by
Cole Travis
in General | December 18, 2021
When you think of classic gaming genres, nothing hit home in the early to mid-2000s like point-and-click adventure titles. Games like The Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and even titles like the original Myst are games that will ensnare players with gripping puzzles or witty stories. One of the games that dominated the mid to late 2000s was the Sam & Max series. Developed by the now-defunct Telltale Games, players will control a freelance cop who will solve mysteries in the most bizarre ways.
However, with games like this disappearing from the mainstream, not many people are willing to play point-and-click adventure games nowadays. Even though this is actually the era of remakes and remasters. Now, Telltale has become Skunkape, an indie developer that has enough people from Telltale and enough money to be willing to go to great lengths to remake some of their most popular titles. And a year ago, they did just that with Sam & Max. Comedy series about Sam, the talking dog, and Max, the crazy rabbit, two freelance cops in a world as strange as theirs. Now, it’s all about Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space.
Sam & Max Save the World is a remaster of the first season of their point-and-click series. This game sold very well. However, there are some compromises. The writing of this game is terrible at best, with some “modernized” jokes, which mean nothing. The developers removed the joke from the game, although it was more relevant to adults and not as offensive as expected. The game also removes the previous voice actor for the character Bosco, who was originally voiced by Joey Camen.
According to the developers, they changed the character’s voice because the voice actor was white and not African-American, as implied in the game. Although many fans who grew up with the original version were annoyed to see Bosco’s voice actor changed, they were more upset that the joke was removed.
However, with the reveal that the second season will be remastered, many players are worried about whether they are willing to change the comedy for Sam & Max. What else do they want to change going into season two?
Skunkape promised that nothing would change in the second season of the game, even though they basically “lied” before the launch of the first season. The words of a developer promising one thing but delivering another didn’t convince fans at first. Although, with the release of the second season, does Skunkape keep its promise? Or is this just telling fans what they want to hear?
These games are essentially puzzle games that are linked together through a narrative story for those unfamiliar with point-and-click adventure titles. Players can move around the environment with the WASD keys or use the mouse to “point and click” objects to make the character move. Items also play a role, which can be seen if players click on the cardboard box in the bottom corner of the screen or press “Tab” on PC. Throughout the game, players will mostly control Sam; he was the one who did all the heavy lifting. Nearly everything in the world can be interacted with, providing some kind of commentary from Sam, Max, or both. While not all of it is used to advance the story, the duo’s commentary adds to the sense of the world.
Since point-and-click adventure games are a mixture of narrative stories, the puzzles will have the same world logic. Since this game is a comedy genre, players have to understand the minds of the characters and how they both solve seemingly nonsensical but very logical puzzles.
A great example of this indirect puzzle solving comes from the first episode, where Sam & Max are forced to exorcise a demon from Santa Claus. The context of all these events is that a giant robot was sent to kill them, and this robot seems to be from Santa. To carry out this exorcism, the two need to gather “the four horsemen of the apocalypse action figures” and place them around a magnetic pole. However, they discover that the action figures they need have coincidentally been delivered their way. On their way home from the North Pole, the two of them now have to find a way to get the action figure from their neighbor. One of them is a rat named Jimmy who has installed a boxing ring inside the corpse of the giant robot. The duo must win the championship to get the action figures, but they can’t get inside the robot to fight Jimmy.
The answer to this puzzle lies in one of the many items Sam & Max retrieve. This particular puzzle requires Sam & Max to use boxing action figures they looted from the north pole, which can be easily missed if the player isn’t exploring. Players will then play three rounds of punch-out style minigames using these boxing action figures. When they win, they get the horse, but losing the championship, Jimmy then loses all hope of living, stating that boxing is the only thing he has left. Now, Sam & Max must find a way to persuade their little neighbor.
However, the answer only comes later, as they realize that the demon is not possessing Santa, but rather one of the elves, and Santa is trying to stop him. While the devil is on the loose, Sam & Max must collect all three Christmas spirits: past, present and future. Going back in time, they realize that the mistake they have to correct is to return Jimmy’s lucky boxing gloves so he can become a champion and help his son’s condition. The problem is that Sam & Max don’t have boxing gloves. The only place they can find him is with the current Jimmy. However, they couldn’t get the gloves unless they persuaded him.
