Release Date: 17/10/2006
Played On: Win
Available On: Wii / Win / XB360
Time Played: 6h 6m
Progress: Completed
Developer: Telltale Games
Publisher: Telltale Games
I've never been one of those people who believes media classics to be untouchable and something pristine and perfect. Perhaps I'm not that sentimental when it comes to the things I remember enjoying as a kid, or maybe I've seen nostalgia used far too often in marketing empty promises. Actually, I put it down to being a fan of Blade Runner.
You might be wondering what the hell Blade Runner has to do with a Sam And Max video game, but I do have a point to make, even if it's a tenuous one. Any fan of Blade Runner will know what it's like to be into something and have it changed by its creators. This is a movie that's had four main releases (there are more, but I'll stick to the big four), with each release changing the movie quite significantly. One has a series of voice over narration, another doesn't. One has more scenes that were originally cut, another has an entirely different ending.
The point is that even though some fans of Blade Runner will hold fast to their favourite version, this is a movie that's hard to get attached to. It's undoubtedly one of my personal favourites, but the latest version was released in 2007; twenty five years after the original hit cinemas. Hence, if you're the kind of person who thinks there should be one definitive version of a story and that's the only one that's allowed to be told, then you might have a hard time with Blade Runner. I haven't even mentioned the (albeit brilliant) sequel that came out a cool thirty five years later.
To bring this all back to Sam And Max and video games in general, my point is that when I load up a new version of an old classic, I don't care too much about how it relates to the original. After all, I figure that if they mess it up then the original still exists and I can go back to it whenever I please. I could go back to movies again and talk about the Ghost In The Shell remake, but I think you get my point either way.
Sam And Max Hit The Road was one of those games that I spent way too much time with in the 90s. It's also one of those games that I never got around to finishing because I'd always get stuck on a puzzle, or forget where I was supposed to go next, only to eventually restart it later when I wanted another crack at it. Not only is it from the glory days of moon-logic point and click adventures, but this was one of the classics for nonsensical solutions and pixel hunting.
Then in 2006 we get the first episode of Sam And Max: Season One (aka Sam And Max Save The World, but it says Season One in my Steam library so that's what I'm going with). It turns out that Telltale Games were gobbling up licenses to give the three dimension point and click treatment, and this one was a pretty big deal.
The upshot is that this new version of the game would be based on the comic book series by none other than Sam And Max creator: Steve Purcell. If I tell you that I don't mind new versions of classic ideas, then I really don't mind when the new version is made by the original creator. Thus, we're starting from a good point where Telltale have the opportunity to bring the comic book material back into the video game world.
Remember though, this is Telltale we're talking about, so as much as I enjoy their games, they were very good at churning out different licenses using the same engine. It's fortunate that they've developed some of my favourite licenses (Back To The Future and Bone being two of the earlier ones), so they've pulled my attention quite easily. However, even as a fan I'll concede that Telltale just applied the same formula to every license they received, with very little iteration between each release.
Of course, the same can be said for Sam And Max: Season One, which is immediately understandable if you've ever played another Telltale developed game. The main gameplay is driven by a three dimensional point and click system that involved moving characters around and interacting with NPCs and things in the environment. Just like the classic adventure games, there are items to collect and logic stretching puzzles to solve in order to progress the story. There's nothing new in this game's mechanics, but they work fine enough.
Additionally, this is pre-Walking Dead Telltale, so the graphics even have the same aesthetic as other cartoon adaptations. Everything has a rounded edge and flat colours, much like the Bone games or even the excellent Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People. All of this is to say that the appeal of playing an early-era Telltale game is the license itself, and probably not the gameplay.
Thankfully there's enough going on in Sam And Max: Season One to appeal to fans of the characters, even if it's a little watered down in places. Although I do have to question whether I've just grown up enough to see these characters from a different perspective. Maybe I'm better at point and click adventure game puzzles than I used to be. Whatever the case, I feel like this iteration of the series is definitely aimed more toward the younger market.
Then again, Sam And Max have never been completely appropriate for really young audiences, based on the fact that they're quite keen on violent solutions and jokes. What makes me think I've outgrown the game is that everything felt a little bit straight forward and paint-by-numbers. It almost seems that because I was looking for moon-logic and nonsense everywhere, I actually found the puzzles fairly easy to figure out.
However, I'm also not the kind of person who plays point and click adventures purely for the puzzles. It's fun to have a challenge along the way, but what I really enjoy is uncovering the often wacky stories that make these games so compelling. Sam And Max Hit The Road was gripping all the way through as it was crammed full of surrealism and unbridled creativity. It's one of the reasons I love stories in general, because a good writer can take you on a journey that's only limited by their imagination.
To this end, Sam And Max Season One hits the nail on the head. The plot that unfolds across each episode is just as insane and clever as I wanted it to be. Yes there are probably a bunch of plot-holes along the way, and on more than one occasion something completely out of context comes along to tie everything back together.
Playing through a Sam And Max story feels a little like trying to keep a bag of angry cats contained, even though they're scratching and struggling to break free. This game is no different and it's the capture of this very spirit that leads me to be completely satisfied with Season One as a legitimate Sam And Max game. There's enough that's faithful to the original in both the gameplay and the title characters, but everything else is a fresh new adventure to embark on (I haven't read the comics, so it's all new to me even though some of it was no doubt in print before the game did its own version).
I can see how some die-hard fans of the original might not like a new three dimensional take on the game (let alone the genre). I'll even agree with them to a point, as it does feel quite different to Hit The Road in a lot of ways. However, the real charm is that the writing and creativity have been carried through faithfully, which makes all the difference for me.
One of Telltale's strengths was staying faithful to its source material, which I think is what made them so successful at their peak. It's why telling an original story in the Walking Dead universe went down so well with series fans, who can be quite fanatic. Even the Game Of Thrones game managed to escape potential criticism of the story, even though the game itself wasn't received exceptionally well.
Sam And Max: Season One benefits from being made in the Telltale era before all the "so-and-so will remember that" choices and on-rails dialogue trees. This was when their bread and butter came from adapting traditional point and click adventures into a three dimensional space, and they were actually pretty good at it. Exploring and interacting with Sam And Max's world is a whole lot of fun in the same way that it was so many years ago in Hit The Road.
The other major benefit comes from having genuinely funny source material that's faithfully reproduced. It's a pleasure clicking on everything in every scene, because half the time it's accompanied by a witty quip that adds to the overall experience. Humour has always been a challenge for video games, but point and click adventures are one of those genres that seems to lend itself to a bit of silly fun.
I suppose that's why I really enjoyed this take on Sam And Max, as many of the core elements that make adventure games so appealing to me are still present. Sure everything looks different and moving around in three dimensions comes with its own challenges at times, but what makes these games special hasn't been lost here.
Definitely worth checking out for anyone who's played the original and enjoyed its tone and sense of humour. Just remember that we're all a little older these days, so some of the puzzles and situations might not be as confronting as they once were.
Plus, even if the modern changes aren't really your thing, the original still exists. Play that instead. Although there might be something for everyone in Season One that tickles the old cockles and reminds us why we enjoyed the classics in the first place.