I haven’t done a game review in a while, have I? It’s not for a lack of gaming, that’s for certain – I definitely have a few things to say about my experiences with “Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe” and “Katamari Damacy.” But what got me out of my procrastination was finishing the third season of Sam & Max last night, and finding myself just a little overwhelmed at how far the series has come over the years.
For anyone unfamiliar, “Sam & Max” is an adventure game comedy about two freelance cops in New York – one’s a dog, the other’s a rabbit, and they go around solving bizarre “crimes” of a paranormal nature. The first game was back in 1993 with “Sam & Max Hit The Road” where they travel across America looking for a missing Bigfoot. A few years ago, Telltales Games started making new, shorter games in episodic format, and released them as seasons (much like a TV show.) It’s been very successful since then and “The Devil’s Playhouse” is Season 3 of the series.
I’ll keep this review of “The Devil’s Playhouse” as spoiler-free as possible, but I really wanted to comment on some of the more innovative features of the new five-episode season. The general premise of the story is that Max suddenly develops psychic abilities, and becomes a target for many power-hungry villains. Throughout the adventure, you discover special “Toys of Power” that unlock even more abilities, such as Future Vision, Teleportation, and Shape-Shifting. This lends to some interesting puzzle solving as you have to use Max’s psychic powers in tandem with Sam’s inventory to progress throughout the game. This results in a lot of unusual – but brilliant – situations where you’re required to think outside-the-box, especially in the scenarios where you have to experience the story non-chronologically. Experimenting with the powers often leads to success, or to some incredibly funny and/or awkward scenes.
The other thing that stands out about Season 3 is how grown-up the series has become at this point. The non-sequiturs and infantile humor are still abundant, but the story and characters have gone through all kinds of development. Everyone has a back-story, their own share of secrets, and intricate relationships. On top of that, the story takes some very dark turns – not funny dark, as is tradition for the series – but, well… let’s just say characters die. Good characters – that I like. And I feel sad when they die – yet I want to keep playing. It’s very involving. The words “epic” and “emotional” normally never apply to Sam & Max (the series specializes in general silliness,) but this season is a big exception.
In spite of my love for this season, it’s still hard to recommend to everyone. To really appreciate it, you have to go through the first two seasons, learn about the characters, and follow some very important sub-plots which factor into this season. On top of that, if you don’t share the game’s unique sense of humor and abnormality, you’ll probably get fed up or offended after one episode. Sam & Max can be an acquired taste for some people. Fortunately for me, I’ve been following their work since I was a kid, so it’s already part of my personality.
That out of the way, I just want to share some personal thoughts on the various episodes:
Episode 1, The Penal Zone: I thought this was a great opener for the season, as it introduced me to the new puzzle-solving system, and the story played out like a blend of “The Twilight Zone” meets “The X-Files.” Max’s Future-Vision ability really makes this episode fun.
Episode 2, The Tomb of Sammun-Mak: This was the first episode of the season that truly blew my mind. Explaining why would spoil it, but I can say that Sam sports a pretty awesome mustache in this one.
Episode 3, They Stole Max’s Brain: Oddly enough, I didn’t like this episode. It starts out great, but gets disappointing very quickly as they rush from one plot to another. Then there’s the question of all the red herrings left around the game – buttons and levers that do nothing, items I can’t take, pointless shape-shifting forms, a completely useless new character – it’s like they forgot to put in the puzzles – and the ones they left in can be easily solved by accident. Personally, I think they let the new guy design this episode.
Episode 4, Beyond the Alley of the Dolls: This one redeems Episode 3. With a darker tone, some great cinematography, and one heck of a huge EPIC pay-off, this was my favorite of the season until…
Episode 5, The City That Dares Not Sleep: In which they took the huge epic pay-off from Episode 4 and made a whole episode about it. The puzzles in this one were very fun to figure out – albeit too easy at times – and there was some very creative elements to the overall design. This one turned out to be especially heavy on the drama, however, as well as convoluted and bizarre sub-plots (Sybil’s story is a little too weird, even for me.) And the ending… oh, man. Right now, the Telltale forums are abuzz with people debating the ending like it was “Inception.” Some hate it, some love it. Personally, I think it’s one of the best adventure game endings ever written, but maybe that’s just me.
All in all, a great season, a great adventure, and some great fun. All the more reason to look forward to Telltale’s “Back to the Future” later this year.
I probably didn’t mention this before, but I got a job last week at the airport doing shipping and handling. This has been cutting into a lot of my time which is why I’m not posting as often. It’s a very hectic and confusing job, and incredibly painful given how most of my day is spent lifting boxes filled with machine parts. Fortunately, I get to learn to drive a forklift next week.
I get very little spare time, but I make the most of what I can working on the games. I’m already working on the final battle in SQInc, which is arguably the most stupidly complicated thing I’ve ever animated. Will it be worth it? God, I hope so. Although I should really consider investing in motion-capture technology if I’m going to keep pushing my animation like this. Otherwise, from here on out, all my final battles will be two guys having staring contests.
I was going to say something else, but I’m drawing a blank. So here’s something Mr. Burns related. And also one of my favoritest things ever.
