Sam & Max: Season One

03 Dec 2008 at 11:49:35 by Spanner Spencer
Systems used to review this title: (WII)

The difficulty here is trying not to wax hyper-lyrical about Sam & Max as cult icons – just in case you’ve been living in a cave on Mars, with your fingers in your ears and your eyes closed for the last two decades. If you have, you won’t know who the (other) dynamic duo are, and probably won’t know why you should care that their six-part episodic adventures have been compiled for the Wii.

In the interests of a quick history lesson (with the hopes of shoring up the curiosity of those who’ve not crossed paths with the anthropomorphic detectives) Sam & Max began life as a comic made by Steve Purcell. Sam is a dog who runs a detective agency, while Max is a rodent-esque lagomorph (kind of a cross between a rabbit and a guinea pig – not that Max particularly resembles either) though he prefers to consider himself a ‘hyperkinetic rabbity thing’. After about half an hour of indulging in one of his games, you’ll probably agree that ‘hyperkinetic rabbity thing’ is actually a pretty decent description of Max.

Anyway, Purcell later went to work for LucasArts, and his iconic characters began appearing in salacious cameo roles in a variety of adventure games. Eventually, they got their own starring roles in Sam & Max Hit the Road – a PC graphical adventure that was very well received.

They’ve since dabbled with comics, and even a TV cartoon at one point, but Sam & Max are probably going to be best remembered as game characters. Much of this acclaim comes from their participation in the recent trend for releasing episodic game content (a trend that, to be fair, this pair actually helped to establish), which finally brings us back to their Wii debut – Sam & Max: Season One.

What we have here is a compilation of the six adventure game episodes TellTale Games released between November 2006 and May 2007; individual games that racked up their own impressive review scores, and made an even bigger impact collectively. Gamers formed decidedly disorderly cyber-queues to grab each episode as it was originally released, so having them all together on one disk – that you can play in your front room (something the Wii version definitely holds over the PC) – is a kingly gift.

The strength of the writing in Sam & Max games – even ones predating this latest hexology (that’s six. I looked it up on t’internet) – is where the real appeal is to be found. Truth be told, if you were to strip away the jokes and plotlines and excellent voice acting, there wouldn’t be that much left to make these games stand out. As point and click adventures go, they work, they’re simple, they’re mostly logical, but they don’t particularly grab you by the thumbs and manicure you with sheer gaming brilliance.

But that’s actually by the by. You see, they do have brilliant scripts and stories and performances worthy of a Dreamworks animation, and it’s with these assets in mind that we begin to sing the tuneful praise of Sam & Max. The structure of this chapter series is rock solid, with a story arc reaching throughout the six instalments that’s strong enough to follow easily despite the approximate two hours it takes to play each game. But each episode also boasts its own plot, and is self-contained enough to ensure you can jump right in to any of the six games and not worry about a moment’s incongruity (other than the deliberate strangeness that forms the crux of the character’s signature comedy).

Catering to existing fans for a moment, it’s vital to point out that Season One is careful to include everyone and everything you want in a Sam & Max game. Bosco’s as paranoid and well-equipped as ever, while the ‘short attention spanned careerist’, Sybil Pandemik, plays an essential a role as ever with a different vocation for each episode. In truth, the Wii isn’t a graphical warhorse, but the cartoony visuals of Sam & Max have never been very demanding and always kept their comic book roots, which this console version of Season One graciously maintains.

That said, there are moments, during the few action sequences (and even during normal adventure play) where the frame rates jolt and sputter amateurishly, which steals some of the duo’s glory right when it’s needed. But even with poor Wii optimisation this is still the best outing we’ve thus far seen for Purcell’s surreal detectives, and it won’t hamper your enthusiasm one bit.

There’s also talk of this compilation coming to the Xbox 360, though despite the higher resolution graphics it might boast, playing a point and click adventure game – even one as funny and engrossing as this – is a tedious task with a joypad. The Wii-mote is the eponymous armchair mouse, however, and is such an ideal companion to the modern adventure game it’s a wonder that we ever managed to enjoy this genre before it was invented. That said, the fiddly small items that crop up in Season One can be irksome to nail down with the clunky pointer of the Wii-mote, but there’s still no better way to bring Sam & Max into your living room, so just like the optimisation, it’s easily forgiven.

We’ll finish with a handy tip for any partners out there looking for game gift ideas for their pixel addicted better halves. Check through their game collection and if you see the words Sam & Max, or even just LucasArts, then Season One is a gift that will plant your partner on the sofa for the Christmas duration with a stupid smile on their face and a heart full of gratitude. It’s also a perfect introduction to the long-lived franchise for anyone who’s just got back from Mars.

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