I really am going to review this game…just as soon as I stop laughing. Seriously. Ahem…
Sam
and Max Season Two, Episode Three is TellTale games latest brainchild
in the Sam and Max franchise and had me giggling from the first moment
that I saw the teaser trailer. This is their ninth game since TellTale
began creating the Sam and Max episodes, and is right up there in my
top three favorites. No I’m not going to tell you what those favorites
are because the other episodes would get jealous.
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That looks like it could hurt!
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Zombies on parade.
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One of the best things this season is while that the stories have
been designed with an eye to continuity, Max is still President of the
United States and High Priest of the Ocean Chimps, but each episode is
very self contained and isn’t trying to drive an over arcing plot ala
season one. Not that the over arching plot is a terrible idea, but
moving away from it seems to have freed up the writers to take the Sam
and Max universe to further hysterical extremes and I personally
approve.
The story in Night of the Raving Dead is told in a
flashback format as it opens with Sam and Max in trouble and Sam
reviewing for Max just how they got into the particular pickle they’re
in. This leads to a story of zombie attacks, a vampire’s obsession
with taking over the world and the bizarre break up between the head of
Abraham Lincoln and local Jill-of-all-trades Sybil. Looks like a job
for the freelance police…not to mention a zombie has taken off with the
hand of Jesse James and Max has run out of water for his holy baths.
As
usual the graphics in Sam and Max follow the comic roots of the game
and stay very true to form in this episode. Animations are smooth and
add to either the humor or the disturbing nature of the game, Max eats
his belly lint when he’s bored and the emo vampire tosses his anime
style hair out of his eyes all the time, need I say more?
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Zombies come in gaggles?
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Just one little push….
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In
this episode, we’re given a new location to explore in the form of
Stuttgard, Germany, the home of Jurgen the Eurotrash emo vampire, which
proves to be both a discotech and the laboratory of the
aforementioned. Other usual haunts are still on the radar including
Stinky’s, the COPS garage and the office, and at this time Sybil’s is
again open when it’s been closed for the last two episodes. In
exchange Bosco’s is closed, and as much as Bosco personally annoys me,
I actually missed him, though there are hints that something terrible
has happened to him to be revealed in future episodes. I so hope he was
abducted by aliens! The switching around of which offices we can visit
and continually adding at least one major new area to explore helps
keep the geography of Sam and Max interesting without it being overwhelming. When you need a clue or an item in order to solve a puzzle
you have options without spending hours traveling from place to place
to place.
Speaking of puzzles the ones that come with Night of
the Raving Dead are well thought out and generally amusing in all the
wrong ways, like figuring out how to use a graverobbed brain to
distract disco going zombies or defeating emo vampire at open mic
night. I only got really stuck once, and that was because I didn’t
realize I could pick up the bolt cutters that I saw lying on the floor,
my own fault.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a big fan of the
voice acting in Sam and Max and this episode was no exception to the
rule, adding a slightly depressed sounding monster and the chronically
bad accented Jurgen to the mix of vocal talent. The score to the Sam
and Max games also continues to impress in both quality and range,
offering something different with each episode. Here we had sorrowful
monster music and a variety of disco beats to keep a zombie…umm…lively.
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Holy Max!
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It’s vampiric Keanu Reeves!
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If
you’re just getting into Sam and Max, Night of the Raving Dead isn’t a
bad place to start and definitely worth the cost, though you’ll miss
out on some of the in jokes. I’d highly encourage picking up both
seasons and playing from the beginning for maximum giggles, but if
vampires and zombies catches your attention more than giant stone
Lincoln’s or Sam and Max style virtual reality then jump on in. Just
hang onto your soul…as Sam and Max will tell you, you miss it when its
been crushed out of you.
Top Gaming Moment: Zapping Jurgen’s monster with lightening repeatedly. I know, I’m mean…but it was funny.