The answer requires the use of other prizes that can be looted from the North Pole, the world’s simplest labyrinth. This small one-turn maze can then be placed in front of Jimmy’s hole in their office. Then, after turning on the TV, Jimmy’s wife would walk out, thinking her husband was lazing around, only to somehow get lost in the maze. Sam is then able to bag Jimmy’s wife and bring her to the present to degrade her husband. This will give Max enough time to grab the boxing gloves from the current Jimmy, so they can get past Jimmy.
This cartoon logic is found throughout the game. The puzzles are not too complicated, as context clues through dialogue can help players find the answers.
Being a game that focuses on narrative, the game’s writing and story are a very important part of the experience. Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space takes place after Season 1. Players should know what happened in the first season before starting the second season. Sam & Max is known for its raunchy and sometimes offensive humor as the original concept for the comic came from the writer’s denigration of the characters his brothers created.
With the Season 1 remaster also censoring some jokes from the game’s original release, players are also hoping the second season doesn’t suffer the same fate. Fortunately, this did not happen, and Skunkape’s promises were not in vain. This game does include some raunchier jokes.
One of the most offensive jokes kept this season was Timmy Two-Teeth, Jimmy’s son. This is a parody of Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol, which plays into the Christmas spirit storyline. Timmy Two-Teeth suffers from terminal Tourette’s syndrome, which causes him to curse uncontrollably. However, most of the swearing is censored for comedic effect in both versions.
Many find this offensive to people suffering from Tourette’s syndrome, but Skunkape stands by it. Later writings are also parodies of other literary genres, such as the character Flint Paper, a “private criminal” who spends more time beating up thugs than solving cases. The constant need for violence or banter between the two keeps players invested in the strange world of the characters. The dialogue also proves to be the most enjoyable part, with both of them cracking jokes or worrying about their own safety over anyone else’s.
Compared to the original version, which was available as free DLC to those who purchased the game, the game runs better than any other version to date. I ran the game on PC, with an RTX 2060 Super and Ryzen 3600 with 32 GB RAM. The game runs at a very smooth framerate, and so far I haven’t had any problems while playing. Telltale, and now Spunkape, have always been companies that optimize their titles for older hardware beyond new consoles. This game can run on hardware with medium to low specifications.
The audio for Sam & Max has been faithfully remastered for modern sound systems. The game’s soundtrack has been remastered with a live band, providing all of Sam & Max’s original songs with new arrangements that players will remember for years to come. (my personal favorite is the office theme). It is highly recommended that players wear headphones as the music is some of the best of the point and click titles.
The audio for the characters has also been remastered. Sam & Max still uses the same recording from the original version. However, the original version had problems because the audio was compressed. The audio used in the remaster, apart from the Bosco re-recordings, is all uncompressed, making for crystal clear audio. There aren’t many sound cues in this game, but playing this game without sound would be a disservice as the audio in every aspect is very well done in every level.
The Sam & Max community is small. There are many community discord servers, which can be found by fans browsing online and on Reddit. However, for those who want to know Sam & Max news, there are several places online that contain a lot of information about Sam & Max. The first is Sam & Max Funhouse, the official Sam & Max Facebook page of Steve Purcell, creator of Sam & Max. It will showcase artwork from its creator, appearances at conventions and other information about the character, such as gameplay from Skunkape.
There are also two Twitter accounts for Sam & Max. That’s his Twitter account @SamAndMaxUS account for the character and will also post about some of the duo’s upcoming projects. There are also fan accounts below @samandmaxUKwho posted more of the same information. However, they are more active than the characters’ official accounts and will post more fan content for the duo.
I highly recommend playing the first season before Sam & Max Beyond Time and Space. However, the game comes in a bundle on the Steam store, so buying all 10 episodes at this point would be easier. This game is available on PC, Xbox, and Switch.
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