Sam & Max: Episode 2 - Situation: Comedy

The Good
People were waiting for the return of the Freelance Police alias Sam & Max. The two characters were popular in the nineties and despite an announced return, the game was cancelled. Steve Purcell, the duo's daddy (or creator if you prefer) managed to get his license back from the original publisher and brought it to TellTale Games.

TellTale Games is a developer studios, specialized now in the episodic format and in the comedy sector. Well, if you except the serious CSI games (3 Dimensions of Murder and Hard Evidence), TellTale is really a team with great humor: Bone, Sam & Max, Strong Bad and now Wallace & Gromit. In 2006, TellTale launched the first season of Sam & Max with the premiere episode, Culture Shock, where former child stars, the Soda Poppers triplets, were damaging the city, eeer, I mean, Whizzer was giving free videos in Bosco's Inconvenience, to the dismay of the owner, Peppers put Sybil Pandemik in a closed and was convinced to be her and Specs was doing tags with Brady Culture's face. So, it was up to the duo, Sam the detective dog and being less violent than Max (in theory) and Max the assistant rabbit, more violent and with more humor than Sam.

Last episode finished on a close-up on a TV where someone seemed to be under influence, like the Poppers previously. And indeed, Sam receives the order to free the audience of Myra Stump's show, taken as hostages by Myra herself for three days. So, Sam & Max go to the TV studios and try to be guests of the talk-show. But they have to be famous and as we're on a TV set, well, fame can be very easy...

What is really well thought here is that Sam & Max are an episodic series, presented as a TV show with opening and ending credits. So, will it be a parody of what TellTale is currently presenting?

Sam & Max aren't really interested by the fame (or perhaps Max is), all they want is cases, cases and cases. But if they can have their moment of glory why not? So, the storyline who was a non-sense in Culture Shock is beginning to be more structured in Situation Comedy. Apparently, it's not Brady who was the mastermind of hypnosis. Someone else seems to be behind it as Myra was also under influence. So, the main plot is revealed: who is behind the hypnosis? Only the finale episode will tell.

And as for the storyline of the episode, it's not anymore doing a non-sense. No, here, it's about a talk-show host, taking her audience as hostage, for a non-stop talk show. So, even if true evil isn't present (or is it?), it's already more important than inoffensive child stars that were only tagging, giving free videos or impersonating someone else. But behind the quest of being famous, you can smell a lot of humor or comedy.

If Sam & Max Hit the Road was already a classic adventure game, Sam & Max 2006 is also continuing this. It's a point-&-click game, where you have to click for interacting with your environment (getting an item, using it on something or someone), for walking or for talking. Object are stored in an box at the bottom of the screen, click on it for seeing them. Choose one and then interact with it by clicking on other objects or on characters. Also, if you're using weapons, you can choose your target. For coming back to your normal cursor, just right-click. So, yeah, the strong point of that kind of gameplay is its intuitiveness. You don't have to be a master in it for finishing the game, contrary to some games (like fighting games or even FPS). If intuitive, the gameplay will be efficient... unless you're taking this kind of gameplay for driving. TellTale did that mistake.

The graphics are colored. Sam & Max isn't in need of realistic graphics. So, the cartoonish graphics are really adapted to this game. Second thing to mention is that it's a good 3D. Sometimes a little angular but it's quickly forgiven. If Sam & Max's neighbourhood isn't going under change (except for Bosco and Sybil), the other locations are. You're not going into an asylum now but on TV set. And it's very varied. You'll find parodies of Pop/American Idol with Embarassing Idol, of sitcoms with Midtown Cowboys, of cooking shows with Cooking Without Looking, of Who wants to be a millionaire with Who's never get Million and of talk show with Myra Stump's show.

The music didn't change since the last episode except for the TV credits, so, you're not disappointed by it. It's really sticking to a parody/comedy game, just so fresh and so groovy.

The voice acting is still good. The director was really marvelous (and her laugh priceless), Hugh Bliss sounds like a guru and Myra was really intimidating. As for Sam after having take some helium, his modified voice is really reaching the top for it.

The replay value is high. In fact, mostly of the dialogs that are not important for the game are there for the "Easter Eggs", or the "Did you try..." as written on official websites. Generally, it's not bringing something to the story, it's much more for getting funny things. For example, you can cause try every line in Midtown Cowboys or try every recipe in Cooking without looking. You can also find some Easter Eggs like Brady Culture's hair in the closet, as a trophy. It's reminding me of another game, Medal of Honor Pacific Assault where accomplishing some actions can get you some items as souvenirs (a Japanese Flag, a pilot's goggles, etc..).

If the replay value is high, the lifetime if you're playing it again and again will be much longer than a simple play. I've told you that it was a short game, the lack of lengthiness justified by the fact that it's an episode from a bigger game. Put all the episodes from season 1 and you'll have a reasonable game in terms of lifetime.

The Bad
So, what are the main flaws in Sam & Max? In reality, for me, they can be found in the gameplay. Not the main one but...

In Culture Shock, the driving gameplay was also something not intuitive when it's coming to driving a car. You're tempted to use your arrow keys for leading your car where you want. For the racers, it's also associated to a wheel. Well, for Sam & Max, Telltale did take the point-&-click gameplay for the WHOLE game. So, you have to point where you want to go while driving. By chance, in Situation Comedy, it's only one sequence and you're not forced to move your car. You just have to shoot the Skinbodies' car for making it move (shoot on the left for moving it to the right and shoot on the right for making it move to the left).

But the gameplay isn't about interaction or driving, it's also a matter of conversation. Sam is the main character you can choose his line (because you're controlling him, that's the reason). If most of the dialogue aren't going to help you to advance, a few lines are important. And it was already the case in Culture Shock. There are too much lines. Fortunately, they're full of humor, so, it's not boring. But it can be pretty long for you.

You can sometimes choose Max's line. The problem is that in Situation Comedy, you don't have the occasion to do so. I was missing it when I was trying to get Sam famous. But then, when I managed to be a guest on Myra's set, I had the freedom to choose Max as talking character. For nothing, because Myra isn't interested by Max's stories. Great. If it was just for humoring, Telltale could have passed on this one. Just give me a Max whose lines I can choose for advancing in the story, like in Culture Shock.

The Bottom Line
Situation Comedy is already of higher quality than the premiere episode, with a more elaborated storyline (though it's still a simple one), with a great parody of TV and perhaps the most important with recurring characters. If Bosco, Jimmy Two Teeth and Sybil were obviously called to be present in each episode, now, the Soda Poppers will clearly appear in each episode (if not, in the majority of the season) and that Myra or Hugh Bliss will not be forgotten. I even think that we'll find again the director. That's the wonder of caring about Sam & Max profiles here, you already know who will be coming back and who will not. The gameplay is still effective and even the driving part is less boring and frustrating than in the first episode.

For concluding, if you don't have Situation Comedy, go for it, it's really worthy of your money. If you don't have a choice but to buy the Season 1 DVD, go also for it, after all, you have some goodies that can pleasure you.

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