Sam & Max Season One - Telltale - PC

[Samwise]

It's a series of point-and-click adventure games about a talking dog and his deranged rabbity thing sidekick "keeping the peace, violently if possible."  What's not to like?  Each episode is a few hours long, and the "season one" package of 6 episodes is a $30 download (individual episodes are $9 a pop), so you get a good amount of bang for your buck.  Each episode is a full game in its own right, with a single overarcing storyline connecting them.

How's the gameplay?  Pretty inventive as adventure games go.  There's a lot of the usual "use X object on Y character" and "explore this dialogue tree" sort of puzzle, but each episode will generally bring something fresh to the table as well.  For example, at one point in the first episode you're plunged into a surreal dream sequence that you have to invent as you go along in order to elicit a particular diagnosis from your psychiatrist.  In a later episode you have to lose a game of tic-tac-toe to a pathologically stupid game AI.  There are also a couple of high-speed car chases thrown in for variety.  The puzzles are for the most part pretty reasonable about giving you logical clues and not requiring you to play hunt-the-pixel, although I confess to resorting to Internet walkthroughs once or twice when I really wanted to get past a puzzle before going to sleep.

The writing is pretty sharp, with a pretty heavy dose of cartoony slapstick humor and the occasional jab at politics, geek culture, and Scientology.  The episodic format also lends itself well to running gags with recurring characters, some of whom I'd grown rather fond of by the time I finished Season One.  I'll definitely be giving Season Two a whirl once the next season package deal is out.

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Rating: Buy it.

[sidereal]

The Sam & Max Episodes are up on GameTap, which is the monthly fee PC gaming on demand client thingy.  I should write a review of it.  I use it a lot.  Anyway, I'm about halfway through season one and it's great stuff.  Adventure games are basically just clicking around watching a story and then periodically clicking things in the right order to solve a puzzle, so they have to have a good story and reasonable puzzles.  S&M has great writing, and the puzzles are indeed reasonable.

[Phildo]

I agree.  Sam & Max is awesome.  Available on Steam as well as Game Tap.

[Samwise]

And on the Telltale website, too, for the same as the Steam price.  (Not sure if the version you get there is DRMed in some new and exciting way or not.  I got mine on Steam as an impulse buy.)

[eldaec]

Available on Steam as well as Game Tap.

One episode at a time is FREE on Game Tap.

Currently they're on 'Abe Lincoln Must Die!'

[Morfiend]

I havent played a good adventure game for like, oh, 15 years or so. I think I might buy this for myself for Xmas.

[Samwise]

Rather than post a new BiiF, I'll just necro this thread to say that Season Two is quite good as well.  Same engine, same formula, mostly the same characters, same sharp writing.

Did somebody say.... BIRTHDAY?

[Sky]

Hmm. 6 eps in season one? I almost picked up a bargain package at walmart for $10, but it said 3 eps. I had thought it was more and avoided it.

[Samwise]

6 episodes in season 1, 5 in season 2.  Official site.