Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock

• Platform: PC
• Published by: Telltale Games
• Developed by: Telltale Games
• Release Date: Oct 17, 2006
• Genre: Adventure
• Multiplayer: No
• Online: No

 

Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock Preview

-- September 28, 2006 by: Chris Remo

Artist Steve Purcell's irreverent freelance crimefighting dog and rabbit duo Sam & Max has appeared across a variety of formats over the years, beginning with alternative comics in the 1980s, followed by the LucasArts graphic adventure game Sam & Max Hit the Road in the early 1990s, and then in a short-lived FOX animated series in the late 1990s. Following that, there were two attempts at further video games featuring Sam & Max, the first by now defunct developer Infinite Machine, and the next by LucasArts after the Infinite Machine project fell through. In a widely publicized move citing current market conditions, LucasArts cancelled its own game, Sam & Max: Freelance Police, in 2004.

Now, Sam & Max are finally poised to return to the world of computer gaming. We know it's actually going to happen this time, because the game just went gold. Plus, I've played it. Recently formed development studio Telltale Games, largely founded by former LucasArts developers including members of the Freelance Police team, produces story-driven graphic adventure games in the classical point-and-click style, but is taking a rather unique with its Sam & Max adaptation. Not only is the company's entire business model structured around digitally distributed episodic games, its upcoming Sam & Max series goes one step further, and is perhaps the only currently announced, commercially created video game project that can truly be called "episodic." Each Sam & Max game will be only a couple of hours in length, but a new one will appear every month for six months--and that's just Season One. In some ways, the structure of Telltale's games will games closer to that of the original comics than would be possible with a long form game. Those familiar with Purcell's spontaneous and convoluted narratives will know that Sam & Max rarely spend all that long solving any particular problem. In fact, Telltale's goal across the board is to harken back to the comics more than to past incarnations of Sam & Max such as the first game or the animated series. "That was something Steve really wanted to do," said Telltale senior designer Dave Grossman, co-designer of Day of the Tentacle and a writer on games such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's revenge. The Telltale team agreed.

I recently had the opportunity to play through some of Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock. Culture Shock tasks canine shamus Sam and hyperkinetic rabbity thing Max with tracking down some kind of nefarious mastermind who is orchestrating his machinations by way of hypnotized former child stars. Much like a television series, each episode of Sam & Max will be a standalone story, but will be tied together by a larger narrative arc. Telltale is working with Purcell to craft original stories for the games, and Purcell has given input all along the way, both to the game's writing and to its visual style.

Those who have played past point-and-click adventure games will be familiar with the game's interface. The entire game is controlled simply by pointing and clicking on locations and items with which to interact. Sam is the player character, and Max will follow him around or simply wander aimlessly. In a nice touch, if Sam's path of movement intersects with Max's, Sam will simply smack his buddy momentarily off the screen. The team explained that this actually came as a result of trying to figure out how to ensure that the two characters never intersected and clipped together. Somebody suggested the idea of Sam taking a pragmatic and physical approach to the dilemma, partially out of frustration, and it stuck. Max's role in the gameplay itself is different than it was in Sam & Max Hit the Road. "He's not an inventory item this time," explained Grossman. "I didn't like that [in Hit the Road] you would just use him for these mundane purposes, like as a pair of scissors, when the player would probably just think to use a a pair of scissors." Grossman went on to mention that puzzle design in a Sam & Max game can be tricky because the type of solutions Sam & Max themselves generally take in the comics, which are frequently nonsensical or indirect, are not necessarily what would actually occur to a reasonable player. As such, the team felt it wise to err on the side of playability.

This game opts to filter the player's interactions with the world down to a context-sensitive click interface, rather than giving a list of verbs that the player can execute. Clicking on a person is likely to initiate a conversation, while clicking on an item may cause Sam either to examine it or pick it up. It appears that inventory items are used only directly with the world or other characters, rather than also being able to be combined with one another first. What I saw of the game included a fairly broad range of puzzles. Some are straight "use A with B" affairs. Others are dialogue based, with one allowing the player to switch back and forth between dialogue from the two protagonists in a good cop/bad cop interrogation scene. One clever puzzle early in the game made use of a new mechanic, the ability to fire Sam's enormous revolver at will using a crosshairs.

Of course, more than anything else, Sam & Max has always been about the titular pair's dialogue. "Steve always says that everything Sam and Max do is just an excuse to have them talk to each other," recalled Grossman. Sam's pseudo-eloquent Sam Spade-tinged deadpan and Max's apparent persistant state of oblivious psychosis have become somewhat iconic. Purcell's original distinctive comics writing is a tough act to follow, but veteran game writer Grossman and co. seem to be delivering a solid script that taps into the well established personalities of the characters. There are also some nice easter eggs for Sam & Max fans. Upon examining a folder captioned "old case file," Sam remarks, "I remember that case. Particularly gruesome." It is dated 03-03-04--the date LucasArts announced the cancellation of Freelance Police.

One element that has been the subject of much internet uproar in recent months has been the voice acting, performed by different actors than those who voiced Sam & Max in the LucasArts games. Many gamers have an extremely strong affinity for the performances in Hit the Road. This is one of those things that is tricky to address. Culture Shock is based on the Sam & Max comics, not Sam & Max Hit the Road, but given that it is another graphic adventure game, comparisons are inevitable. Telltale marketing coordinator Emily Morganti admitted that she too had an initial period of adjustment when hearing the new voices, but adjusted fairly quickly.

Those who have played previous Telltale games will be pleased to know that Sam & Max contains an increased number of graphical scaling options, including the ability to run the game in resolutions of up to 1600x1200 or in a window.

Fans of Sam & Max Hit the Road will recall the Highway Surfing driving minigame that made use of the duo's vintage black and white DeSoto. Telltale's Sam & Max features its own driving mini-game, this one set in urban streets rather than the open road. It features the freelance police crashing through mailboxes and traffic cones as well as ramming or pulling over other drivers for various infractions which they may or may not have committed. This aspect of the game is a fun diversion and the interactions with other drives are well written, but the point and click controls feel rather clunky, with occasional delays in response time. This only hampers gameplay in one particular instance when the driving mechanics are part of a puzzle, and while it is certainly not an insurmountable obstancle, it can be somewhat frustrating. Hopefully Telltale smoothes out the controls a bit if driving is planned for future episodes.

Given the ambitious goal of shipping one game a month for six months, Telltale was initially shooting for one to two hours of playtime per episode. However, recent playtesting has indicated that Episode 1 is more on the order of twice that length. I played the game for an hour and a half, and was told that I had gotten about halfway through, putting me on track to end up right in the middle of the new estimate. Of course, players' total time spent will have a great deal to do with how they play. Existing adventure game fans are likely to pick up on the game's puzzle logic more quickly, but may also be interested in spending time checking out every possible interaction and line of dialogue. Given my traditional affinity for PC adventure games, I fell into both of these categories. To the game's credit the designers seem to have made sure to craft plenty of unique dialogue even for non-essential interactions, an important aspect when so much of a game's entertainment value derives from what comes out of the main characters' mouths.

Telltale's Sam & Max has a lot to live up to, but fortunately the property seems to be in good hands. Telltale noted that planning for the entire season has been completed, and production is on track to meet the self-imposed monthly deadline. For gamers who would rather experience something along the lines of a more traditional adventure game, Telltale plans to publish a retail release of all six episodes once Season One has been completed.

Telltale Games' Sam & Max Episode 1: Culture Shock is set to be made available in the United States on October 17, 2006 via the GameTap game subscription service, and worldwide on November 1 through Telltale's official site.

Comments