Friday, June 22, 2007

Sam and Max Episode 1: Culture Shock

Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher:
Telltale Games
Release Date:
Nov. 2, 2006
System:
PC
Official Web site

In a nutshell:
Point-and-click crime solving with a twister sense of humor.

0:01 I love the stylized, red and black intro. Looks like a classy movie opening.
0:02 I love the voice acting too. It's nice that the mouths largely match the words. After ages of Japanese games with totally awful English lip-synching, it's a breath of fresh air.
0:04 "2002 was a great year for calendars." Gets a chuckle.
0:05 Sam just threw Max across the room for no good reason. I love this game.
0:06 I find a pile o' cheese, but it isn't the Swiss that we're looking for. Time for some wacky adventure-game style solution, I'm sure
0:10 Ah ha... after four minutes of fruitless searching, I find I have a big gun in my box. That oughta make swiss cheese out of that, uh, non-swiss cheese.
0:12 Negotiating for a stolen phone with a rat. Surreal. I like being able to flip between the two main characters for some good cop bad cop action.
0:13 The conversation flows naturally and leads to a pleasantly phone-filled resolution.
0:15 I like how everything you can actively click on is labeled when you hover. No random guess-and-click here.
0:17 "I don't sign butts anymore." Only in Sam and Max.
0:19 "Vandalism is illegal... and worse, unoriginal." Preach it!
0:23 So we've got former child stars seemingly entranced by an eye exercise video. Makes perfect sense...
0:27 Sam mentions White Collar Crime Drive. What a conveniently named street
0:30 I pull out a gun and a giant boxing love hits me from the sky. Also 'This rampant weenie cannibalism turns my stomach"
0:31 The wet floor sign says "caution land mines" Hooray for sight gags.
0:33 I literally laugh out loud when Max comments on the Not'chos. "They're mine, Not'chos"
0:40 Max asks "Ugly please" after "Pretty please." Another literal LOL moment.
0:42 I totally forget about the cheese in my pocket and get another head bop as I try to accidentally shoplift.
0:44 After all this build up, I'm dying to watch the Eye-bo video I just picked up.
0:47 Eh, after all that, the hypnosis seems kind of basic ... and worse, unoriginal.
0:55 I need to knock a guy out. Lucky I have this convenient bowling ball. But he sees it coming. How to blind him... hmmm. It'll have to wait for next time.

Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes
Why? The puzzles are just starting to get intriguing, and the twisted outlook, great voice-acting and laugh-out-loud writing will keep me coming back.

This review is based on a full version of the game available through GameTap.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You really should check out the entire season. While all of them are hilarious, Episode 5 is by far the best and has some of the best moments in the point and click genre ever.

Love the blog by the way!

Anonymous said...

You really should check out the entire season. While all of them are hilarious, Episode 5 is by far the best and has some of the best moments in the point and click genre ever.

Love the blog by the way!