favorite quotes, "Demon possession is the gift that keeps on giving." Thanks Max for that little tidbit of random humor. Meanwhile, in Reality 2.0 (episode five), Sam and Max will have to go into cyberspace in infiltrate an advanced video game that is killing its players. This viral game will stop at nothing to keep the freelance police from shutting it down.
And then, there is the season finale, Bright Side of The Moon where the twisted pair will be trying to do nothing short of saving the world. In order to do this, they will have to fly to the moon and stop a diabolical plot involving mass hypnosis and enslavement.
I have to say, with this series being one of the first, at least to my knowledge, to really try out shorter and more frequent content releases in an "episodic" style, Sam and Max: Season 1 seems to have done a pretty good job of things. There isn't any continuation between the games, so you don't necessarily need to have played the others to enjoy any one of the adventures, but in order to get the time and number of puzzles most adventure gamers would expect from a full title, it is best to see Sam and Max all together.
