Sam & Max: Hit the Road

Moby ID: 745
DOS Specs
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$87.48 used on eBay
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Description official descriptions

Sam and Max - a canine shamus and a hyperkinetic rabbit - are the freelance police: private investigators who receive missions from and are answerable to "The Commissioner". Upon the completion of a rescue mission from the clutches of a mad scientist, the duo drives through the opening credits and immediately receives a new assignment: Bruno the Bigfoot is missing from the circus and seems to have kidnapped Trixie, the Giraffe-Neck Girl. Sam and Max are on the case and will follow the mystery all across the United States, even if it takes them to such locations as The World's Largest Ball of Twine and The Mount Rushmore Dinosaur Tarpit.

Sam & Max Hit the Road is a puzzle-solving point-and-click adventure game. The player directly controls Sam, though Max will usually follow closely behind and is even available to use directly as an item in the inventory. Sam is able to be directed anywhere on the screen, look at objects, try to use objects, try to speak to objects and use items from his inventory on objects. Sam and Max must unravel the mystery piece by piece in order to unlock new locations on their map. They can travel between these locations at any time by using the car keys on their police car.

During conversation, the player is able to make Sam ask questions of persons, speak non-sequitur exclamations, or ask about specific objects, people, and locations (which are also unlocked as clues are discovered). The verb interface from previous LucasArts adventure games has been modified to icon-based commands, allowing the entire screen to be used for the playing area, similarly to Sierra titles.

The game also features a variety of mini-games, which can be accessed at any time once found. These include Highway-Surfing: a game where the player must jump over exit signs on the interstate, Car Bomb: a variant of Battleship, a Sam & Max coloring book, a Sam & Max dress-up game, and a Whac-a-Mole variant entitled Wak-A-Rat. The CD version of the game includes voice-overs for all the conversations.

Spellings

  • סם ומקס מתגלגלים בדרכים - Hebrew spelling
  • 妙探闖通關 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 萨姆和马克斯 - Simplified Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

85 People (77 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 88% (based on 37 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.1 out of 5 (based on 327 ratings with 16 reviews)

LucasArts at their most bizarre humoured; LucasArts at there very best

The Good
Undoubtedly one of the funniest, best adventure games I’ve ever played (and I’ve played a LOT!)

Released in 1993 (wow, is it that long ago already??), Sam And Max is a classic comedy adventure game from LucasArts, ranking right up there with Day Of The Tentacle and the God-like legend that is Monkey Island.

As much as I love just about all the classic Sierra adventure game series (the Space Quests, the Kings Quests, the Leisure Suit Larrys, etc.), this game has more "laugh out loud" material than many of those titles, particularly late ones where Sierra just seemed to run out of steam.
Even by LucasArts' often bizarre standards, Sam And Max is REALLY weird – when a game stars a big overgrown canine and a hyperactive, occasionally psychopathic little bunny, you just KNOW your in for something not exactly run of the mill!
There’s some truly bizarre humour that has to be seen to be believed, and as with most bizarre humour, much of it has an underlying dark side to it. But I loved it. Its strange sideways humour, laced with many various pop-culture references, is great is what makes it so memorable.

Many of the gags are of the so-bad-they’re-good variety, but they’re done so knowingly, so tongue-in-cheek and rather self-mockingly that they work.
The often laugh-out-loud material continues throughout the game and barely lets up the pace at all. Even if you hit a spot in the game-play where you're not quite sure what to do next or how, the comical dialogue, supported by top-notch voices, ensure that the game never gets boring.

Asides from the main game, there's also a number of great sub-games tucked around in various areas of the game, such as Wak-A-Rat, Highway Surfing (Max stands on top of the patrol car and has to jump on-coming signs), a very crazy game crazy golf game involving crocodiles, and a wonderful Battleships-type game, Car-bomb (that should be developed into it's own game!). Some have to be completed in order for a certain outcome to somehow advance the game; Others are there for the pure fun of it.