Today marks a milestone as I finally add something new to the “Games” tab here on the site. Chapter 1 of “The Silver Lining” is out, and it’s available for download over at the main site. Some of you might remember the demo we released for it a few years ago, and that’s basically what Chapter 1 is, in terms of puzzles and gameplay. What’s been added is a lot of polishing, as well as cut-scenes. Lots and lots of cut-scenes. And some really cool enviromental effects. And bug-fixes! Graham no longer glides around the island anymore! It’s still a very short chapter, but the game will expand nicely in later parts.
It should be noted that this game does not contain any explosions or farting ducks, as the writing staff has been very wise to keep the script away from me. I have a general idea of where the plot is going, but there’s been a lot of changes backstage, so when all five chapters are finished, it’ll be just as big a surprise to me. I could just download it off the SVN and peak ahead, but it would ruin the suspense.
Personally, I’ve been really impressed with everything they’ve done with the game since the Beta version. My role in this chapter has been limited to animation and some voice-work. The intro and the outro, for example, are my big babies this time around. In fact, one of the directors asked me to re-animate the big five-minute intro sequence about four times, causing me to go into a raging fit on multiple occasions. I’ve learned to be a lot more zen about it as a result. It’s good field practice for what to expect in a real animation studio.
Fun Trivia: I voice the first Winged Guard and only have two short lines in this game. Both of them sound like I’m channeling Kermit the Frog trying to be the Colonel from Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
Not-So-Fun Trivia: King Graham does not actually play a saxaphone in this game.
But-On-Second-Thought Trivia: It just occurred to me that I have a whole hard drive full of 3D King’s Quest character models – fully rigged and ready to animate. Man, I could do so much evil with these.
At long last, one of the three big projects I’m working on will be finally released as of July 10th. “The Silver Lining” is a King’s Quest fan-game developed by the massive and talented team with Phoenix Online studios, and yours truly has been responsible for a whole ton of the animation in this game. The game will be released in an episodic format starting with chapter 1 next month and so on (or until we’ve got everything in place.) Either way, it’s a BOM milestone. Something I’m working on is getting finished!
It’s all finalized today. House is sold, papers are all signed, cheques have been deposited, and I’m now living in a house with little to no internet access and a broken e-mail address that is taking Shaw forever to fix.
I’m getting a lot done in terms of home renovations and working on the game, but don’t be surprised if there’s fewer updates here. There’s only two computers in this house connected to the internet; one is password-protected, and the other is virus-ridden, forcing me to copy-paste every 20 seconds. I’m working on fixing this problem, but until then here’s the new trailer for the official Monkey Island 2 remake (I have to admit, their 3D remake looks way better than my MS Paint remake.)
Well, now. Here is the kind of news that would make my head explode fifty times over if physics permitted. I was going on the Telltale website to download and replay “Tales of Monkey Island” when right on their front page was the announcement of their next two adventure game series:
“Back to the Future” and “Jurassic Park.”
Fresh off of finishing the brilliant “Ghostbusters” for the PS3, I’ve been itching to see more childhood favorites return to PCs and consoles. In fact, just the other week, me and Brit sat down to watch BTTF again, and I kept thinking that the movie would work so well as an adventure game. I had the same gut feeling when a group of us watched JP months earlier. Now all I want to see is “Bill and Ted” make their way into a game and my life shall be complete.
In the light of this news, I actually sent another follow-up to Telltale’s HR department. I liked where this company was going before. Now I’m convinced I need to be in that office.
“Back to the Future” is a good choice for this company in my opinion. Their last two seasons of “Sam & Max” relied heavily on fourth-dimensional thinking in order to solve puzzles and tell the story, so bringing in the DeLorean wouldn’t stray far from what they’re already good at.
“Jurassic Park,” on the other hand, is a little different for the company, given how Telltale is renowned for making comedies. They have had success with their CSI games, but in this case, we’re dealing with a horror franchise where in every movie, people are trying to escape an island full of killer dinosaurs. So they’ll really have to expand on the situations and characters if they plan to make it episodic (unless they make it a comedy where we get to play as velociraptors trying to start a rock band.)
King Graham returns in an all-new adventure! What perils await him in this new world? Will he ever find true love? Who dares to stand in his way? These questions (and more!) are soon to be answered!
For anyone unfamiliar, “Sam & Max” is an adventure game comedy about two freelance cops in New York – one’s a dog, the other’s a rabbit, and they go around solving bizarre “crimes” of a paranormal nature. The first game was back in 1993 with “Sam & Max Hit The Road” where they travel across America looking for a missing Bigfoot. A few years ago, Telltales Games started making new, shorter games in episodic format, and released them as seasons (much like a TV show.) It’s been very successful since then and “The Devil’s Playhouse” is Season 3 of the series.
Today marks a milestone as I finally add something new to the “Games” tab here on the site. Chapter 1 of “The Silver Lining” is out, and it’s available for download over at 
Well, now. Here is the kind of news that would make my head explode fifty times over if physics permitted. I was going on the Telltale website to download and replay “Tales of Monkey Island” when right on their front page was the