Sam & Max: Hit the Road

The Good
First of all, the graphics are surprisingly good and have a cool comic-book style that you will love. However, the best thing about this game is it's areas and characters. You'll find weird attractions in the USA such as world's largest ball of twine, a bungee jumping spot set in the nose of president Lincoln at Mt. Rushmore and a weird area ignoring gravity laws called the Mystery Vortex. You play as Sam a dog detective and his pal Max, a rabbit. Max can collect weird items which prove more useful than you think. You may even need to use Max at certain points. The game can be very hilarious at times and once you play for a while you'll be hooked. Sam and Max are trying to find a missing Bigfoot and thus stumble upon weird and funny characters such as Conroy Bumpus, a country singer whose only problem is is small height, an old B-movie actress and an Indian telekinetic tool bending guy. These totally weird and crazy things make it original, which is good because otherwise it would just be another basic point and click game.

The Bad
Sometimes it's difficult what you need to do next, which makes you want to use a walkthrough constantly.

The Bottom Line
A brilliant and totally crazy game that will get you hooked, especially if you liked Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion.

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
When I first saw this title in the stores I wasnt very impressed with the idea of a comic book game. But when I gave this title a chance WOW! I was impressed that this game could made me laugh that much. Years later when I got married I showed my wife the "wack a rat" scene. She still laughs about it. One of the things I usually dont like about adventure games is that when you finish the game there is virtualy no replay value left. Some games will try to help this with more than one path to finsh a section or multiple endings. But not Sam & Max, they simply placed all kinds of great jokes and comments and hid them all through the game. A good example is in the begining of the game when you are outside for the first time, you can enter a baby products store and talk to the owner. (I wont spoil it for you) I dont know how many times I have played this game but when I cant find a good adventure title on the market (which is been just about every day for the last 4 years) I play this great old classic. Rest assured this game has more laughs per square inch of cd than any other game.

The Bad
They didn't make a sequal.

ENOUGH AREADY LUCASARTS! WHERE IS SAM & MAX II?

The Bottom Line
The age of this title may be showing. But if you can stand a little out of date graphics then..... YOU HAVE TO GET THIS TITLE. WSM