Sam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse Episode 1 Review

You’re a demonic little imp, aren’t you Max?

Steve Purcell is a genius. That’s all that really has to be said. Sam & Max is the greatest dog & rabbit comedy detective duo ever! Long ago, these two were featured in, probably, the greatest adventure game ever, Sam & Max Hit the Road. A wacky tale of cross country intrigue starring Sam, a sarcastic talking dog and his partner Max, a hyperactive, psychotic rabbity…thing. What set this game apart from the rest was that the humor was irreverent. Random. Adult Swim style random. A leap from the somewhat serious adventure games from Sierra (like King’s Quest) where the humor was mostly in the number of ways you could die. Well Sam & Max are back folks and I’m here to tell you…its good!

Sam & Max Season 3 Episode 1: The Penal Zone true to classic Sam & Max form, is big on irreverence…and laughs! Things actually start from the end as our intrepid duo are trapped aboard a giant space ship that is currently rampaging around the city lead by General Skunkape (a giant purple alien space Ape hell bent on WORLD DESTRUCTION…yeah). You play this opening sequence with the goal of sending Skunkape back into the Penal Zone (apparently some kind of galactic prison colony…yeah, like the Phantom Zone in Superman II). This sequence actually acts as a tutorial as you’re introduced to the game mechanics.

Actually, it plays like every adventure game that you’ve played in the last 20 years; for the unfamiliar its basically walking around from one location to another, clicking on the static scenery for humorous descriptions, picking up anything that’s not nailed down and then using it to solve various situations or puzzles. The twist this time around is that Max has psychic powers (no really!) than he can use to change himself into different objects, transport himself (and anything that touches him) to a different location provided you have the telephone number (…don’t ask) and seeing the future! After you’ve sent Skunkape back to the Penal Zone then the game REALLY begins…at the beginning!

That’s right, the entire opening sequence is actually the end of the game, which actually was a shared vision of the future by our heroes. So the real meat of the game is figuring out how Sam & Max end up on a spaceship, with a giant talking space gorilla, an alien brain in a jar and a half dead Moleman in a terrarium.

yeah, this game is weird! But that’s just standard fare for Sam & Max, freelance police. If you’ve ever played a Sam & Max game before then this will be quite familiar to you. Coming directly from Sam & Max Hit the Road I have to say that i’m a bit late to the party with the reboot of this series from TellTale Games as I haven’t played Seasons 1 or 2, so I’m only familiar with the titular pair and the Moleman Harry. No matter, if you’re a newbie like me, you don’t really need prior knowledge of the series in order to get the full enjoyment of it. There’s plenty of exposition as to the events of what happened in Season 1 & 2 in the opening act, like how Max somehow ended up as President of the United States (damn Recall Election!).

But Sam & Max games are all about wacky humor. And irreverence. And mischief. And this game has all of that…in spades! The script is great but be prepared for a LOT of pop culture references (everything from The Chronicles of Narnia to Millia Jovovich) some of which might be pretty obscure for younger viewers (the entire episode itself mocks the 1960s Television show The Twilight Zone). The voice acting is spot on, Sam & Max sound great with William Kasten (Max) in particular delivering his psychotic observations with gusto. This is where the game shines, as it should since adventure games are only as good as their scripts (don’t worry, the script is good too!).

The puzzles aren’t too complicated and the gimmick of Max’s “future vision” (which is activated by an old 80’s style Viewfinder) is pretty cool and implemented quite well. As with most games of this ilk (Monkey Island..etc) much of the humor comes from simply exploring your surroundings and hearing the characters comment on various objects and people and this game does not disappoint.

If there’s only one drawback is that this game is pretty short, as with most episodic fair. Expect to beat it in a few hours, though TellTale Games is pretty good with their release schedule and Episode 2 is right around the corner.

TellTale Games is one of the few companies to get Episodic gaming right as they have a clear end in mind (so you don’t have to worry about glaring continuity problems) and only release a new series AFTER its already completed so releases are timely (one a month from April until August). Pricing is great too, a one time payment of 34.95 and you get all 5 episodes, one a month from April until August. IF that’s not enough, after the season is over, you can opt to get a hard copy on DVD for the cost of shipping (this only applies for the PC version however).

Overall this is a great start to the season, its classic Sam & Max wackiness at its…well, wackiness! Highly recommended for fans of both adventure games and …wackiness!

Definite buy!