As with most LucasArts games, there’s several nods to other LucasArts characters – IS that Bernard from Day Of The Tentacle working in one of the Snucky’s stores??

The voices on the CD-ROM version bring the characters to life superbly, and are particularly spot on for the two leads.
The graphics look great (especially taking into account the age) and hold up well age-wise.

One of the notable things about the whole game and it's packaging was the instruction manual. Far too often companies dish out a few-paged handbook just with installing instructions (that are usually apply to multiple games anyway), but with this game, the whole book was a little comedy publication of it's own. Complete with little gems like "Make your own Max out of an old paper bag", and a hilarious Sam And Max board game, the instruction manual was a joy in itself. If only more games were as creative with their packaging and extras.

I completed this game a couple of weeks after I got it (it’s one of those games I just had to keep on playing until I completed it). I was actually really sad when the end finally came - I had such a great time playing it, I wanted it to go on forever!!
Even though pretty much linear as to the puzzle solving, the game has re-playability value, as it’s great just to hear the unlikely duo’s comments and responses to everything – especially when you deliberately try something wrong.

All-in-all, a classic, VERY bizarre, VERY funny adventure game; one that ranks right up alongside with the mighty Monkey Island in terms of greatness, and one that will stick in your mind. I'm a HUGE Monkey Island fan, but, dare I say it (shock horror) I think I may like Sam & Max even better - and that's really going some!!

**The Bad**
I think I can honestly say that there isn't a single thing I didn't like about this game, it was just such fun to play.

The only bad thing is that it has to be that it eventually had to come to the end. I wanted it to go on forever! The one big problem I did have was not game-wise, but on the technical side. I found this one particularly hard to get up and running happily, particularly with regards to the sound. On my old 486 system (with a SoundBlaster 16 card), it took a boot-disk with LOT of poking and tweaking of Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files to A) run without coughing and spluttering, and B) to get it to run with any sound at all!

Some players might find the humour in this game a little too dark and too far out – even by Day Of The Tentacle and Monkey Island standards (but personally, I loved it!)

But the worst thing about this game - there's never been a sequel! Criminal! Come on LucasArts, it's never too late (and the adventure games market isn’t exactly crowded these days)!!

**The Bottom Line**
Classic, bizarre LucasArts adventure. Some really warped puzzles; some really funny dialogue. What else can I say? One of my all-time classic adventure games. If you've ever played Day Of The Tentacle, or one of the Monkey Island games, and have remotely enjoyed it, then I suggest... no, I demand that you find a copy and play Sam & Max. It should be made law!!

DOS · by Jayson Firestorm (143) · 2002

The funniest game you will ever play!

The Good
Everything was great. The voice acting was right on, the animation was stellar and from the start the game went on a ride that never let up. I found myself laughing out loud at what was going on. There is one part, where Sam plays Wack-A-Mole to win a flashlight, but on the side is Max, if you feel like it, you can whack him a couple of times on the head just for fun. This might be a little hard to find now, but be sure to pick up a copy if you see one. I got mine a few years ago at a garage sale for $5, I knew nothing of Sam and Max before that, but I'm glad I got it.

The Bad
What is there not to like? Everything from the World's largest ball o' string to the ride through the tunnel of love.

The Bottom Line
Quite possibly the greatest adventure game ever made, or at least the funniest.

DOS · by Derrick 'Knight' Steele (2347) · 2000

Anthropomorphic dog and rabbity thing solve crime

The Good
This game rocks. The main game involves a hare-raising quest to find a missing bigfoot and the giraffe-necked girl that loves him. Along the way, you see the worst of America, aliens, and C&W star Conrad Bumpus!! You'll jump from Mt Rushmore, play golf, laugh at bad jokes, cry at good ones, and see several Star Wars references.

There are also bonus games which, once discovering, you can play at your leisure.

Puzzles are numerous, but are often logical (in their own illogical way). In typical Lucasarts way, they are item based. There are also many individuals to interact with and there are numerous conversation options. This is actually a pretty full and fulfulling game.

