Sam & Max: Hit the Road

The Good
Released in 1993, “Sam and Max: Hit The Road”, is a pinnacle of the adventure game genre. Based on Steve Purcell’s irreverent cult comic book, about two wacky private dicks. It is with great trepidation, that I review this game. I mean how can I judge this game, that is beyond reproach? Can the unwashed touch the golden?

Then I think, get over it asshole! It’s just a review. So without more puzzlement, here is my review for Sam and Max: Hit The Road.

The freelance police’s current case is a complex one. Then again you don’t call of these two knuckle heads unless it’s a tough case, or no one else is crazy enough to take it. It would seem that the Bigfoot attraction of the local carnival has gone missing. And now Sam (a shamus canine) and Max (a hyperactive rabbity-thing) must take to the open roads of the USA, and solve the case. And rack up as much collateral damage as they can.

Along the way they will visit tourist traps untold. Encounter strange people, and stranger situations. See the worlds largest ball of twine! Thrill to the heights of Mt. Rushmore, as you bungee-jump out of Teddy Roosevelt’s nose! Stop in at one of the millions of identical Stuckey’s restaurants.

You will also have to solve many puzzles along the way. Some quite difficult. The Mystery Vortex comes to mind. If you are a purest or nut like me and refuse to use any guides you will have quite a hard time of it.

The graphics in Sam and Max, are pretty good. And still hold up quite well today. Running on a modified SCUMM engine. It must work well as many indie adventure games still use it today.

The animation is easily Saturday morning cartoon quality. Probably better as I seem to recall some cartoon shows from my youth that look like crap compared to this. The animated cut scenes in particular.

The voice overs are great. As a matter of fact, now when I go back and read Sam ad Max comics, I hear them speaking in the voices from this game. Of course that maybe because I am insane. But I have looked into that, and it does not seem likely. The supporting cast is good as well. I particularly enjoyed the Bigfoot that sounded like Jimmy Stewart.

The music and sound effects sound great as well. And are always fit the situations. I don’t know how else to describe it so I will stop there, I think.

The controls are so simple and easy, anyone should be able to do it. The game uses the mouse and a simple two click control scheme, it’s very simple, and effective. There are a few keyboard commands for saving your game and what not.

There are also a ton of mini-games to play. And unlike most games, that feature mini-games, the ones in Sam And Max, are actually fun to play! Imagine that! There is Wak-A-Rat, and Sam and Max’s version of the old board game, Battleship, Car bomb to name just a few.

The Bad
I am tempted to leave this area blank but that would not be entirely true.

Well some bits seem unbalanced in terms of difficulty. As many of the earlier bits are very easy, but the latter stages of the game the puzzles get more obtuse.

The game is very short. Of course this is not uncommon, to the adventure game genre. I guess very few people want to play a 50 hr. Adventure game. Go figure. At least there is high replay value.

The Bottom Line
Sam and Max: Hit The Road, is the pinnacle of adventure games. If you are a fan of the genre you have to play it. Is it any wonder that the genre began to disappear after Sam and Max was released? No one else could top it. And the only other games that come close are other Lucasarts games, such as Grim Fandango. If you like adventure games, funny ones in particular, you owe it to yourself and humanity to play this game.

The Good
You know all those 3d still-life picture slide shows that call themselves adventure games? Those don't got nothing on this game. This game is hilarious. The best thing about Lucasarts adventure games is that you never ever forget the characters. Even the characters that play a minor role in the game have their own personality that you'll remember. Remember the pirates in the bar in "Secret of Monkey Island?" They were HILARIOUS. Evidence exists in too many forms to name in Sam & Max, but it adds another element to the unfogettableness and to the overall enjoyment to the game. You remember the locations. I have to say, the locations in this game are some of the funniest and the most random locations I've ever seen. The Mystery Vortex has to be the weirdest and funniest places ever, and Gator Golf is also way up there. I loved this game from beginning to end; you'll be really fortunate if you're lucky enough to find this game. You'l feel the same

The Bad
Kinda short. You never want this kind of game to end. Oh, and too bad the only version I had was the disk one. I wish I could have listened to all the voices.

The Bottom Line
Witness a true milestone in the history of adventure gaming by playing this game.

The Good
Hot off the success of Day of the Tentacle, LucasArts crafted another bizarre cartoony adventure game, and this time they upped the ante and delivered the most whacked-out adventure game ever and one (if not the!) best adventure game ever. Seriously, Sam & Max stands firmly as one of the most fantastic adventure games ever even when faced against LucasArts legendary collection of adventure games.

The game puts you in the shoes of the dynamic duo of Sam & Max, the Frelance Police (Tm), who take on the case of finding a missing bigfoot from the local circus. From that point on the game develops into a deranged road trip across the United States filled with equally deranged characters and puzzles to solve in order to single out whoever got away with the circus freaks and put a stop to his obviously machiavellian schemes involving .... shudder Country music...!

Your main avatar in the game is Sam, who (as the most rational and collected of the pair) goes around asking questions and getting items. Max, being the most perfect cartoon incarnation of all that is irreverent and chaotic, goes around raising havoc in the best tradition of Bart Simpson only with far more twisted and dark motivations. He moves around freely, poking and touching things and adding sarcastic remarks or exchanges with Sam whenever you try something in the game thus providing the right ying to Sam's yang and creating some truly amusing situations. He's even available as an individual "action" pointer, but be careful whenever using Max... dire consequences await!

Keeping in tune with the characters, the gags in the game are tremendously bizarre, but also tremendously funny and range from sight gags, to sarcastic remarks and situations (love the Virtual Reality sequence) as well as scatology, jabs at pop culture icons and enough bad jokes to make you die of laughter. I cannot stress how good the comedy writing in this game is, in fact for me (perhaps because of my rather twisted sense of humor) this stands as the number 1 comedy adventure game ever. That's right pal, take your Monkey Island and shove it below the equator!

The locations are some of the most imaginative places ever created for a videogame, with the mistery vortex taking all awards home, and these locations are all lovingly drawn and presented in fullscreen glory thanks to the new interface that thankfully removes the traditional SCUMM-bar that took 30 or so percent of screen room.

Furthermore even if the script wasn't as thight and well-written as it was, the game has plenty of other diversions in the form of memorable characters, multiple mini-games, and loads of funny things to try out and discover! Ain't that enough for you??

The Bad
Can be too weird for some people, and too hard too!! Some of the puzzles here are waaay into advanced territory, especially because of the incredibly crazy leaps of logic you have to take some times...

The Bottom Line
Laugh-out funny, with a clever script and even more clever writing. With enough technology upgrades to be a standout in it's time, winner mini-games like "Car Bomb" and loads of funny extras, a psychotic bunny/wolverine crossbreed and enough wacky and challenging puzzles to spare, Sam & Max is the adventure game to take with if you are going to a deserted island. (that and a computer to play it on!).

Man.... Max is my hero!! I want to be like him when I grow up!!!...well, except for the whole "going around naked poking at things" thing... I already do that on my own thank you very much.