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Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse: Episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak
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Graphics & Sound:
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse: Episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak brings the crime-fighting duo to their strangest adventure yet (and that is saying something). Actually, this particular episode doesn't really focus on the pair themselves. Instead, you get control over their grandfathers, Sammeth and Maximus in a turn-of-the-century (err... 20th Century that is) adventure involving curses, sphinxes and unknown desert dangers.
While the few stints in the present time all look and feel the same as past Sam & Max episodes, a vast majority of the game takes place in the early 1900's and the style of that era is drastically different. For one thing, Sammeth sports a thick mustache and a bowler hat, while Maximus' outfit looks like... well, he is actually wearing clothes, that should be enough of a difference right there. Interestingly enough, even though the story takes place in the past, you will find a few familiar faces. The Mole Men (and women) show up, as well as old Chris Kringle, whom we haven't seen in a few episodes now. There are some new characters though, like a baby Amelia Earhart and a man named Papier Waite (he's French, you see).
The real star of the show is the visual and audio styling of the early 1900's. There is definitely a different overall mood during this time frame, most likely caused by a change in lighting and a slightly different musical tone. All-in-all, the 1902 feel is really sold in the game and you do get the impression you are seeing events from over a century ago. I also really enjoyed the visual effects that occur as the camera transitions between the present and the past. Since our modern pair is watching all of this over a classic projector, the transition involves the camera pushing in to the projector screen and then the various scratches of the old film go away and we are in the older time. I feel like I'm getting a bit ahead of myself though. I guess I should explain exactly what is going on in this most-unusual Sam & Max episode.
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Gameplay:
The previous episode of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse ended with the freelance-police getting rid of the alien ape who was bent on taking over the world, but their triumph was cut short when they discovered what looked like the skeleton of Sam choking the skeleton of Max. Well, that's where Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse: Episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak picks up.
Not only do they quickly realize that Sam couldn't have choked Max (on account of them being alive and all), but they also realize it is some kind of message, and the pile of old film reels near the bodies might be just the clue they need. When the duo sets up the reels, they realize they are seeing old footage of their grandparents. Well, the old projector mixed with Max's strange new psychic abilities causes the duo to live the events of the past in an all new way. Now in control of Sammeth and Maximus, you, the player, must work through the old footage and find out what exactly happened to the partners of the past.
What I really enjoyed about this particular episode is the semi-non-linear nature of the game. Well, that isn't really true, it just feels non-linear, since you can attempt to play out different parts of the story (the reels) in different orders. The problem is that you will quickly find puzzles in each reel that rely on something you need from the other reels. In other words, you will often find that Sam and Max (excuse me, Sammeth and Maximus) should know how to do something, but because you haven't gotten to that part in one of the other reels yet, they actually don't ... and because of that, the footage ends and you are thrown back into the present to try your hand at a different part of the story. Like I said, it makes the game feel non-linear, but since you still have to go to certain places and perform certain tasks before being able to progress in some reels, that really isn't the case. Now, if each part of the story was self-contained and you could play through each act in any order, that would be different, but since Max's powers apparently have the ability to mess with what actually happened on the film (or something like that), it simply isn't that easy. |
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Difficulty:
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse: Episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak is a fun and pretty challenging adventure title. The need to switch between reels in order to learn various tidbits is an interesting approach and while it causes a bit of backtracking, it isn't nearly as noticeable because of the unique way it is being presented. What's best is that I hardly ever felt like I needed to just go through every combination of items in my inventory in order to work through a problem. Because of the nature of the game, if I didn't have what I would need to do the tasks, I simply assumed I hadn't gotten to that part in some other reel. This also lent itself to a lot of times when I knew what needed to be done, but didn't know exactly how to do it since I didn't know what was going to happen in the earlier points in the story.
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Game Mechanics:
Quite frankly, the biggest game mechanic of Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse: Episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak is the part of the game that I've already spent quite a lot of time talking about, the jumping between reels to solve puzzles. Everything else about this game follows the same style and feel as the previous episode. All of the aspects that were added in The Penal Zone continue here as you get to play with some new psychic powers for Max and experiment with the new dialogue system for Sam. Come to think of it, Max's Future Sight ability from The Penal Zone is very similar to the reel-swapping necessity here. In the previous game, you would use Max's ability to get glimpses into later parts of the game in order to solve current puzzles. The same basic principle applies here, except in reverse. In this case, you can jump to later parts of the game to know exactly what you will need to solve the puzzle, but then go back to earlier parts of the story to actually obtain the necessary items or knowledge. This season really is shaping up to be one of the more twisted seasons of Sam & Max yet.
I enjoyed the first episode of this season a lot, and while the introduction of Max's powers might have felt a bit gimmicky at first, it really opened up a new avenue of puzzles to solve. The Tomb of Sammun-Mak builds upon those same avenues, and adds even more. Even if you only felt mildly amused by the previous episode, you will want to download this second one because it makes up for any shortcomings you may have felt about this season. |
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-J.R. Nip, GameVortex Communications AKA Chris Meyer |
Minimum System Requirements:
Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7, 2.0 GHz + Processor, 1GB RAM, DirectX 8.1 sound device, 128MB DirectX 8.1-compliant video card, DirectX Version 9.0c or better |
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Test System:
Windows 7 Ultimate, Intel i7 X980 3.33GHz, 12 GB RAM, Radeon HD 5870 Graphics Card, DirectX 9.0c |
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