Great voice acting, graphics, gameplay, etc.

The Bad
It was literally painful to get this game to run on my souped up PIII system. This is an older game (archaic in computer years) that required running from dos and configuring the sound card. Even still, sometimes the sound would cut out.

Other than that problem, this was a very good game.

The Bottom Line
This is what they mean by a classic game. It has good graphics, sound, story, acting, puzzles- etc. Everything came together and while I wish there was a sequel, I know that they would louse it up.

DOS · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2001

[ View all 16 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Sam & Max TV show on DVD? It can happen! Foxhack (32102) Jun 18, 2007

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Sam & Max Hit the Road appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Cancelled sequel

A sequel to Sam & Max Hit the Road, Sam & Max Freelance Police, was developed, but cancelled on March 3rd, 2004 because LucasArts thought it was "not the appropriate time to release a graphic adventure game on the PC." Despite many petitions and negative feedback about the cancellation, the game was not put back into production.

Sam & Max

During the time in which Steve Purcell worked at LucasArts, Sam & Max (or only Max) made cameos in many other games, including Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2, The Curse of Monkey Island, Day of The Tentacle, Rebel Assault II, Jedi Knight, Full Throttle or Shadows of the Empire.

Sam & Max franchise

Sam & Max were not invented for this game, but are part of a whole franchise by Steve Purcell. The media they appeared include the original comics and a cartoon which aired on FOX kids in 1997/98 (awarded with the 1998 Gemini Award for Best Animated Series). Purcell also made one-page Sam & Max spoofs of LucasArts games for The Adventurer, a periodical newspaper for LucasArts employees.

Soundtrack

The CDROM contains four Redbook audio tracks that have the "Sam & Max Theme", "Moleman Music", "King of the Creatures", and "Bigfoot Shuffle" music from the game.

References

  • The music that plays at the World of Fish locale sounds an awful lot like the song "Fishing Blues", which was originally written by blues musician Taj Majal.
  • When you go to Snuckey's, the man serving you is Bernard Bernoulli, a character from Day of the Tentacle.
  • There are multiple references to LucasFilm movies in the game. When Shuv-Oohl karmically links with the Yetis, he says "It's, like, several voices screaming out in terror... and then suddenly silenced.", a reference to a classic Star Wars quote. Using the droid manual on the security droid in Bumpusville results in the droid projecting a hologram of Princess Leia, like R2D2 did. Finally, using the Conroy Bumpus eggplant on the toupee in his bedroom results in a parody of a classic scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
  • When asked what he's reading, Lee-Harvey replies, "Dialenics, by Elrod Hubbel, It's changing my life." This is a reference to L. Rod Hubbard, who started a religion based on a novel he wrote.
  • During the conversation with the Cat outside the office building, Max comments "He looks cute Sam. Can I make a tennis racquet out of him?". This is in reference to the fact that the strings in tennis racquets used to be made from a natural fibre called Catgut, which is produced from the intestines of animals such as cows, horses, mules and donkeys. Despite the name, Catgut has never been produced using a cat's intestines.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #95 in the “150 Best Games of All Time” list
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) –#7 Funniest Computer Game
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #8 Most Memorable Game Heroes (Sam & Max)
    • February 2006 (Issue #259) – Introduced into the Hall of Fame
  • PC Gamer
    • April 2005 - # 45 in the "50 Best Games of All Time" list
  • PC Powerplay (Germany)
    • Issue 06/2005 - #5 Likeable Secondary Character (for Max)

Information also contributed by James1, John Wallace, Mitch Kocen, NatsFan, Paul Graves, PCGamer77, Satoshi Kunsai, shifter and Trixter

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Nathan Kovner.

Linux added by Sciere. Antstream added by lights out party. Windows added by Ben K. Macintosh added by Jason Savage.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, Zack Green, Apogee IV, Sciere, Crawly, Zeppin, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, El Bosso.

Game added January 13, 2000. Last modified March 23, 2024.