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.